What is the recovery arc for broken bones (foot)?

In My Humble Opinion
1

On Wednesday evening, I was riding my bike when I was hit by a car making a right turn. The car struck me on my left foot, breaking several toes and causing a few other “shatter” fractures as well. (The car was not signaling a turn but I really shouldn’t have put myself in that position either, but this is not about lessons learned in road riding.)

Fortunately for me nothing else is wrong - I didn’t hit my head, dislocate my arms, break a leg, etc. - but my left foot is currently in a cast (not a hard one) and I’m taking Oxycodone every 4 hours while getting around on crutches (non load bearing cast).

The doctors in the ER decided I didn’t need surgery, they set my toes and told me to keep it elevated (ice can’t really reach my foot in the cast) and to check in with a podiatrist on Monday for my first follow up. I’m really hoping to avoid surgery. They said if my foot looked like it was healing as expected after a few days it would probably take me 4-6 weeks in a cast. The smaller bits of bone that are loose will “just get reabsorbed” (I didn’t ask for details as to what that meant exactly).

It was pretty sore in the hospital, even rather numb because the room was really cold, but not to the point of distraction. When they told me they were prescribing Oxycodone I asked if that was really necessary and they said yeah, the pain is going to get worse tomorrow and the next day.

They were right. Since getting home yesterday I haven’t slept more than an hour at a time due to the pain keeping me awake, even with the pain killer drugs. Sometimes throbbing, sometimes burning, but well, this really sucks.

I assume this is the feeling of my bones knitting themselves back together. I’ve never broken a bone before. It doesn’t help that my big toenail was ripped off too - that really hurts as well, but I’ve lost a fingernail and I know how that goes, a few days of really bad pain and swelling, then just “soreness and keep it covered” until the nail grows back.

How long for this initial period of pain (which I hope is the worst) to pass? Anybody else have any broken foot stories to share to guide me through the next month and a half?

2

They heal really fast. There will be a couple of weeks of pain, but you’ll get used to it.

Plan on going jogging on Christmas Day.

3

I once broke a toe. Taped to the toe next to it healing occurred pretty rapidly. Everything was going fine until my 6 year old son jumped from the back of the couch and purposely landed as hard as he could on my foot.

Someone told him that after a fracture healed it could never break again. He was testing this out and learned that it was not true.

4

My situation is much different than yours, but I had a stress fracture in my foot this summer. After I saw the doctor, I was told not to walk/run on it for 6 weeks and given crutches and a walking boot. I wore the boot almost all the time (though not at home if I was just going from the living room to the kitchen, bedroom to the bathroom, etc), but didn’t use the crutches much. The 6 weeks seemed to work, though, and I’m running again without problems related to the stress fracture.

5

i once shattered my right big toe - what my bone surgeon identified as a double spiral fracture - the worst kind.

with or without surgery (they knocked me out, wrestled the broken bones back into place and pinned the toe back together with non-permanent surgical pins) you’ll have a week or two of fairly heavy discomfort. the missing toenail won’t help matters any, either. my sympathies. ouch, but that’s PAINFUL!!

after that, the discomfort level dropped dramatically and i graduated from a wheelchair to crutches, which didn’t last long, either. the only thing is the surgeon told me that the toe could take up to two years to heal completely. lack of blood flow to the bone, being so far away from the heart. he was correct. for me, it was about two years. today it’s perfectly fine.

i do recommend and can’t stress it enough: take your pain meds religiously. stay ahead of the pain. you’ll heal faster if you aren’t in pain. if what was prescribed ain’t cutting it, get on your doctor(s) for something stronger.

6

Requests for medical anecdotes and advice go in IMHO, so let me move this thither for you.

twickster, MPSIMS moderator

7

Funny, I wasn’t given anything for the pain. I was told to ice my feet with a bag of frozen peas. I directly disobeyed doctor’s orders and instead iced them with a bag of broccoli and water chestnuts in a butter and garlic sauce.

8

Yeah, I tried to tough it out without the Oxycodone at first and now take it every 4-5 hours as indicated. It says “if needed for pain”, well, I need it, at least for now! (I’ll try tapering off after a week)