Okay, so on Thursday, I was sparing in my martial arts class, when I jumped back, landed on the outside of my right foot , made it make all these REALLY loud popping and cracking noises in the matter of a split second, and then went down.
It started to swell and turn purple immediately, so we put some ice on it and I laid there for a while with my foot elevated. It’s the worst injury I’ve sustained to my foot before, but overall, it didn’t hurt TOO much. After about an hour and a half, I was able to hobble myself to the car, drive home, and get myself situated on the couch with my foot packed in ice and elevated.
It hurt all through the night, preventing me from getting any sleep, and that day, I called in sick to work because my job was going to require that I stay standing all day, and there was no way in hell I was going to do that. So, I sat on my ass most of the day, kept the foot elevated and packed in ice and wrapped as best I could. In the evening, I had a friend pick me up a crutch, and he drove me around for that evening’s festivities.
Yesturday, I was a little shocked by the gross bruise I discovered after getting home from work, so I went to the hospital and had a guy look at it. He told me if the bruise is what I was scared of, it’s nothing to be concerned about, and still in hopes that it’s nothing more than a bad sprain, and the fact I’m poor, I opted to not get an x-ray and just see how things turn out.
Most of the mobility is back, and it doesn’t hurt too much unless I try and push it too far. I chalk that up to the fact it happened two days ago, and it’s still a little stiff from lack of use. I’m able to put wieght on it and drive with it, although I still use the crutch to help with things like getting up and down stairs without putting too much preasure on my foot. I’m more concerned with:
“When will my foot go back to it’s normal size?”
Like I said, I’ve never really suffered an injury like this, so I’m not sure if I should be concerned that it hasn’t gone down yet, or if I should expect it to be swollen for a good week or so. Any physicians out there got anything to say?
To begin with, I am not a doctor, but I have been injured on occasion doing athletic stuff. Be on the safe side. Go to a doctor. It could be broken. It might be just a bad sprain, but you can’t be certain without x-rays. The popping and cracking sounds are what frightens me, those are generally not the indications of a sprain. Those usually indicate something worse.
I realize you are tight for money. but this could be serious. Even if you are not covered by insurance, the martial arts school may well have insurance that will help you cover the bills involved. In any case you should get x-rays.
PLEASE get X-rays! The hospital will probably work with you on the cost (although it’ll probably be way cheaper if you do it in a doctor’s office instead of the E.R.) When I broke my leg, 2 days before my insurance kicked in, they knocked 50% off my ER bill right off the bat, because they knew they wouldn’t have to deal with an insurance company. What if you have fragments of bone floating around, wreaking havoc on the soft tissues?
IANAD, but I’ve had about the worst leg fractures known to mankind, which took lots of surgery to fix.
Not to frighten you, but that sounds a lot like how I broke my foot. I was playing basketball and chased after a loose ball that was headed out of bounds. I jumped and threw the ball back in, but landed on the outside of my foot and it popped. I started to walk back with a friend to his house, but didn’t think I would be able to make it across a busy street so he went and got his mom to come pick me up. When I came down on it it sounded, and felt, just like a knuckle cracking, but it wasn’t near any joint.
See, the big thing is, I’ve never broken a bone before, and I’m just under the impression that if I had, it would hurt a LOT more. Like I said, I have a crutch, but I pretty much use it mainly to help me get up stairs and such, but for the most part, I’ve been walking around without it. Sure, it’s still a little uncomfortable, but that’s to be expected, no? Tell me, Dignan, how much pain did you feel, and for how long?
I’ve got a lot of errands to run tomorrow, but I am thinking of making an appointment and getting it looked at. The only thing now is whether or not a doctor can fit me in.
A little over 10 years ago I was playing basketball out in the street when I went for a loose ball and ended up falling and all of my weight and the weight of the guy I was playing with landed on my left thumb.
It hurt.
A lot.
However, there wasn’t any swelling and I could move the thumb in all of the usual ways, though there was some pain when I moved it.
However, when 3 weeks had gone by and it still hurt I went to our orthopdist and had X-rays taken and found out that my thumb was indeed broken.
The doctor was a little pissed off, (ok, more then a little) when he found out I had waited 3 weeks to have it checked out.
Go get X-rays taken. Having an injury to your fott isn’t soemthing to f*** around with.
It very well could be broken. As others said, please get x-rays done.
About the swelling. Remember RICE - Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. In my own experience and through what I’ve learned in school (sports medicine classes), compression and elevation are the most important for getting swelling to go down.
Ice is most important immediately following the injury - it prevents futher cell death beyond what is caused by the injury itself, and it is a temporary analgesic. Ice should also be used for the next couple of days (ideally 15-20 minutes on, and then an hour off, repeated).
Compression and elevation will help the swelling go down. Remember not to wear any compression (ie. tensor bandage) while sleeping.
I badly banged my ankle last summer (not a sprain, but massive bruising and swelling) and I didn’t keep it elevated as much as I should have. The swelling and bruising spread down to the toes and took a much longer time to go away completely (almost two weeks). My toes were all swollen up like little sausages. Couldn’t fit my foot into any of my shoes, even with the laces undone.
But bottomline, go to a doctor about the x-rays and any other advice.
My boss broke a bone in his foot doing something much less strenuous than what you describe (he was on an archaeological dig). He walked around on it for a couple of weeks before we got him to go to a doctor, and probably did a good bit of tendon/ligament damage in addition to the fracture in doing so.
Again, IANAD. But I did almost the exact same thing playing tennis - rolled onto the outside of my foot. X-rays revealed that I had broken the fifth metatarsal, a small bone that runs down the foot from the heel to the small toe. The injury was a lot like yours, painful but not totally disabling, but I had to get a walking cast in the end.
Well, I went to the doctor’s yesturday and got some x-rays, and the good news…no broken bones. So, he gave me some stuff to help the swelling go down and help the healing process move a little quicker, so I should be good to go in a bit. Thanks for the concern people, and for the advice.