Damaged foot ligaments

[Jezza]

I'm not very happy. I went out for a long hike on Saturday and somehow twisted my left foot - not a conventional ankle-twist, but more toes going in one direction and heel going in the other. The last few miles home were quite painful and involved repeated stops and theatrical hobbling.

I went to the doc for an unrelated matter and he commented on it as I could hardly get up the stairs. He reckons I've either broken a metatarsal or strained some ligaments. His advice was see if it gets better. If it doesn't, go to A&E for an X-Ray.

It's now Wednesday, and it may have tentatively improved a little - not sure. I still can't walk very well. Partly this is just me not wanting to drive for an hour and then sit in A&E all day. If it is damaged ligaments, how long would they take to start improving?

In the mean time I'm embrocating with Tiger Balm and elevating it, and walking as little as possible. I can cycle reasonably well, which is a small consolation. Unfortunately they don't let you cycle round the local supermarket, so I have an agonising shopping trip coming up shortly.   
     

[Chris S]

In the mean time I'm embrocating with Tiger Balm and elevating it, and walking as little as possible. I can cycle reasonably well, which is a small consolation. Unfortunately they don't let you cycle round the local supermarket, so I have an agonising shopping trip coming up shortly.   

Get someone to push you round in the trolley?

Hope it gets better soon. RICE is your friend. Any swelling/bruising?

[little miss mac]

Sounds ghastly.
Could you do an internet shop and have it delivered instead, to save the agonising hobble?

[Greenbank]

I've got something similar from being kicked *hard* on the back of the ankle last night at 5-a-side football.

Last night and this morning I could barely put any weight on it. I had to use an umbrella as a walking stick to get around this morning. Getting a bit better now but I'm still hobbling badly.

Managed to sneak in to see a doc this morning (I was at the GPs getting some holiday jabs) and they confirmed it was just soft tissue damage. The recommendation was to ice it, elevate it and the occasional hot bath. 400mg of ibuprofen every 3-4 hours along with paracetamol. Gentle exercise (i.e. hobbling about) is better than resting as you need to get as much blood through the area as possible.

Should be good enough to play again next week.

One thing they did say was that radiation from an x-ray contributed more risk than the possibility of something being broken but not diagnosed properly.

[Sergeant Pluck]

One thing they did say was that radiation from an x-ray contributed more risk than the possibility of something being broken but not diagnosed properly

Interesting. I think this is perhaps a case of one of the (possibly valid) arguments against so-called "whole body scans" for asymptomatic individuals being taken too far.

The lifetime additional risk of cancer per examination for a simple X-ray of an extremity is thought to be less than 1 in 1,000,000.

[Edit: I am not for a moment suggesting you should have an X-ray. I'm just questioning the argument]

Hope both your respective joints heal ASAP.

[pcolbeck]

Hope it gets better soon Jezza. These things can be really painful. The tendons in my arches play up something rotten if I stretch wrong (feels like someone's stabbing the bottom of my foot) so I have an inkling what it's like.