How painful is a broken big toe?
How painful is a broken big toe?
If you’ve broken your toe, the skin near the injury may looked bruised or temporarily change color. You’ll also have difficulty putting any weight on your toe. Walking, or even just standing, can be painful. A bad break can also dislocate the toe, which can cause it to rest at an unnatural angle.
What is the fastest way to heal a broken big toe?
Symptom Relief
- Rest. Stop doing any physical activity that causes pain, and keep your foot immobile whenever possible.
- For the first 24 hours, ice your toe for 20 minutes every hour you are awake, then 2 to 3 times a day.
- Keep your foot raised to help keep swelling down.
- Take pain medicine if necessary.
How do you treat a broken big toe at home?
Do
- take ibuprofen and paracetamol for the pain and swelling.
- rest your foot and keep it raised.
- hold an ice pack (or bag of frozen peas) wrapped in a towel on your toe for up to 20 minutes every few hours.
- wear wide, comfortable shoes with a low heel.
- avoid walking around as much as possible.
Do I need to go to the doctor for a broken toe?
If you think you broke your toe, it’s best to have your doctor look at it. Even though you can often treat it yourself, a broken toe can sometimes lead to more serious problems, like infection, arthritis, or long-term foot pain.
How long should you tape a broken toe?
Your injured toe may need to be buddy-taped for 2 to 4 weeks to heal. If your injured toe hurts more after buddy taping it, remove the tape. In rare cases, other treatment may be needed, including: Protecting the toe from additional injury.
Can you buddy tape the big toe?
For your toes, always tape the injured toe to the neighboring toe closest to your big toe. However, avoid buddy taping the big toe. If you injure your toe closest to the big toe, tape it to the middle toe. If you’ve injured your big toe, you can tape it by itself to help stabilize it, if necessary.
How do I tape my arthritic big toe?
For the bottom piece of tape, bend it down a little. Repeat this with 3 – 4 pieces of tape until the joint is covered completely. Applying strapping tape to the big toe joint like this will immediately limit the amount of work done by the toe, and your pain will decrease.
How do you wrap your big toe after removing a nail?
- Carefully peel off the tape at the base of toe, and gently ease the dressing off from the bottom to the top of the toe.
- Get a clean basin of warm, salty water and soak your foot for around 5 minutes.
- With washed hands, carefully open the packet of sterile, dry dressing (e.g. Melolin/Podlin).
Should you tape a sprained toe?
How’s a sprained toe treated? Mild toe sprains might not require any treatment. In other cases, you may need to tape the injured toe to the toe next to it, known as buddy taping. This helps to protect your sprained toe and provide stability so your injured ligament can heal.
How long does a big toe sprain take to heal?
Sprains generally take from 3–6 weeks to heal. A toe sprain may be treated by taping the injured toe to the next toe. This is called buddy taping.
What happens when you drop something heavy on your toe?
If you stub your toe or drop something heavy on your feet, you may develop a subungual hematoma, which is blood trapped beneath the toenail. This gives the toenail a red, black, or purple discoloration. It is often called black toenail for that reason.
Should I wrap a swollen foot?
Compression, or wrapping the injured or sore area with an elastic bandage (such as an Ace wrap), will help decrease swelling. Don’t wrap it too tightly, because this can cause more swelling below the affected area. Loosen the bandage if it gets too tight.
How do you massage a swollen foot?
Massage your feet your feet toward your heart with firm strokes and some pressure. This can help move the fluid out of the area and reduce swelling.