Suspected broken foot?

[livbethemmerson]

Hi there,

About a week ago I fell down around 4 stairs and smacked my foot on the side of the wall and on the floor. It instantly swelled on the top part of my foot into a big lump and around the foot was swollen and bruised. I left it overnight and went to A&E (in the UK) where they took one look and decided to do an X-RAY.

Whilst the X-RAY was being done, it took longer than usual and I heard the radiographers chatting about it and they decided to get a second opinion from someone else. They did and then they sent me back to a&e where the doctor said they couldn't find a fracture so gave me some crutches and told me to try walk on it.

This was nearly a week ago, I am signed off work by my normal GP and given painkillers, however, I still can NOT walk on the foot, if so, its on the side of my foot but it really really hurts. It is still swelling up and still bruised, incredibly painful to touch.

The GP says she doesn't think they would of missed a broken bone on the X-RAY but it is so painful and sore I don't know what to do, do I go back to A&E and ask for another X-RAY?

Please can someone give me some advice.

Thank you in advance

[kenster1]

hi the swelling looks to have went down a fair bit so the xray probably and likely to have picked up any fractures or breaks.the foot is the worst area to be painful as we need to walk every day.just give it plenty of rest.

[hypercat54]

Hi you need to be patient as feet can take a long time to heal and certainly more than a week! Make sure you do RICE - rest, ice, compression, and elevation. Keep doing this as it will help it heal quicker. x

[johnsmith]

A total break would have been obvious on an x-ray. So possible hairline crack which should heal. Stress fractures are difficult to see on x-rays and could be problematic.

See:

orthoinfo.aaos.org/en/disea...

"

X-rays. X-rays provide images of dense structures, such as bone. Since a stress fracture starts as a tiny crack, it is often difficult to see on a first x-ray. The fracture may not be visible until several weeks later when it has actually started to heal. After a few weeks, a type of healing bone called callus may appear around the fracture site. In many cases, this is the point at which the fracture line actually becomes visible in the bone."

Quote from above website.

[katieoxo60]

Hi there, sorry you are in some pain it does take a long time for swelling and bruising to go down especially in the foot, even a sprained ankle can take months to truelly heal as it is difficult to rest the foot. Try the advice given above it does work given time. Give yourself more time to recover and take care.

[Sallyderek]

Hi I know two people who's breaks didn't show up straight away also my husband hurt his ankle like you and although he hadn't broken it he had torn ligaments etc and they put it in plaster for six weeks x

[Hidden]

Only an MRI will show up torn ligaments or tendons. I injured my ankle just before Easter this year and x-rays showed no bony injury. After 3 weeks a GP told me it would settle in another 4 weeks. After 14 weeks post injury another GP did the Thomson’s test, diagnosed a torn Achilles Tendon and referred me urgently to an orthodod. He confirmed that I had a torn Achilles Tendon and an MRI showed only 25% intact and a gap of 4cms in the rest. I have now been listed for a reconstruction involving a graft from the tendon of my big toe.

[Melbourne-Girl in reply to Hidden]

MRI’s & Ultssounds, even the best ones are limited in what they show up especially in certain parts of the body so Drs may have to go to signs, symptoms & pain levels. After falling 2 stories high (I had some existing neuro problems already and severe allergy problems) among the problems were very sir shoulders neck & top of spine. I had MRIs on both areas which showed limited damage. The Specualist that operated on me did my worse shoulder first & said surgeons never know exactly what they are facing until they operate & open you up. My left shoulder had every single tendon either split in 2 or torn straight through. I also had problems with ligaments, muscles and other things which he fixed. This did not show up on even the best MRI or Ultasound. He said it was one of the worse damages he had seen in that area & the operation took a few hours. He could not determine what damage was done from my Rheumo conditions or the fall, but I am pretty much normal in that area now.

I would also get another opinion if I were you.

