Ow. my foot

ANTVGM64

So I was walking home from a party two weeks ago, and I guess I stepped in a ditch, or landed on my foot awkwardly. It went sideways (so that step I was taking on the left side of my left foot) and hurt like a mother fucker.

I woke up the next day, there wasn't any bruising, but the entire outside part of my foot hurt like hell. A few days later a bruise developed around my toes and in the area where my foot becomes my leg. It seemed to get better, but now it hurts like hell when I first put weight on it. It gets better as I walk, but it's a pain in the butt.

I don't have insurance, so I want to make sure it's not just a simple sprain or something before seeing a doctor

Eat it You Nasty Pig.

probably rolled your ankle

just ice it and try not to walk around on it too much

Movitz

If it still hurts like hell after two weeks it's probably more than a sprain. I'm going to guess a small fracture, like a crack. The bones around the toes are pretty thin and fragile.

The solution to that is to keep it bandaged for support and give it some more time to heal. Buuuuut if it's something more serious you might end up with it healing badly and be limp for the rest of your life. As a non-american I cannot weigh the cost of seeing a doctor uninsured vs the risk, since I don't know the cost.

Eat it You Nasty Pig.

oh, two weeks

that probably isn't a roll or other minor sprain, then. The fact that the bruise isn't localized is sort of a red flag, too.

If you have full mobility right now (just with pain) then you probably haven't done any major damage, but you should still get it looked at. If you're in a fairly well populated area there are probably free-ish clinics around that could at least diagnose you pretty cheaply.

Belruel

make sure you still ice it, and that means 20 minutes of ice on it constantly, then removed for a bit, and put it on again sever times a day. many people seem to think they can take the ice off once they get a bit chilly haha.

i had a hairline fracture in the growth plate of my elbow when i was younger, and all the doctors did was put my arm in a halfcast for a few months, generally there isn't much they will do except tell you that you have a fracture (if it is one) and maybe give you a cast of some sort. if the pain continues after you avoid putting pressure on it and are icing it regularly though, go see a doctor.

Erandus

You can alternate heat and ice on it. Heat for bloodflow, ice to combat swelling. Tylenol is a pretty crappy pain reliever, but it's better than nothing.

I broke my ankle in the exact same way, rolling my left foot hard to the left, and I bruised down by my toes on the top of my foot just the same as you are. I'm not saying it's broken, but it's possible. Stay off it as much as you can, wrap it when you absolutely must walk on it.

Slider

Yes, definitely try to stay off of it. A few months ago, I sprained my ankle jogging and, rather than treat it like an injury, I tried to ignore it. I would go home and ice it, but continued to run on it.

It took about 2-3 months for it to stop hurting and regain normal movement and flexibility.

elfdude

Undoubtedly a sprain or a hyperextension.

Ankles are very sensitive and you may have to deal with joint pain for years after getting a sprain or a hyperextension. If the swelling doesn't go down or you can't put any pressure on it (broken bones give you the type of pain that makes you pass out) then you might have something more to deal with but it's doubtful that would have happened and you would have been able to walk home because you would've noticed it instantly.

The best thing you can do is try and brace your foot and try to avoid stretching the tendons too much. If you keep trying to walk off a sprain you can make it significantly worse and keep it from healing properly.

Alternating hot and cold on it can help but in reality all you can do is take some pain killers and try and stay off of it.

Movitz

elfdude wrote: »

Undoubtedly a sprain or a hyperextension.

Ankles are very sensitive and you may have to deal with joint pain for years after getting a sprain or a hyperextension. If the swelling doesn't go down or you can't put any pressure on it (broken bones give you the type of pain that makes you pass out) then you might have something more to deal with but it's doubtful that would have happened and you would have been able to walk home because you would've noticed it instantly.

The best thing you can do is try and brace your foot and try to avoid stretching the tendons too much. If you keep trying to walk off a sprain you can make it significantly worse and keep it from healing properly.

Alternating hot and cold on it can help but in reality all you can do is take some pain killers and try and stay off of it.

This statement is dumb. Not because it is untrue, which it is, but because the OP might believe it and assume he's got nothing broken and keep on walking on the foot.

Breaking bones does not make you pass out from the pain. You could easily walk around with a fractured bone in your toes thinking "God, my shoes are uncomfy"

Eat it You Nasty Pig.

yeah, that is dumb. It's very easy to break a lot of parts of your foot and still walk around on it.

Ideally you would brace and pad your ankle to immobilize it while it heals (i.e. medical boot), but I doubt that's something you can do outside of medical attention.

peil

There is every chance it could be broken. I broke my right foot dancing at a rather bad night out.
Managed to get home, but woke up at 5am and ended up in A&E getting a cast fitted.

Seriously, get it checked out