10 Broken Toe Symptoms

By albert

Reviewed: Dr. Gromatzky

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Toes are important for maintaining balance, walking, and running, but you probably take them for granted until one of them is fractured or sprained. And this happens more often that you might imagine.

As a matter of fact, in 2007, out of the 117 million visits to the emergency departments in the United States, 14.6 percent were lower extremity injuries and 36 percent of these lower extremity injuries were broken toes.

Broken toe injury occurs as a result of falls, dropping objects on the toe, or stress. While they have some similarities, a broken toe is different from a sprained toe. Below are the 10 most common broken toe symptoms.

Symptom #1: Throbbing Pain

With a broken toe comes severe throbbing pain. This is one of the first broken toe symptoms that you are likely to notice because it is impossible to ignore throbbing pain. Even before you know whether your toe is broken or not, it helps to apply ice to the toe and keep it elevated until you can see a doctor.

The pain is usually excruciating and won’t go away easily. However, the ice will help reduce it. Keeping the foot with the injured toe elevated prevents blood from rushing into it, which also helps to lessen the throbbing pain. If you still cannot stand the pain, you can take some over-the-counter pain medication as you head to a doctor.