I had to go to about 4 different orthopaedic surgeons before I knew that I had found the right one. In terms of him going to every avenue possible to fix or alleviate my problem. This man was a hand & shoulder Ortho the same as the others were. The first one I saw looked at my MRI & said there really isn’t anything wrong with you! I knew there was so kept persisting via my GP with referrals until I found the right one. Good luck with your quest,

Melbourne Girl

[Melbourne-Girl in reply to Melbourne-Girl]

Sorry Melbourne Girl again, I am having a bad flare in my symptoms at present & forget how to change spelling mistakes on line. I do this on a phone & sometimes my predictive text changes things. It is no Sir shoulders as they are yet to be knighted, it is sore shoulders. Also even though I do have inflamed nerves at times I meant to write Rhematology where Neurology is.

Take care

Melbourne Girl

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[Hidden in reply to Melbourne-Girl]

I have always found MRI scans, with or without contrast, to provide excellent evidence of problems. They informed surgery on a kidney tumour, neurosurgery on the c-spine and upcoming Achilles Tendon repair by graft.

[Melbourne-Girl in reply to Hidden]

Osidge it is very positive that you have had good results, diagnosis and treatments with your experience with MRI’s.

I too have seen many other people have positive experiences & treatments with MRI’s as I work in the medical area.

I was writing about my particul experience with an MRI on each of my shoulders & they showed up very little of my overall problems. I know this has happened with other people too. It depends a lot on what they are scanning (which area of the body ) etc MRI’s have made a huge positive difference since they came on the market, compared with what we had before.

My comment simply said they do not give 100% of the information in some cases such as mine where it would have been 5%

of my overall problems. They are not the holy grail & if a patient gets a response from an MRI saying everything is either normal or minimal problems were seen and that patient’s life is totally changed. & they are in a lot of pain in the area that they are seeking diagnosis & help on they need to keep seeing specialists until they find one that will not let go of it until they have found out what is wrong & they are treated accordingly.

Best wishes

Melbourne-Girl

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[Imagine1 in reply to Hidden]

I think this has happened to me. I have been left in agony for 17 months having had a nasty fall at home. I was told it wasn't broken even though the x ray showed it was. I received no treatment and it has certainly got worse. I have problems now with my big toe joint, it is swollen and very sore and there looks to be a bone sticking out. I was told it is because I can't walk properly and I am walking on my toe joint. I can't walk because the casualty department left me with no treatment, just a permanent limp.

[Debbs73]

Hi. Yeah if your still in pain I'd be going bk to hospital in the morning for another opinion as from what your saying it doesn't sound good. 🤔

[ssdw1958]

I know how pain full that is because I fractured my foot I did a stupid thing I jumped over a kids Barbie car a fractured my foot. I went to the hospital and I did have a fracture my also huts soooo bad. Did you and are you putting ice on it you need too it will help. Put it up. Maybe you might want to have another extra since they were not sure 🤔. It’s your foot you could just say it hurts so bad you would like to have another look at it. Maybe even see a foot doctor if they say it’s not broken it would put your thought to rest.

I know I am rambling sorry 😐 but look 👀 into what is going on, but I do know it will take awhile.

Good luck to you.

[ssdw1958]

I’ve been thinking about you I hope you have found a doctor that knows what is going on with your foot.

CarPlease take care of your self.

[gbrickhouse]

Going through the same thing, but was told I just sprained my foot by my Dr. and I hobbled on it for 4 1/2 weeks before I couldn't bear the pain anymore and went to the ER where they shot off about 10 Xrays, discovering a break in a very bad area, am supposed to not bear any weight on it, but I find that impossible. it looks like there's going to have to be surgery done on it if it doesn't heal by itself, which my Dr. has his doubts, so it doesn't look good!

[ssdw1958 in reply to gbrickhouse]

OK I’m gonna try to do this again I’ve tried writing this about four times I just want to say I hope your foot heals without having to have surgery I have had three bad falls before and after having been diagnosed with MS they all hurt so bad. I know this is easier said than done but try to stay off your foot and apply ice for an ice pack. Good luck to you. And try to have a good day.

