So, I fractured my toe

rmcannell

Yesterday on my trail run I fractured my big toe. Gracefulness is not my strong suit. I did manage to run 7 miles on it (adrenaline is the best!), but now I'm finding it difficult to walk around, much less run. I am very stubborn and hate to miss a run, but I'm also training for a specific race, and don't want to put myself out of the game for any longer than I need to by injuring it further. I know a toe isn't particularly big news, but I'd guess it would be possible for me to cause a full break if I keep running, especially since I run in vibrams or barefoot and so there is a lot more independent movement of my toes and I can't really wrap them together very well.

Anyone dealt with this? What kind of time frame did you experience before you were running again? What was your strategy for keeping your fitness up in the meantime? I'll have pool access in a week, and my bike as well. Until then, I have access to a basic gym with elliptical (which I hate), rowing machines, stationary bikes, I think, and weights, of course.

I'm not sure how best to mimic the long-ish runs. I'm only at 12 - 13 miles at the moment, at least. This weekend is a step down week, which is probably good as well. I'm hoping I only need to cross train for a week or two? Maybe that's really optimistic.

Thanks for any thoughts!

pdworkman

Ouch. When I broke my toe I had not taken up running and was pretty sedentary, and it was a year before it was completely healed.

Pam

MelisRunning

I am really sorry about your toe! I broke my baby toe about a year ago and I took a few weeks off from running and went around with it taped up. I wear Asics so it was "easy" to get my shoes back on and hit the trails after babying it for a little while. With your vibrams, I dunno. You might have to take a little while off. I know you do not want to hear that with a race ahead of you, but it will heal faster if you take the time now to let it rest. Since you have access to a pool, you could try running in the pool with a flotation belt. That is a great workout! Best wishes!!!

ejwme

I've broken every toe, most at different times, several more than once. I'm an expert at broken toes , and totally not proud of it, but maybe I can share some of what I've learned and you can figure out something that will work for you...

Taping them together is butt. It never makes them feel better, but I'm the only one who thinks that (though I doubt any doctor has ever broken a toe, the crap advice they give). I found with most of my toe breaks, tape usually just increased pressure on the broken toe (especially if it's a big or pinky toe, so you can't tape to toes on both sides) and in two cases, made them heal funny. Seriously, I've never had taped toes work to help heal things, and have had tape do damage. Maybe you can tape better than I can, but if it's not working, don't be afraid to ditch the tape. My fastest, best broken toe heals were 100% untaped.

Eat ridiculously healthy, take multivitamins, make sure you're getting enough calcium - what you eat will affect heal rate.

For me, it took way longer than two weeks for me to heal (sadly, tape made it take longer, for me). I likely wasn't the best patient, though, and I definitely didn't keep running. But if I was going to try to cross train with a broken toe, I'd ditch the vibrams for shoes that allowed less toe movement and try steps instead of running. Ellipticals make me seasick, and are no impact - at least steps have some impact, though it's pretty low. And you can impact your heals instead of your toes. My second choice would be bike, but if you can't use the ball of your foot ('cause it might hurt your toe like a mo-fo), then it could bruise your arch and do weird things to the soft tissue in the rest of your foot, so be careful. Weights are great, but not impact or cardio, as far as I know, so not a great substitute for running.

Broken toes have made me miss two marathons, but that was breaking them the day (and three days) before. Hopefully you have better luck!