These were the words I found myself Googling Monday morning…
Things started off so well, it was the perfect recovery Monday with a nice little recovery yoga workout and even a photo that caught the light in a way to show how seriously ZEN I was feeling.
Coming home the frentic energy that is my creative mind began and I was bouncing from computer to kitchen to make my smoothie, when SHWACK. I nailed the chair with my toe and let loose an expletive {which science has proven to help with pain} then I went back to work because seriously, who hasn’t stubbed their toe.
About an hour later I hoped up, then promptly pulled my foot up because it hurt…and was purple…and swollen. Now that was unlike any stubbed toe I’d ever seen and by the time David came home we were both convinced it was broken.
Those of you who follow me on Facebook saw this frantic message {priorities right?!}
Lucky for me, I have amazing readers and those with experience started to hop in with the following basic tips:
1. It’s going to hurt, so run to your pain tolerance
2. Tape your toes for support
Now by day 6 I was able to put on a shoe and I’m convinced it’s not a break…maybe there is a hairline fracture, eh maybe it was just one of the most ridiculous toe stubs ever. I’m not about to pay a doctor to tell me since there were no bones protruding or toes going in the wrong direction.
Days 1-5 by no means could I put on a shoe and walking on hard surfaces wasn’t too comfortable. However, I found on the carpet I had pretty free range to move around, so I did DailyBurn, T25, Pilates, Yoga, whatever struck my fancy. I had been on a seriously good roll with training and I wasn’t happy at the interruption, so I made it work.
Lacing tips, inflammation fighters and other tips for running with foot pain #runchat Click To TweetINFLAMMATION FIGHTERS
Step one I knew was to do everything I could to combat inflammation and get the swelling down.
- First few days I did take ibprofen which I never do.
- Iced a few times
- Took more Vega Chlorella tabs
- Added tumeric to my smoothies
- Avoided all shoes
- Applied a blended essential oil twice daily << I swear this had the biggest impact. I have never had a bruise look better so quickly or swelling drop so fast.
- Did Cryotherapy on Day 5 {details on this coming soon}
Day 6 – We have lift off! I could put on a shoe, BUT had to make a couple adjustments for it to be bearable and I think these are key! See below for what made a run bearable.
SHOE LACING
For me taping the toes together hurt worse because of the increased pressure. Instead, I found that pulling on some Injinji Toe Socks provided additional padding and space between my toes which felt tremendously better.
Second I felt much better on a treadmill. Outside any little angle of the ground requires your toes to work harder to keep you balanced and after a mile or two I felt my toe beginning to scream.
Possibly most importatn was relacing the shoe to reduce pressure around the toes. I couldn’t leave the shoe on until I’d made this change. There are a lot of great lacing techniques out there which can make an average shoe your favorite shoe, so don’t feel like you need to keep it exactly as it comes out of the box!
Here you start by threading up through the first hole on the bottom with a ladder to the next hole. This pulls up the toe box, which can create additional space and prevent it from pushing down on the toes.
Lace as normal and then at the top, utilize ALL the available holes. Usually there are two holes on the top of the shoe and we only take advantage of the front one, but you want to prevent any heel slippage as that could allow your foot to move forward crushing the toes {HINT could be why you loose toenails!}.
Instead — lace through the first hole to the back hole creating a little loop through which you will thread the opposite lace before tying the shoe.
CAN YOU RUN ON A BROKEN TOE?
Back to the original question of whether or not you can, or more accurately should, run on a broken toe. As I understand this is a situation many other runners have found themselves in.
Clearly I’m not a doctor and I’m not even sure my particular toe was broken, so the above techniques are what got me back to running. I have talked with a couple PT’s and the consensus is this:
If it’s crooked or pain spreading up the foot or pain that wouldn’t stop, go see a doctor. You likely need to identify where it broke because that could make a difference and you don’t want to run making things worse.
Try taking 2-3 weeks off for swelling and pain to subside. Or like me, keep testing it until you decide you can run without pain and evaluate your toe post run. If the bruising returns, you may have torn a tendon rather than broken it and need more time off {plus a doctor!}.
Your big toe is likely going to be a bigger problem than my small toe. If you are altering your gait STOP. This is going to lead to a host of other injuries.
Don’t try to mask the pain with drugs and run. If it hurts, stop…again you don’t want to make things worse or prolong healing.
Seriously if it hurts, stop…there will be those who have it happen prior to a race and the truth is yes you could probably force yourself to tolerate the pain, but you will likely also change your gait creating pain in other areas and prolonging the healing of your toe. You certainly aren’t going to PR, so put it in perspective… one race or months on the side lines?
Have you ever broken a toe?
Have you ever tried lacing your shoes different?
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I have broken a toe, twice. The first time was a stress fracture and I didn't run on it because it hurt really bad. But I did bike. The second time was the joint below my big toe, and I ran a race with it before I had it checked out. Then I went into the boot to let it heal. So my answer would be…it depends…
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Yesterday the last half mile of my long run had me yelping in surprise at a sudden sharp pain in my left foot – about an inch down from the little toe. I've never had a stress fracture before so I'm not sure if this is what it is, but it had me pretty concerned. I slowed my pace and am taking today off from running. My foot feels fine when walking or running slowly so I'm hoping it's just a random twinge that just needs a day to recover from. Have you experienced something like this? I'll do my run tomorrow on a treadmill and see how it feels…
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Sudden sharp pain is always a signal to stop. That being said sometimes it's just a weird muscle spasm and goes away, but if you find that the next time you start to run it's sharp again, yup time to stop.
Hi Amanda- I am new to your blog, my friend sent this to me because I just ran Grandma's Marathon in Duluth on a broken toe (two weeks before the marathon) and set a PR.
