I hurt my toe

[I_UndergroundPanther]

Dropped a package of frozen chicken on it. From the freezer right down to my toe. It's my middle toe. Damn it hurts.

How can you tell if your toe is broken?

It really hurts.

[LizBeth]

1. It really hurts and I am sorry.

[Miguelito Loveless]

2. Unless, it is deformed

Or has a bone protruding, tape it to an adjacent toe (not tightly), and you should be fine. Then ice, and a strong does of an OTC pain killer.

Broken or badly bruised toes HURT, so staying off it, and going shoeless would help.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. If you can't move it normally, if it's not at a normal angle, or

if bruising develops down into your foot, it might be broken but you won't know for sure without an x-ray. The thing with broken toes, though, is that most of the time nothing can be done except you can tape it to an adjacent toe to keep it immobile. I broke a little toe last summer, and I figured it was broken because it was swollen and sticking out at a weird angle (also it hurt a bunch), and the whole side of my foot turned purple. I called the doctor's office and they said as long as it wasn't numb or cold it would be fine and heal normally if I taped it to the adjacent toe, which I did.

Ice it and elevate it so it won't swell up as much, and tape it up if it hurts to move it.

[Guilded Lilly]

8. Ditto. I've really banged up a toe and even with a Drs exam/prognosis...

They told me to tape the little painful broken bugger to the next toe and stay off of it the best I could.

I’m “feeling” your pain. No fun. Sorry.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

17. I can move it

It's purple though. The chicken fell on it around 7 pm. I had a sock on but it didn't hurt really bad so I assumed It was not going to be bad.
So I acted like all was ok.

I have a rather high pain threshold and I have a dissociative disorder and I think I numbed myself to it afterwards.

Now it's purple.

But the ice is helping and the taping.
My nail looks ok. Nothing is open. It's just purple. Only on half the toe.

[Crunchy Frog]

4. I think I broke a little toe several years ago when I

jumped in the shallow end of a pool and landed on it. It hurt for several months after. If your toe feels better relatively quickly, then it's probably not broken.

[Mr.Bill]

5. Take some Ibuprophen which will help with swelling and pain.

And liken others said, tape it to the toe next to it.

[canuckledragger]

9. Ibuprophen is good...but don't be like me.

I have bad acid reflux problems, and learned the hard way you don't take painkillers in general (long/short term) withought some food to go with it.

Wound up taking iIbuprophen for a few months almost daily, dealing with infected wisdom teeth that couldn't be pulled due to the Covid lock down stuff happening in Canada at the time. (no dentist visits unless for emergencies) Wound up causing week-long throwing up problems twice because of it!

[3catwoman3]

6. The above mentioned technique...

...is called buddy taping.

[LeftInTX]

7. Put ice on it now!

There isn't much you can do. They recommend buddy taping for fractures. Buddy taping limits mobility. However, my broken toes were my 1st and 5th. Check for bruising, it should tell you where the fracture is. If it appears to be within your foot, see a doctor. (As a matter of fact, you should probably get it x-rayed anyway, but it isn't an emergency)
Keep you foot immobilized and put ice on.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

10. Thanks everyone

Got the ice bag,ice and I gotta find some tape.

Thanks,seriously. Dunno what I'd do without DU.

[Quixote1818]

11. Are you sure it was you that did this?

Or was it Antifa?

[Maru Kitteh]

13. I heard it was AOC.

She's like, everywhere. Of course I could have mistaken her for George Soros.

[Niagara]

15. I was going to ask about the cat.

Even though our house is down to one cat now, our female cat gets really excited when we're in the kitchen making dinner and walks right in front of either one of us and almost tripping us in the process. It was really bad when we had two cats and making dinner.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

18. I am anti fascist

So I did it to myself..lol.

[Nevilledog]

22. ...

[I_UndergroundPanther]

23. Hahaha😹

[Niagara]

12. R.I.C.E.

Rest, ice, compression and elevation.


However, if you're diabetic, have heart disease, if the toe is bent at an angle or there's an open wound on your toe, I would definitely have a GP look at it. You can also take OTC painkillers and if they don't help ease your pain after a few days, please have a GP look at it.


Keep an eye on it and here's to a quick recovery for you.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

16. Got ice on it

Wrapped it to my other unhurt toe with bandaids loosely but not too loose.

The ice bag on my foot makes my whole body cold. It's a official ice bag with a fabric outside rubber inside with a screw on lid.

My toe started hurting in the evening after the initial pain went away I thought it was ok. My toe is purple. Purple isn't traveling up my foot thankfully. Popped 800 mg motrin. Eating some peanut butter and a few apple slices to put something in my belly so I can sleep.

Now it's hurting and cold lol.

[Niagara]

20. Glad that you have ice on it.

If the ice bag is too cold for you, it could be wrapped into a hand or dish towel to help diminish that cold feeling. Purple is normal for that type of injury and just keep a watchful eye on it.



I once spent the night over at friends house as a teenage and I sprained my ankle during my visit. I had to go to school all day with that painful injury and an unsightly black, blue and swollen ankle. I couldn't even tie my high top tennis shoes against my ankle. Eventually when I got home, my mom took me to Urgent Care and the doctor there said that I would have been better off breaking my ankle. I was on crutches for a long time. It was awful.

[RockRaven]

14. Is your *nail* messed up, purple, bleeding, etc? Or is it a non-tip injury, with/without bleeding?

Don't take medical advice from internet commenters. Seriously, don't. Don't!!!

That said, injuries to the furthest bit of a finger or toe are a bit different in medical literature than injuries to the closer finger and toe parts. The existence of the nail, and how deep it's origins and how that somewhat changes the likelihood of an infection happening when an injury occurs....

In the covid era, when going to the doctor/hospital is a regionally-variable hazard in itself one can hardly tell anyone else what the right thing to do is. Fortunately the internet is not too awash in woo-woo bullshit for traumatic injuries. You can decide what your local health care access situation is like (cost and risk) and weigh it against what you think the deal is with your toe.

I would suggest you decide for yourself what resources to rely on, but figure out what exactly seems to be hurting and what authoritative open-access references have to say about that.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

19. Will do.

[LeftInTX]

21. I would tape it on both sides: One piece of tape to the outer toes. Another piece to the inner toes

You probably don't have to tape it too tight since it is the middle toe. Tomorrow switch positions of the tape.
This is to prevent movement

[I_UndergroundPanther]

25. Looks like my toe is going to be fine.

Very faint. Don't need Motrin but took it anyway in case. Not swollen.
Nail looks normal,except it needs a little trim.
The foot looks and feels ok.

I think I dodged a frozen chicken bullet

I think everything's ok

[dawg day]

24. Tape it to the next toe...

That will help for the pain. Be sure to undo the tape in an hour or so so the toe doesn't get too compressed. But taping it for awhile will let you walk without much pain.