I don’t need to see anyone about a broken toe do I!?

[LyndzB]

I think I’ve broken my toe. It’s badly bruised and a little swollen and has been painful to walk on for two weeks. Am I right in thinking I don’t need to see a doctor about it? There’s not much they can do for toes even if they are broken!

You do. Big toes are vital for walking power, other toes for balance and setting wrongly can cause pain and problems for the rest of your life, especially if the fracture is displaced in some way.

Unless it's your big toe that's broken you don't need to see a doctor. It can take weeks for the pain to go, you need as much rest as possible and painkillers.

I broke the toe next to my big toe, extremely painful 😖. I iced it up and elevated my foot whenever possible. I broke it jumping off a boat whilst on holiday 🙄 This was years ago and it’s fine now.

Only if it's the big toe, or if it's a little toe that is obviously misshapen.

I broke my big toe and just left it. It was in lockdown though so I couldn’t be bothered with the hassle. If it happened now, I’d get it looked at.

I broke my toe next to the big toe. Just put ice on it and strapped it to the next toe for a few days.

I’ve broken both big toes at different times.Went to A&E and they didn’t do anything, just sent me home to rest it.

Same here but this was decades ago TBF. I would personally want it looked at though to check it's not a serious break.

Agreed. I did go and get them checked.

I broke my third toe and went to a walk in clinic in January. They confirmed it was broken and said the best thing for it was to carry on walking on it.

Big toes definitely need looking at but if you’ve been walking about on it for a couple of weeks I doubt anybody will do much for it now .

@LyndzB just go get the once over to put your mind at rest. I fractured my metartrsal it was v painful but for weeks I just dragged myself around on it in agony until one day it swelled up so thought better go to GP who immediately sent me to A&E for X-ray was told I was lucky it wasn’t healing in misalignment or anything but was good to know at least I was being monitored now. Just go to let your GP visually check and decide if maybe needs X-ray and also I imagine it would be good to get it recorded on your medical notes in case it’s useful to know for any future issues anywhere.

I’d get it checked to make sure if it’s broken and if it is seated properly. I know people who’ve had broken toes not heal properly and it’s caused problems down the road. One is due surgery as the body put down far too much bone during healing, causing joint problems. Sometimes they need to reset the bone so it heals more cleanly.