Broke Toe last night.... (Read 738 times)

Hello, Well last night I was carrying my 2 year old down the steps and we took a tumble. My first instinct was to protect her, so I was able to twist myself around so she would land on my chest. Well it worked out and she is fine, however when I looked down at my right foot, my toes were swollen. They swelled instantly. My first thoughts were of running! I'm up to 25 miles per week and training for my first half marathon on June 1st... My long run is up to 10 miles. But now I think my summer half isn't going to happen. I might have to sign up for one in the fall. After my fall the swelling got worse and the pain started. My husband took me to our medical facility and they said my toe was probably broken. They didn't do an xray because they said it wouldn't make a difference. They said that you can't really do anything for your toes, so they just taped my toe with another one and gave me some pain medicine. They also couldn't tell me how long it would take to heal. They said that I could be lucky and it could be better in two weeks, but usually these things take 6 weeks. I am so upset. If my toe takes 6 weeks to heal, then the half marathon is definitely a bust. If I can be running again in two weeks then I can probably build my mileage back up again and be prepared for it. Have any of you guys ever broken a toe? If so, how long did it take to heal and did you lose a lot of running fitness? I still plan on working out. I will try to do the bike at the gym and continue to lift weights. I'm also going to cut calories a little so I don't put on weight. It's not my big toe. It's the toe right beside it. The rest of my foot is fine. No pain. So I didn't injure my foot as well. My toe is very painful though. I can't move it at all and I have to walk with a limp. Oh and to top it all off, I just bought my Garmin 305 and LOVE IT....!!! Thanks, Gwin

The doctor really didn't tell me much. She said that I just had to be patient and let it heal. I let her know that I was a runner and kept asking when she thought I would be able to run again. She just said that she didn't know and these things can take a couple weeks or up to 6-8 weeks. The pain is really bad right now. I can barely walk on it. I did make it to work today but I have a really bad limp and I can't bend my toe at all. Even a little tiny movement causes a sharp pain. It's just so frustrating because everything was going smoothy. No running injuries, I was up to 27 mpw, long run was at 10 miles, I was starting two-a-days and that was working out well. Everything was falling into place and I would have been more than ready for the Half in June... But things can change in an instant Gwin

I broke my little toe when I banged it into a chair leg last August. The doctor recommended that I stop all swimming and running for two months which I did. I was really depressed about it and missed a 2.5k ocean swim and a long distance triathlon, both of which I had already paid entry fees that were non-refundable. But, I could do biking as long as it wasn't uphill. Or I could do weight training. The only thing the doctor could do is tape my toes together. I went every 2 weeks for an x-ray to have the healing process checked. What surprised me is that I did not gain weight despite hardly any exercise. On the good side, I had lots of free time to be with my husband and to do projects around the house that I had kept putting off because of lack of free time. Just think this, there's always another race and another chance. It's never too late to start re-training or start something new is what I always tell myself.

Gwinn, There is also a chance you may have significant soft tissue damage. Either way it takes time to heal. On your toe, can push on it a bit and really feel discomfort in a certain spot?

I had a broken toe in about the same location as you last year. The pain went away reasonably quickly (maybe 7-10 days), but I could not run for a little over 4 weeks. After 4 weeks the toe was not an issue in running, but building back up to the point where I left off in training was. Allow yourself at least 4 weeks to ramp back up to your training mileage. Unfortunately that doesn't leave you any time to prepare for your June 1 race, so you should consider cancelling that one. Or if you don't be EXTREMELY conservative and take it slow - consider Gallowalking it.