In short, yes it can. It may seem like really NBD, but it’s a big deal to you.
Not an injury per se, but when I developed osteoarthritis in my hip and started losing the ability to walk I was depressed and my usual antidepressants (exercise) were no longer available to me so I started drinking instead.
Figured out that wasn’t a good long-term solution and went to doc, insisted on X rays an imaging… found out there was a cure, namely a hip replacement.
I often have depression about other things so it’s more like the depression is looking for something to latch onto and I have to keep pushing it back and focus on positive steps each day, however small those actions might be.
3 possible answers:
- Is the injury making you reduce activities that are a source of exercise or pleasure?
- Do you tend to catastrophize the injury: “well this is the beginning of the downhill slide, I can only expect more of this from here on out.”
- There’s been a lot of theorized connection between inflammation, infection, and depression.
It seems very reasonable that the body should slow down a bit to allow healing to progress. Though such brain-body mechanisms tend not to be precisely tuned enough to avoid overshooting the mark at times.
I think it’s a natural reaction to being forced into a diminished state. Your issue may seem trifling to some people but, if you’re like me, a person who likes to run 30 minutes virtually every day, it is very vexing and depressing.
I think part of it is the uncertainty. If I knew that it would start healing if I did such-and-such and take so-and-so long, obviously that would be better.
Yes. The infected bit is just at the crease of the shoe on the big toe, so running is no fun and I want to keep it clean.
This injury in particular I am catastrophizing just based on history and advice re: diabetes and foot injury. Would I do the same if it was, say, a broken ankle? I don’t think so.
I’d just started running as exercise when this injury happened (I was taking off my shoes heel to toe when I believe I somehow caught and bent my nail up). 30 minutes would have been great! 
Well there you go. The injury has cut off your natural supply of antidepressant, and raised your background levels of anxiety, with predictable consequences.
It sounds like this injury should resolve quickly, but make sure to look after your mental health, especially if it goes longer than expected. When people are disconnected for prolonged periods of time from things that keep them mentally healthy, there is a tendency to compensate by allowing harmful thoughts and habits to creep in. These can be more serious than the physical injury itself.
I suppose I should add some follow-up. I had the toenail removed and now it looks like a little fat kid hiding in his sweatshirt hood. Thankfully the redness and swelling have dissipated since the removal. My toe still feels weird, but in a very different way. It’s kinda fun!
Yay! I’m glad you’re more better.
I recently had a toe thing.
Being teased and made fun of after the initial “oh, gawd!” made me feel better.
I’ve been accused of milking my boo boos for sympathy (ok, I kinda do) and attention. But I was real good this time. I’m learning.