Sprained Toe Vs Broken Toe: How to Tell the Difference
The funny thing about the toe is that it has a lot of nerve endings, when compared to how small it is. What this means is that when you hurt your toe from say stubbing it on a coffee table, having something heavy drop on top of it, among others, then the pain one feels is usually so intense. One is usually left to wonder why something as minor as stubbing one’s toe can be that painful, but that is the way that particular cookie crumbles. An injury to the toe comes with the sort of pain that will have even the toughest people yelling out in pain. Of course, it is not only due to the amount of pain that one would want to avoid injuring their toes. This is because an injury to the toe can have a significant impact on your daily life as it is the sort of injury that can make the mundane activities such as walking, engaging in sports and exercise, driving extremely painful if not completely impossible. However, given how exposed the toes are, they are usually susceptible to injury. However, given the pain associated with just stubbing a toes, it can be difficult to tell the extent of the injury and whether it is strained or broken. This article will look to help out on that by highlighting how one can tell the difference between the two.
The first angle that will enable us tell whether one has a broken toe or a sprained one is by taking a look at the part of the toe that is injured as far as these two is concerned, especially from a medical point of view. When it comes to a sprained toe, what this means is that one has sustained injuries to the ligaments around the toe. These are the ligaments that are found in the joint on the toes. The most affected joints as far as sprained toes are concerned are those that are found at the middle of the toe. Sprained toes, while being quite painful, may also not be enough to prevent one from walking or putting weight on the affected foot. On the other hand, a broken toe means that there is a bone break as far as the bones in the toe are concerned; also referred to as a fracture. This requires immediate medical attention to avoid medical complications like hammer toe, deformity among others, all of which are covered in detail by the subject matter experts over at frontlineer.com.
Next up, as far as telling the difference between these two we are going to take a look at the symptoms associated with them. First off, we are going to look at a sprained toe, and the symptoms that indicate one may have sprained their toe include bruising, tenderness, swelling as well as stiffness of the injured toe. One also experiences pain when they try to move or wiggle the affected toe. Other symptoms include pain when walking as well as throbbing of the injured toe. Pain as far as a strained toe is concerned depends on the severity of the injury since injury to the ligaments may range from slight bruising to a tear. As far as the symptoms that indicate that one may have suffered a broken toe, the common ones include severe tenderness, swelling, bruising and throbbing of the injured toe. Other additional symptoms include a burning or tingling sensation on the affected toe, numbness, very limited range of motion or even complete inability to move the affected toe, a popping or cracking sound at the time of injury, persistent severe pain that won’t go away even after a number of days as well as visible bone and even bleeding in some instances among other symptoms, all of which are covered in detail over at frontlineer.com by the subject matter experts over there.
The other angle through which we can be able to tell the difference between a sprained toe from a broken one is by taking a look at the treatment and healing time associated with both of them. Starting with a sprained toe, if you suffer one you can have it treated with home remedies for the most part which involves employing the R.I.C.E technique which basically involves resting, icing, compression and elevation of the injured toe as well as the foot with the injured toe. For severe cases of a sprained toe, those involving torn ligaments, taping the injured toe together with the toe next to it and putting on a walking boot for a period between three to six weeks should do the trick. Broken toes are treated through immobilizing the injured toe by placing it in a cast or a boot. Resetting the placement of the bone may also be required for severe fractures, as well as surgery. If there was a wound, either due to bone breaking the skin, antibiotics may be required to prevent infection. One may also have to make use of crutches until the bone heals, which may be between six to eight weeks, with more on this to be found over at frontlineer.com.
Hopefully, this article will help you be able to differentiate better between a sprained toe and a broken one, with more on this and other related topic to be found over at frontlineer.com.
