When my now-20-year-old daughter was three months old, I broke the small toe on my right foot. My husband and I were going out for dinner for the first time since her birth and being home with her and my then-2-year old was driving me nuts. So, we found a trusted sitter and we were going to go out.

While we were waiting for her to come, I was playing with my son and chasing him in circles around the kitchen and living room. I smashed my foot against his toy stove and broke my little toe. Hard. The problem was – I still wanted to go out! I knew that they don’t do much for broken small toes and I needed this night out really badly. So, we went out anyway.

Our original plan was to have the buffet, but I couldn’t stand or walk very far, so I stayed put. I remember that my foot was hurting but I wasn’t going to let that interfere. Thinking back, I really must have been desperate for that night out. After the dinner, we got home, paid the sitter, saw her home safely and then decided what to do. We figured that I’d go to the emergency in the morning after I’d nursed my daughter and that’s what I did. I was right. They didn’t do anything for my toe other than tape it up. And, because I was breastfeeding, there wasn’t a whole heck of a lot I could do about the pain.

So, should you see a doctor if you thing you broke your toe? It is always best to be safe than sorry. MedicineNet.com recommends that you see a doctor if you have a compound fracture (bone breaking through the skin), you lose feeling in your toe or it gets cold, if the pain gets worse instead of better over time, or if there’s bleeding or drainage from the toe.

Going to the doctor in my case wasn’t necessary, but sometimes you just don’t know what to do. On the MedicineNet site, they say that if you don’t need to see a doctor because you don’t have any of the issues mentioned above, you can likely treat your toe yourself by resting it, elevating it, and using ice packs to reduce the swelling.

Taping may be done, which means taping the broken toe to the neighbor toe to provide some support. This should be done carefully though because if you put the tape too tight, you can cut off the circulation to both toes. Be sure to put a bit of gauze or cotton between the two toes to prevent rubbing and blistering.

Wearing shoes is going to be hard. The temptation is to wear open toe shoes, but this can expose your toe to more trauma if you hit it or if someone steps on it. Try to wear a sturdy shoe that can protect your toe.

Sometimes, toe fractures are more serious and need reduction, or movement to put the bone back into place. This is usually painful and the doctor may give you some local anesthetic to help reduce the pain. If reduction is done, often you’ll get a splint.

Casts are very rarely needed. They may be used if there are more fractures than just the toe or if there are other problems that require the stability of a cast.

We don’t think about our toes much – until they hurt. And then they have a great way of reminding us that they’re still part of us!

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Images: iStock.com

Tags: pain blog, broken toes, taping toes

Post from: Blisstree

Have you ever had a broken toe?

Those are just some of the questions many men and women have about bone density tests and often they remain unanswered. Did you know that not just women should have the test, but men over the age of 70 should too? And that both men and women should have the test if they take medications that are known to cause bone mass loss, like corticosteroids (prednisone)?

Here is a video that shows you what exactly a bone density test is (called a DEXA scan). Just click on the TV screen to watch it:

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Image: iStock

Tags: pain blog, osteoporosis, thinning of the bones, corticosteroids, prednisone, DEXA scan, bone density test

Post from: Blisstree

So, what exactly is a bone density test?

Off to the hospital for an x-ray and the doctor in emergency said she thought it was broken, but she wasn’t sure, so she sent me home with just an ace bandage and told me to come back the next day. So, I did. The radiologist looked at my x-ray and said, yup, broken and they casted my foot with a heavy walking cast.

About a week later, I was out of town and my ankle was getting more and more painful. I could feel it pushing against the cast and I couldn’t sleep because it hurt so much. I went to a local hospital there where my foot was x-rayed and the emergency room doctor rushed to rip off my cast as quickly as he could. My ankle was never broken. It was a very bad sprain.

To this day, I blame my tendency to twist that ankle easily to the damage the cast did to my ankle. That cast was *heavy* and it definitely wasn’t helping my foot, considering how much pain I was in and how it was worsening.

Anyway, that whole story was to tell you that I have to admit, I was quite surprised to read of this study that recommends casting for severe ankle sprains. The U.K. study, published in this week’s issue of the Lancet, found that patients who had severe ankle sprains healed faster if they had a below the knee cast, for 10 days, than if they had it traditionally wrapped.

The Bledsoe Boot didn’t fare quite as well in the study. While there was a 9% improvement among patients with below knee casts (over wrapping) and an 8% improvement with an Aircast,  the Bledsoe Boot only showed a 6% improvement, which the researchers didn’t consider to be significant.

What I’d like to know is if the cast was a walking cast or a regular one. I know that walking casts are much heavier than traditional ones – that I learned from experience!

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Images: iStock

Tags: pain blog, sprained ankle, severe ankle sprain, casts, bledsoe boot, aircast

Post from: Blisstree

Casting for an ankle sprain?

