I'm just wondering cuz I have never broken a toe before but I think I did the other day. I walked my baby toe into my parents oak coffe table and heard a sickening crunch. It hurts to touch it and it hurts to walk a little too.

My dad says I just sprained it, but I have never sprained anything that felt like this before!

Over the last to days the toe has gone from being black and blue, to just black, to being a couple of shades of red and purple, now today its black, purple and red. :o :P

Did I sprain it or did I break it? I confused! :-/

Rio

The rule-of-toe (HA!) is that if you can voluntarily wiggle it, it's simply a sprain, but the fact that it's bruising could mean either A) it's just bruised or B) your toe is fractured and stuff is swimming there to try to heal it.  Either way, if it doesn't clear up in the next couple of days, I suggest making an appointment to the doctor or just go to the ER.

I broke my little toe about a year and a half ago.  Like you, I heard the crack sound and the pain was really bad.  I hobbled around for a few days before I decided to go have it checked out.  They didn't do anything except tape it to the next toe.  Big waste of time & money.  

Good luck - hope it feels better soon.  Mine took about 4 weeks for it to stop hurting.

I broke my big toe several years back by trying to kick a ball in the house barefoot and my toe hit the carpet and bent back and snapped.  It caused me a lot of pain and with minutes it was as purple as a plum.  I couldnt put a shoe on for 24 hours and even after that it was an adventure to get it on.  After the most of the brusing had gone away and the pain had subsided, something else happened.  I started to hurt just to move my foot much less the toe and moving the toe was completely out of the question as that would send me through the roof.  My mom believe that it was a joint infection caused by the break.  That lasted about 2 or 3 days and then once that went away I didnt have any more pain or anything from that toe.  I never went to the doctor at any point with this, but I am pretty sure I broke it from the way it looked afterwords and I heard something snap when I did it and the only thing that could have made that snapping sound would have been my toe.

Yep Rio it definately sounds like it broke.

My little toe is so crooked because as a kid I was forever cutting corners when I walked - usually thru the edges of brick walls (my dad is grateful I dont drive!!).  I was forever coming home with a snapped toe.  

Big toes are MUCH harder to break - I have unintentionaly tested this theory a few times !!

How easy is it to break your toe?

Fairly easy...just get a hammer and go...WHACK!!

Seriously, breakage or not, it's one part of the body that is difficult to 'patch up' (as you'd expect from other bone breaks)...it's just a case of resting it and letting it heal, but in the meantime get it checked out just to be on the safe side...

Hope you're as right as rain soon...

Well, it hurts to wiggle it, a lot! I guess its broke! :( My roommate looked at it again last night and noticed that it was blue on the sides too. :P :-/

Well, I have some medical tape so I'll tape it to my other toe, see how it works.

Thanks for your help guys! I 'preciate it! :)

Rio

Yes... by all means, go see a doctor!  :-*

If you were to get an infection in that toe that went unchecked it would be bad news.   :-/

How easy is it to break your toe?

That sounds like a challenge. Well, how hard can it be?

*Bish*
*Bash*
*Thump*
*Wallop*
*Crunch*
*Whack*
*Boom*
*KERRACK*

AAARGH!

Theeeeere we go.

*puts on EMT hat*

Rio, as everyone else has said, it does sound like you broke it.  Unfortunately, it is one of the easiest bones to break and there is nothing much that can be done for it.  Keep it elevated, use ice if needed, and try to stay off it.  If, in a couple of days, it starts throbbing, or the swelling & bruising gets worse or spreads, I would say go see a dr.  If you decide to tape it, make sure it is not too tight.  For pain, use Advil/Motrin/Ibuprofen as they are anti-inflammatory.

*takes off EMT hat*

Not only was my little toe bruised, the bruising went half way up my foot.  The grossest thing was the colors.  Purple, blue, black, yellow, grey.  To this day, when I spread my toes out, that little toe doesn't "spread" like it used to.  I notice it when I'm in my Yoga class.  And it hurts like heck when the weather changes.

Yeah, I had it looked at and I was told just to take anti- inflammatory meds and to keep it still, it will heal on its own. So I also went out and got some tape and it is doing a little better.

I figured since my entire toe had turned blue wherever it wasn't black and red was a bad sign. :P :-/

Thanks for the helpful advice everyone!

Cheer, great EMT hat! I unfortunatley know how to tape rather well. Its not exactly the same, but I often have to tape and bandage my knee up because of all kinds of problems I've had in the past.

Rio

I stubbed my toe a long time ago and I wound up in crutches,POOR ME! :( ;D ;)


Howard