Broken toe joint still swollen a year later - do I just ignore it?

[Pinkrabitt]

I'm pretty sure I broke my toe a year ago. Dropped something heavy on my foot and second toe went black and was really painful to walk on. Saw a pharmacist who said just to put strapping on it as that's all the hospital would do for a broken toe anyway. It took a really long time to stop hurting and then I whacked it on the edge of the bath! Not sure if I rebroke it as there was no bruising but it hurt to walk on for ages again.

Anyway, a year later and the toe joint is still swollen. It's hard rather than soft, less movement in the joint than the other foot and sometimes aches a bit. I sometimes get a weird tingly feeling in it when the swollen bit rubs against my big toe.

Is there any point in seeing a doctor about it? I asked chat gpt and it said I should get it xrayed and it might need surgery! I really doubt it but the weird tingly feeling in it is making me wonder if I should see the GP.

Of course you go to the GP. I was running on a broken toe after a month. And 4 months after a broken ankle.
The longer you leave it the worse it will be as you get older.

So you broke it the first time and did nothing and then you recently broke it again and are still thinking of doing nothing about it?
Do you always ignore taking care of yourself? You know OP, you matter just as much as the next person!
It sounds like you need to have an x -ray.

Go see your GP and tell him how long you have been suffering. Don't let anyone fob you off .

I have done this too, in case you are wondering. ;)

Might it be arthritis? I'd get it looked at.

I didn't do nothing. As I said, I went to the pharmacist who told me to strap it as even if it was broken that's all the hospital would do about it.

The second time I hit it I don't think I broke it again but it hurt! I was out of the country when I did it and it had improved a lot once I got home.

Even if I had gone to hospital at that point they would have just told me to strap it, which is what I did.

It's now a year later and there is still some hard swelling. I was kind of assuming the GP wouldn't be interested.

Around 3 months ago I broke my little toe. I googled it and it said they won't do anything for a broken toe at A&E unless it was your big toe. So I just let it heal, I didn't even strap it but it took ages to heal. It was painful for 8 weeks or so. It's only now that it's stopped hurting really. But it's still double the size of my other little toe so I guess it's just going to be like that forever now.

That's interesting you had the same experience. I'm quite active so I wonder if my toe just wasn't still enough even with strapping to heal properly.

I broke my second toe once. It gruisde in a black ring around it and took a fun year to heal. I broke my 4th toe last summer and while it was painful it took only q few months to stop hurting- maybe 6. I did not do anything about either. Painful and tedious and they're both achy but not particularly swollen since

Following with interest as I've broken my middle 3 toes on left foot about 6 weeks ago. Currently have only 2 pairs of shoes I can wear, toes are swollen and painful.

No x-ray here either as all advice was for if it was big toe. I had it strapped to each other for 4 weeks but it wasn't making a difference.

Pain is now extending along the outer side of my foot and to my heel and Achilles tendon which is affecting my walking..

I've seen GP about this when I was there for other things and advice was if it's still causing pain in 3 months time, I can be referred for an x-ray. You are not alone op.

I dropped something heavy on my foot and I couldn't feel anything properly for years . I never went about it, because I was young and stupid and thought I had more important things to do. 🙄

OP, please look after yourself.

The little toe on my left foot is still very sore and swollen a month after I stubbed it hard on the edge of my bed - and I’m fairly sure I can feel a bone splinter poking up.

This only a couple of weeks after I broke a rib for the second time and did nothing about it.

Solidarity for the clumsy people who look after everyone else but don’t look after themselves.