I would say the answer is YES- you can run on a broken toe, but like you wrote, it depends on which toe. Mine was just the pinkie toe!
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That's amazing!!! I'm sorry you had to go through that, eik I'm feeling it today after 8 miles. Hope you heal quickly!
My recent post Can you run on a broken toe?
I have learned the hard way after years of injuries to just listen to the body when it is in pain. Cross Country regional's in high school ran with what ended up turning into a hairline fracture and put me out of running for a solid 4-6 months. Ran last year with pain on my hip and it ended up taking months to come back even with rest in between.
Definitely worth it to just stop and fix the problem rather than making it worse down the line. But at the same time just because I say this advice doesn't mean I will take my own advice LOL.
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Runners are much better at giving good advice than following!!
OH I FEEL FOR YOU.
All Ive gots here is LOTS of pain tolerance but Ive never even WALKED on a broken toe.
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I love that your very first thought was about running because of course!!! Luckily I have yet to break a toe but I'm sure I would have done all the things you did to get back out there ASAP!!! Hope you're back to your regular runs soon 🙂
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i wouldn't run on it. i broke my toe and tapped it but somehow it didn't set and now i get painful craps in my toe. take a week or two off and do yoga for the time being.
I haven't broken a toe, but I can be clumsy enough that I'm sure it could happen at some point. I hope you heal up and are running as usual soon!
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That would have been my first thought too – can I run??? Luckily I haven't broken my toe but I've sure had my share of foot pain/issues. I've definitely started lacing my shoes differently and it's made a big difference for me!
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I've broken a couple toes. The first one was a pinkie about 30 minutes before going on stage at a dance competition… That toe wasn't set right and its grown back crooked. The next toe I broke was my middle toe, and I broke that on a chair like you did! At the time I was still a dancer and not a runner, but I danced on it as well. It did hurt pretty badly though. I say listen to your body and do what works for you. Both times the only real visible symptom was bruising and swelling. Luckily I set the middle toe correctly and it looks normal now. If you to go the a doctor they'll just x-ray it and send you home with some toe tape and advil… There's nothing you can do for most toe breaks. Buddy-taping usually helps support the toe, but if it hurts, don't do it. Watch out for those chairs!
I came across this post because I'm literally going through the exact same experience! About 4 nights ago, my mom knocked over a barstool that landed on my pinky toe and destroyed it. I had horrible throbbing pain that entire night and it was completely bruised and I couldn't walk on it the next morning. I got an x-ray the next day and fortunately the doc said it wasn't broken at all, just badly banged up. I'm on day 5 of no running (have been swimming every morning) and am PRAYING I can run the Turkey Trot in a couple days.
Maybe I'll try those socks you wore!
Good luck!!! I definitely had a freak out for that first week!
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How can you post this of you didnt even get an X-ray to know if it was broken. I personally have a broken toe RIGHT KNOW (doctor approved) and I can tell you for sure you cannot run nor even walk properly. (Broke about 1 week ago) Very misleading- although I usually love your content!!
100% understand your point. I didn't feel an xray would change anything so I didn't do that. I did talk to a number of other runners who had previously broken toes and got lots of advice before proceeding.
I think it depends on the type of break. I had my toe x-rayed and there’s definitely a fracture, but little to no pain. I can walk normally, but was told by the doctor not to dance/run. It’s hard to stay off of it because it doesn’t hurt. Everyone is different . . .
My advice would be to see a podiatrist with sports medicine. i did the same thing and let the first one heal without seeing anyone. When i was finally able to run “comfortably” again I set a short distance pr for myself and was amped! Not even two weeks later I charged into my bedroom with laundry and slammed the SAME toe into my dresser so hard I went down. Let me be totally honest here. Over a year ago I fell while sprinting when “the sidewalk changed” (it did though! as it had new concrete on that spot) however I should have been looking closer! I fractured bones in my right 3rd and pinky finger and the palm of my left hand. I went down but got right up. I saw both fingers going backwards over my hand, reached over and pulled them straight and kept running for about five minutes until I thought to myself, THAT was not normal for a person to do. After all it was training run, not the BM. I am not a wimp but this toe has not been evaluated. I have done everything I know how to do ( i’m a reg nurse) and now I am beginning to realize that I may have a forefoot fracture that has set wrong so I am going to the above physician next week. The MAIN REASON is so I CAN return this time with no gait change. You do not realize what a small injury can do over time to every other muscle that is protecting it. Over time you will see or feel other muscles being used that does not “feel” right. We all know to take care of our core, our hips, glutes, quads, knees, and every ligament gets equal treatment. I know that my biceps got some extra definition with two casts on my arms but I wasn’t depending on them to keep my body level. Your feet are the most important thing in our arsenal. Don’t waste time when you have it. It may take a lot longer than you would like “in the long run”. Sorry this is long but I really needed to say that.
Oh my gosh, I am so glad I googled running with a broken toe, because what runner doesn’t search this, Right?
I jammed my middle toe so bad last night, heard a crack and crumbled! I’ve broken my pinkie toes many times before so I knew instantly it was broken. But… I have to run! I’m set to run a Ragnar next Friday! Like, this can not possibly be happening! Ice, Motrin and rest for the nxt 6 days and then I don’t care what happens! I’m packing tons of ice, relacing my shoes and hitting the road!
I never even thought like this before I became a runner. What the heck is wrong with me. Lol
Yes we are indeed a crazy bunch!!! FIngers crossed you can enjoy that Ragnar!!
How long did it take for the tie to not bother you? I broke my second toe at the tip two weeks ago, continued to run and now it’s aggravating me. I think I’m going to take a few days off to see if it settles down.