[Melbourne-Girl in reply to gbrickhouse]

gbrickhouse I am sorry that you had to through such incompetence before you found the correct diagnosis. It is incredibly frustrating and something that I think we could all relate to.

Hopefully it will not require surgery but either way I am sure you are getting good follow up after your visit to ER. Ask them when it will be possible to wear a moon boot as this will help you mobilise without causing damage. I hope that you know what I mean as I’m Australian and sometimes we have differing names for the same thing,

You get some wonderful advice from contributors on this site eg: ice it & elevate it, no one can assume that we all know this or if we do we may be in so much pain it’s a helpful reminder.

Keep us in touch with your progress, I hope it all goes well now

All the best

Melbourne Girl

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[gbrickhouse in reply to gbrickhouse]

This will be my 7th surgery and im only 55! This sucks!

[Melbourne-Girl in reply to gbrickhouse]

So it sounds like you are going to have to have surgery gbrichouse? Are the surgeries all to do with the problem that you have posted? I hop that whatever approach they take it fixes your problem. Was it the ER that you visited who referred you to a Surgical Specialist? I hope it was as you finally got seen by someone who gave you a proper diagnosis and most probably they also will have had empathy for the totally wasted visits to other Drs & would refer you accordingly.

Best of luck with hopefully the last surgery for existing problem

Melbourne-Girl

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[gbrickhouse in reply to Melbourne-Girl]

Thanks for the message, I have never had surgery on my foot, the other surgeries were to both my arms, Bariatric surgery, 2 knees, and surgery on my ankle. So, I have really had enough surgeries to last a lifetime! Just unlucky with some diseases that you have to have them, like my 2 arms, I have Neuropathy in both my hands and my pinky and ring finger were numb one day when I woke up, I just thought I sleep on them wrong, but it didn't go away for about a month, so I went to see a neuropathy Dr. and they had to take the funny bone nerve, about 10 inches of it and put it under some muscle because it was so damaged. I had the same thing happen to my other arm about a year afterward, and I knew I had to go be seen, and they did the same surgery, but this time, the nerve was longer. If I didn't have those surgeries, my fingers would have curled up and I wouldn't be about to use them. I still have the numbness in both my hands, it takes a nerve a tremendous amount of time to rejuvenate itself. So there is my life surgery story! Hope you're doing well!

[Melbourne-Girl in reply to gbrickhouse]

Hi G sorry to hear you are having such a go of it. I hope that your surgery will totally fix your damaged foot. I know what you mean by damaged nerves taking so long to heal & re generate as one of the surguriesvI had in my 20’s involved my nerves & I thought that they would never heal! About 2 years later I had finally gotten my feeling back! I had my first surgery on my eye when I was nine and I have had 12 surgeries since. This includes 6 surgeries a few year ago after I fell 2 stories high!

I just kept telling myself that each surgery was essential for me to be the best that I could be. Among these surgeries were 2 emergencies where you call 000 in Australia (I know each country has itsbown emergency call centre).

Good luck with your surgeries, even though after nerve surgery it can take so long to heal that you begin to think it hasn’t worked!!

I have been having a relapse of my symyoms lately which has not been helped by a serious fall on my stairs & along with other damage 3 broken ribs, then 3 days after this my mother passed away unexpectedly and I had to travel interstate for her service etc. I stayed with my daughter who was very depressed (we are a close family) and then arrived home and she became suicidal so I have had to help manage her grief as well as my own. I’m sure this stress has not helped re my relapse and I can start feeling my ribs improving which is good. No one looking at me would think I had anything wrong with me,

All the best with your foot, I will be thinking of you

Melbourne-Girl

[Sazntef]

You don't need to go to A&E for cm xray, you can ask your GP to refer you for one, waiting time is low as you can get straight in same day. No need to go to A&E unless there is an immediate risk to life.

[Hidden]

My injuries on foot still ongoing after 18 months but I had 2 surgeries on it