It was a dark and stormy night. I was glad I was tucked into bed and feeling sleepy. Then I heard something. I was not sure what it was. I was instantly wide awake. I tried to ignore it but I couldn’t.
What was that noise?
I finally decided that I was going to have to get up and investigate. I reluctantly got out of bed and started walking through the dark house.
Suddenly, I was wrapped in pain. Oh, forget the strange noise. If there is someone there, I just scared them with the bellow that came from what seemed to be the depths of my being.
I stubbed my toe.
Oh, I was actually seeing stars.
How many times has something like this happened to you? You thought that you could just do something quick in your bare feet and then have paid the price by stubbing your toe? There is something so universal about the pain of a stubbed toe. The words “stubbed toe” make me flinch.
Do you need to do anything about a stubbed toe? As with most things, it depends. You need to look at your toe. Is it bleeding? If so, you need to clean it off with soap and water and make sure that you bandage it so that it will not get infected. After you have cleaned it off, then you also need to apply ice to the toe to try and prevent swelling. You want to apply ice for 20 minutes on and then 20 minutes off. (Don’t leave the ice on too long – really, you don’t want to cause frostbite while trying to prevent the swelling.)
After you have cleaned up the toe and iced it, you might want to take a good look at the toe. How bad is the swelling? How is the color? There are times that you can stub your toe and it is fine within an hour. But there are those other times. Those times that your toe swells up and turns colors and throbs. Or maybe it just hurts and there is no way you can put shoes on that foot. (Really a problem in the winter)
Is that when you think to yourself, “There is nothing that can be done for a broken toe.”? Well, you can tell yourself that you are wrong. You should go in and get your toe checked by your friendly local podiatrist. The doctor can x-ray your toe and see if it is broken. If so, then the doctor can show you what can be done to make you more comfortable and make sure that your toe will heal correctly. For the short term, you want to be more comfortable and know that you are healing. The long term reason for having your toe checked is that if the joint is disturbed you could end up with stiffness, ongoing pain, or arthritis. It is well worth the trip to the doctor.
Let’s make a pact to try and not walk around in our bare feet so that we don’t stub our toe again. I will try, how about you?
Your Pal,
The Foot Blogger Chick
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