Anyone ever break a foot or toes?

G

Gobias

Cathlete
Hi All,

I broke my foot and toes a few months back and am still healing. Just curious how long it took for you to partially and fully heal.

I haven't been able to put a shoe on my foot for several months due to swelling and pain. I am at the point where I can now hobble around the house, although I know I shouldn't. It seems that my pinky toe is going to be my biggest issue since that is the one that hurts the most...which is unfortunate because that is where all the side-to-side movement occurs when doing exercises...or just walking.

Just wondering how long it took to completely heal, where there was no pain from doing daily activities or Cathe exercises. And what part of the foot/toes you broke.

Thanks.
 
I broke my 5th metatarsal several years ago while doing 30/30. I was too lazy to move my barbell and landed on it while doing the fast feet shuffle around the step. I was in a cast and on crutches for 4 weeks and then in a walking boot for 4 weeks. While in the cast, I could only do upper body exercises and some lying and all fours leg work. While in the boot, I was still limited to upper body, lying and all fours work leg work but I could add in seated spinning. After I was done with the boot, I did low and light impact work before moving into moderate impact and was back to high impact by week 3. So overall it took me 11 weeks to get back to where I was before the break.

Hope that helps and you can start to heal quickly! I know how frustrating it is to have to scale back because of an injury. Right now I am having to work around an ab strain and finding what I can do and can't. Plank work, pushups, and pullups are not doable right now.
 
I had both of my heels shattered in 2009. I now have 2 plates and 12 screws in each heel. After the accident they were going to amputate both of my feet but found a surgeon who thought he could save them. And I am forever grateful to him. It was long recovery. I was in a wheelchair for 4 months. After the casts were removed I wore cam boots for nearly 4 months (I was still wheelchair bound part of that time). It was nearly a year before I was exercising with impact and 18 months before I had to stop modifying. I was hit head on by a drunk driver (who was going the wrong way down a one way street...) and at the time of the accident I was in the middle of P90X. My goal was not only to complete P90X but to be able to do Plyo X without modifications. At approx. 18 months, I was able to do that. And I followed P90X with Turbo Fire then Insanity--all done without modifications.

It was a long recovery but I never quit. I even exercised when I was wheelchair bound. And once I was walking I started doing Leslie Sansone workouts and worked my way up from there. And if I ever pushed myself too far, I didn't give up, I just took that step back for a few weeks then tried again. I almost always could move that step forward when I gave myself time to achieve it. So don't rush it! But also, don't give up. I met a lot of people online with the same injury as me and most of their injuries were not as severe as mine and yet many of them never achieved a recovery like mine. But FYI--I know from talking to them that they frequently gave up when it really hurt--rather than realizing they had tried something too soon, backing up and continuing to work on their recovery at a lower level then trying again in a few weeks. They just gave up. Then there were others (a much smaller percentage) that are now running marathons. Which seems insane to me because when I go on vacation and am on my feet for 10+ hours I am in excruciating pain.

Anyway, this is just my experience. We are all different and our injuries are all unique, so everyone's recovery is different. But I do believe having a strong motivation to heal goes a long way to making it happen.
 
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Wow jengolf that's an amazing story you are truly an inspiration :) I will think of you next time I whine over an episode of vertigo and realize it's really not so bad because I know I will be able to get up and walk the next day whereas you obviously could not. I've been fortunate and never broken anything and hope to never have that happen. Good luck in your recovery Gobias.
Jamie
 
JULIE: OK - I flinched at your story. Ouch! Thanks for your background, that helps out. I was just getting discouraged as it seems to have been taking so long, but maybe this is normal. I have absolutely not pushed myself, as I have learned from past mistakes that just makes it worse in the long run. I was not put in a cast for these breaks (due to swelling). In the past I was put in a cast for various reasons and interestingly was able to do upper body workouts or at least be able to slightly stand (use the injured leg for a minimum of balance). I notice for this injury without a cast I just can't do anything that requires the foot to be on the ground. I can't do upper body exercises because I can't get the weights over to the bench. I even tried to do weighted floor exercises (chest flys, etc), but can't because you actually slightly use both feet for form and balance. No weighted body exercises either (planks, push ups, pull ups). I have basically just been waving my arms in the air for random movement and doing sit ups with my feet up. Hope your ab-strain heals. I have never had that, but boy that sounds like it would hurt since it is your core! That you use constantly!

May I ask - do you still feel remnants of the foot break with certain movements or activities or weather changes, etc? Or is it as if the break never happened?

JENGOLF: Your post made me so angry. Drunk driving (along with texting and distracted driving) are a topic I am passionate about. I am sorry this happened to you because of an absolutely selfish idiot. I am so glad you found a doctor willing to take another approach and you seem to be doing quite well. I mean you are doing Cathe! I hope you continue to heal. How did you know when you pushed yourself too far? Did you feel a certain pain or did you freshly re-injure yourself where you had to do a back step in the recovery process? What kind of residual pain do you have? Is it from standing for long periods or walking long distances or doing certain exercises or weather changes?

I definitely have the desire to heal - quickly! But am backing off as I want to fully heal. Previously I have pushed a little too soon and have either reinjured myself or regressed and had to basically start over. I don't want to do that anymore. I want to fully heal and then get back into my routine. I am just at the point where I am getting inpatient and discouraged since it seems to be taking longer than I expected...but again, I don't want to start too soon.

This happened on a Friday and I remember thinking "no problem, I will just take the weekend off and start back up on Monday." Then as I watched my foot turn black and swell to the size of my ex's ego, I thought "this may take a bit longer!" Now it is several months and I am antsy. I was in the middle of quite the rotation and so strong! Now I can tell I have lost all my gains, which is even more discouraging.