It’s a painful injury and without the tendon to control your heel, you can’t walk. Lang has had surgery that’s been reported to be a success. Let’s  hope so, because if you’re a Habs fan, you know that Lang is desperately needed right now!

Here are some resources for you on the topic of Achilles tendon injuries:

• Everything About Achilles Tendons
• Arthroscopy.com
• AAOS

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Tags: montreal canadiens forward robert lang, forward robert lang, robert lang achilles tendon, habs fan

Post from: Blisstree

Severed Achilles tendon for Montreal Canadiens’ forward Robert Lang

Orthopedic injuries, particularly to the back and knees are turning out to be particularly troublesome for the U. S. army as the troops carry heavy combat equipment that protect their body from injury. The accumulated weight of the armor, including helmet, is up to 35 pounds. Once you add weapons, ammunition, water, food and communications gear, this range from 97 to 135 pounds. The recommended carrying weight is 50 pounds. And, it’s reported that soldiers in Afghanistan regularly carry 130 to 150 pounds for three-day missions,

For troops in high altitudes, such as the mountains of Afghanistan, the heavy weight of the equipment they wear, plus all they carry, can cause back and knee pain, making the "undeployable." After all, you can’t be an effective fighter if you’re battling a bad back or walking on bum knees.

The Washington Post had a very interesting story on this issue and includes information from soldiers who have been affected by this. It’s definitely worth taking the time to read: Weight of Combat Gear Is Taking Toll

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Tags: pain blog, back pain, knee pain, orthopedic injuries to soldiers, heavy combat equipment

Post from: Blisstree

Heavy combat equipment causing acute orthopedic injuries to soldiers

The statistics were obtained by studying soccer (boys and girls), volleyball (boys and girls), basketball (boys and girls), football, baseball, and softball.

Strains and sprains make up 37% of the shoulder injuries, dislocations 24%, bruises and scrapes 12%, and fractures 7%. Six percent of all shoulder injuries needed surgery, with wrestling injuries being the most common one for surgical correction.

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Tags: pain blog, shoulder injuries, injure shoulders, dislocated shoulders

Post from: Blisstree

Teen boys injure shoulders in sports more than girls

Here’s another one: A study, published in Arthritis & Rheumatism (Arthritis Care & Research), found found that when patients had better outcomes from surgery if they agreed with their surgeons about the importance and benefits of undergoing a knee replacement.

Ok, so now I have images of patients being dragged kicking and screaming into the operating room as their doctors prepare to perform the knee surgery on an unwilling patient.

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Tags: pain blog, knee replacements

Post from: Blisstree

Another “huh?” study: Knee replacements work bests when patients/doctors agree

Winter has returned strong enough to freeze the canals, allowing the people of the Netherlands to once again don their skates and zoom around on the ice as they did generations before. There’s just one problem. They’re out of practice!

According to this article, Dutch skaters a little rusty, in the Montreal Gazette, Dutch skaters have been falling and breaking or spraining limbs, sending many of them to local emergency rooms.

But, at least, they were having fun, right?

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Tags: pain blog, dutch, hans brinker

Post from: Blisstree

Dutch out of skating practice: fractures pile up

It’s known that brittle or thinning bones often has their root in a diet – of years before – too low on calcium and vitamin D, but it can be caused by other things. For example, if you have a disease or long-term illness that forces you to take a steroid, like prednisone, you are at higher risk of developing brittle bones. Now, researchers have found that other illnesses, like Parkinson’s disease, can do the same thing.

People with Parkinson’s disease tend to be on the thin side and don’t move around very much because they have difficulty. This can result in a loss of bone mass, making them thinner and more brittle.

This article describes the issue and what doctors feel may help people with Parkinson’s avoid the brittle bone problem as much as possible: Parkinson’s disease puts bones, joints at risk.

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Tags: pain blog, parkinson’s disease, brittle bones, thinning bones

Post from: Blisstree

People with Parkinson’s may also have weaker bones

The hip is a complicated joint. It’s a ball-and-socket joint that takes a tremendous amount of stress from body weight and movement. That’s why many people who have osteoarthritis, the so-called wear-and-tear arthritis, have it in their hip or hips.

I feel badly for Marian Gaborik. I know that he’s made a ton of money already as a hockey player, but he was going to take his chances as a free agent and at the age of 26, he should have had a good few years left to play hockey. Here’s to wishing him a complication-free surgery and a quick recovery.

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Tags: pain blog, Marian Gaborik, right winger Marian Gaborik, minnesota wild hockey player Marian Gaborik, Marian Gaborik hip pain, Marian Gaborik hip surgery

Post from: Blisstree

Minnesota Wild right winger Marian Gaborik needs hip surgery