Any orthopaedic specialists around? Broken foot.

[BrokenFoot]

I managed to break my foot a couple of weeks ago, first metatarsal I think. Saw a few different doctors with slightly differing opinions, but the last one I saw was pretty adamant that there is just a single fracture, not displaced, and no dislocation.

He was really unhelpful and dismissive though and I didn't really get a chance to ask any questions or get a good idea of how I should expect the recovery to go.

IT isn't in a cast as was very swollen initially. The swelling has gone down a lot but it is still swollen and there is alot of pooled bruising around my toes, heel and sole of my foot. I have a Velcro shoe to wear, not the boot.

I've read what I can online (I know! But I was given virtually no info at all). Some places seemed to say rest it completely, keep it elevated, when I have to walk just use my heel etc. but I did see the odd thing suggesting weight bearing might help.

One doctor said recovery was very much wait and see, if there was no pain I could try driving or swimming (I swim regularly and was in training for an open water swim) and if it felt sore just stop and try again a few days later. He also said once the swelling had gone down I could wear a shoe if it felt comfortable. The second doctor said not to attempt anything for at least 6 weeks.

Both doctors, as far as I understood it, said I couldn't make the break worse by any activity but a physio I know said I could make it worse by putting pressure on it.

Basically I am wondering what I should and shouldn't be doing and what sort of progress I should see in terms of recovery. It wasn't too sore when I first did it but my foot is now quite sore around the ball of my foot near my toes, and the outside of my heel. This could be from holding my foot in an unnatural position when hobbling, or could it be directly related to the injury?

Should I be doing any exercises to help it? I just rotate my ankle a bit but don't want to stretch it too much in case that would make it worse.

I have posted in chat too as I know it gets more traffic. Thanks.

Oh and in case it is relevant, it was an impaction injury, I dropped a timber sleeper on it!