My foot and all but my pinky toe seem to be pretty good with just slight swelling and achiness. It is that dang little pinky toe giving me such pain. There were talks of screws and a year of recovery time by the doctor, but I figured I would heal much faster since I am immortal.
 
It's been a long time since the accident so I have healed as much as I am ever going to. I was warned of deterioration in as little as 5 years but that hasn't happened yet. They said I would probably have to have my heels fused eventually. We'll see. 8.5 years later and I can run and jump just fine.

How did you know when you pushed yourself too far? Did you feel a certain pain or did you freshly re-injure yourself where you had to do a back step in the recovery process? I never did anything to re-injure myself but I was also in a lot of pain the first year so I could always tell when the pain was more/different than usual and backed off. My feet were and still are very sensitive--there was a lot of nerve damage. I also had a lot of stability issues. For a long time I couldn't even do a lunge--were are talking stationary lunges, not forward or reverse lunges. Those were impossible for a long time. Then I had to hold onto something when lunging. Then I could lunge but not with dumbbells. However since the accident I've been through STS 3x--w/ Squat Rack Legs. So I have done heavy barbell lunges. A lot has changed since I couldn't even do a lunge! But it has definitely been baby steps. I would try a lunge (or whatever exercise I was trying to do) and if I couldn't do it, I went back to whatever version I had been doing and tried again in a few weeks.

What kind of residual pain do you have? Is it from standing for long periods or walking long distances or doing certain exercises or weather changes? All of the above! I work a sedentary job so I don't deal with daily pain anymore. But on weekends, Saturdays in particular, I am on my feet all day. On those days I sometimes have to take tramadol by mid-afternoon. And when we go on vacation and are walking all day, I take tramadol every day just to get through it. My husband and I love to go on vacations but this accident has forever changed vacations for me. Now they come with guaranteed pain. I had to buy a collapsible cane to bring with me just to get around the hotel rooms in the mornings before the tramadol kicks in. BTW--I only take tramadol on vacations and sometimes on Saturdays. Most days my feet are fine. So short answer--very long periods on my feet are what cause me pain (8+ hours at a time). Weather changes also cause pain. Sudden drops in temperature or rain will cause pain but that pain is never as bad as the being on my feet for hours pain. Weather pain is bearable. As for exercises--the biggest ones that cause me issues are yoga and barre poses. Not just the balance ones! I cannot stand on one leg at all anymore so any yoga balance pose has to be modified but even holding warrior poses for long periods will sometimes cramp the back foot. Also barre work where I am on my toes for long periods--even when holding a support--will cramp my feet very painfully.

As a side note--the drunk driver? He is a young man (19 at the time) and he had no insurance on his car. Even better? The police had pulled him over for something else just a few days earlier and didn't issue him a citation for not having insurance (it is a violation in my state).
 
Thanks ladies. I have never broken anything either until the accident. Then I broke everything! My heels were just the worst injury.
 
Gobias - Do you still feel remnants of the foot break with certain movements or activities or weather changes, etc? Or is it as if the break never happened? I remember having residual pain for a few months after the break. Then I would only get pain when the weather changed or I was on my feet all day and/or did a lot of walking. I also experienced weird cramping in my foot for several years. Just the one that had been broken; not the other one; so I knew it had to be related to the break. I had to look back to when I broke it because I couldn't remember (how sad is that). I broke it in November 2012. I haven't had the weird cramping since probably end of 2015. Today, occasionally if I put too much weight on the outside of that foot, I will feel slight pain/discomfort and it is just a reminder of the trauma. That foot is also wider now than my other foot with the way the bone grew back together. I think your pinky toe is used so much for balance and also acts as the springboard for motion so it actually probably holds the bulk of our weight. I think foot injuries also take a long time because there are so many small bones.

jengolf - totally agree that you are amazing and an inspiration to many on persevering and not giving up!
 
Yes, I broke most of the toes in my right foot running (not in a marathon) to answer the phone. I was in denial. It was three days before I had to graduate from university. I had worked really hard, I had a project to finish, without which I would not have graduated. So, like a fool, I walked on it for three days; so, I made it worse. I refused to believe that it was broken. I knew it hurt. I had cried in the fetal position for over a half an hour. I had spent my childhood having those kinds of injuries and being told that I was overly dramatic, that there was nothing wrong with me. (Baloney, I am prone to getting broken bones because I have a lower estrogen level than I should. That makes me more brittle. So, now I take evening primrose oil and vitamin e oil and vitamin D3. )

I missed that phone call.

So, after graduation, I went to the doctor, she sent me for x-rays. I said to the technician, "I don't think its broken." They didn't say anything. The results were that I was referred to the top sports injury surgeon in Roseville, she said that there was no bone for her to repair, that I had powdered it. She taught me how to wrap my toes and how to wear a boot. She recommended taking ibuprofen, she said that it would help with the healing, not just the pain. My GP at the time (a lovely man from Mexico city, I wish he hadn't left.) taught me to take vitamin D3, Ca, and colostrum. He said it would assist the bone repair. So, I wore a boot for 6 months. But, it was still a bit tender, and I was working as a custodian and lifting heavy bags of trash at work, 60 lbs each, up to 30 cans per hour. It was very hard work. I felt it in the foot, but I had to keep going because that was the only job I could get.

Fast forward 3 years, I re-broke the toes at work, hit a boulder with them, in the dark, and had to quit that job (someone else took the work.)

So, yep, they are deformed toes. But, hey I grew back bone!! And they work, I can move them and do yoga. I don't have any balance problems from that or any pain.

I hope that you feel better soon.
 
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