This has to be the most aggravating thing I have ever experienced. I think I broke my pinky toe. The power was out, I was walking in the hallway and I accidentally kicked the stairwell. Well, it was more like a punt. There was this like GGRRRTTCCCH sound that you always dread hearing in horror movies. My toe was bent at a nice funky angle (sort of like if I was trying to bend it the farthest out that I can and it stayed that way) and it’s swelling something fierce (not as bad as it has when I’ve stubbed my big toe).
I can still curl it like I can my other toes and it can sort of move up and down but I have absolutely no sensation in it when I try and move it left and right. The bend itself isn’t in the toe, as in, half of it isn’t straight and the other half bent. The entire toe itself is at an angle. It hurts like a mother fucker when I put ice on it but feels rather fine when I don’t have ice on it. There’s this dull throbbing pain when there’s ice on it.
I’ve never had a broken before so I can’t tell you that I’d really know if one is broken. I can’t really afford to go to a doctor, the E.R. or a walk-in clinic and actually have to pay their outrageous fucking prices ($150 or more for an x-ray, $100-200 for the damned examination and splint) but if I have to go then I have to go, right?
What do I need to do here? Go right now, or can I wait and see if the swelling and pain go down by tomorrow and I get more movement? Can I splint this myself like I’ve seen done on broken toes before - tape it to the next-most digit inward with gauze or something inbetween? Argh.
Is there a doctor in the house? Who would’ve thought I’d get my first broken bone from kicking the stairs.
DO NOT GO TO THE DOCTOR. They can’t do a damn thing for it, other than bind it to the next toe. My GF broke her toe, and wound up with a fat ER bill in order to get a roll of stretchy tape. Which we had to pocket on the way out, anyway. Put some clean cloth between the toes, then lightly bind the pinky toe to the next toe. It will take about a week for you to walk normally again, and about a month for it to be all better.
Yup. The bones there are just too small to work with effectively. If you can stomach doing it yourself, bind it up, ice it down, don’t put weight on it, and let time do its thing.
+4. I possibly broke a toe last year. I went to the doctor and she said “I can’t tell if its broken or not, we’d have to do an x-ray to find out, but there’s really no point since all we can do is bind it up til it heals”. So she bound it to the neighbouring toe, and it healed within a month (hence I’m assuming it wasn’t actually broken). Just bind it up, take some painkillers and try to rest your foot as much as possible. On a related note, flip-flops are evil toe-killers ;)
I did approximately the same thing one morning before work. I kicked a door as I was trying to get to the phone. Actually managed to rip a gouge in the skin so bad that if it had been anyplace else it would have gotten stitches. But not so for the toe! Stitches dont work on toes apparently.
Although that didnt (dammit my apostrophe key is acting crazy! everytime I hit it it opens Firefox search. WTF) stop them from xraying it anyway.
Taped it to the other toe, told me to slather antibacterial ointment on it daily and not to walk on it.
Also, I broke one of my toes when young while kicking my friend. I didn’t even realize it was broken, but I presume so because it healed crooked. I didn’t bind it, unfortunately.
Anyway, the point is that it will heal fine on its own, one way or another. Binding keeps it straight so you’ll be at 100%, rather than my terrible 99%.
Oh ok. I assumed all broken bones took months to heal. Sweet, now I can resume teasing my boyfriend about how evil he is for breaking one of my bones (evil smiley).
Seriously. There’s not much you can do for a pinky toe. Tape it to the next toe and drink lots of milk. I’ve broken most of my fingers and this is what happens all the time. With that toe, if you fuck up the setting, who is going to know without a detailed X-ray. It’s not big, it’s not very flexible. Just tape it.
Bah. Just chop it off, you sissy! Who needs that little thing anyway?
Seriously though, the biggest thing you have to watch out for is infection (assuming there’s any sort of cut). Make sure you ice it for a day or two after at least, clean it, and keep it bound to your other toe in case it actually is broken. If the swelling doesn’t go down or it stays painfull (broken bones themselves don’t hurt, but a compound fracture could continue to do damage), definitely go see a doctor.
if you stubbed your toe and it is bent you likely broke it… and the peeps above are right, there is nothing to do for a broken toe other than buddy tape it to the bext biggest toe.
Xraying it is pointless and no one generally xrays broken toes (unless you live in the litiginous US of A where the climate of lawsuits that patients and lawyers have created have led physicians to order unnecessary tests like xrays for broken toes! ha!)
So just buddy tape your toes together, your pain will be better in a week or two and 100% by 4 weeks.
And so what if your toe bends to the side… unless you are a foot model it doesn’t matter… your baby toes are useless from an evolutionary standpoint.
Just don’t sue me if you are American – Obligatory Disclaimer: this advice is meant for educational purposes and not meant for you to use on yourself…
edit: $200-250 is a bargain for treatment of a broken bone in a hospital setting.
If it’s bothering you, like someone else said, cut it off. If you’re afraid of blood clots or crooked toes cut the thing off. I had to do this, like, three times with my pinky toes.
Also, to the person who said broken bones don’t hurt, just the flesh around them: How come my nose (hah! just part bone), ribs and collar-bone (bone is even in the name) still ache occasionally after 20 years? Bones don’t like being broken which is why I don’t miss my pinky toes.
