Three days ago I dropped a heavy cooking sheet on my foot. Since then my foot has been a little swollen and a little bruised. Could it be possible i broke a bone? If so how would the doctor check since I am in my 3rd trimester?
Three weeks later and it has started to get a little better until my 2 yr old stepped on my foot! I had an x-ray done on it and looks like just a stress fracture. Im told it can take up to 6 weeks to heal and that I am to still keep it elevated and iced as often as i can.
Doesn't matter if it is broken or not, the treatment for it is basically the same. Stay off of it, wrap it if it feels better to do so, and use either heat or cold, which ever makes it feel better.
They really don't often cast a foot, even if it is broken.
if it is broke or fractured you won't be able to walk on it. if not I would think it would pass elevate and ice if your not already if you can walk on it epsom salt water. a broken bone is a possibility trust your gut.
It's probably a small hairline fracture. I would have it checked out just in case, especially since you are carrying extra weight on it with the pregnancy. The Dr. will do an Xray to find out.
I slammed my foot in a heavy door of a 2 door sedan. Because it happened while I was working I did go to the doctor and learned, with an x-ray, that I had a hairline fracture of my big toe. My whole foot was swollen. They taped that toe to the next toe and said that there really isn't anything to be done for a hairline fracture except to keep my foot elevated as much as possible and to ice it for the pain.
I cut the toe out of a tennis shoe and continued with packing and moving. Couldn't have happened at a worse time. That toe was swollen and hurt for a couple of months, I think.
My elderly aunt stepped wrong and had a hairline fracture of one of the bones in her foot. She had osteoporosis. She couldn't walk on the foot. She wore a "boot" like device for a month or so and also stayed off of it with her food elevated most of the time. Again, they found the hairline fracture with x-ray.
If you're concerned about the x-ray, it will be limited to your foot. They may place a lead apron across your abdomen if there is a chance that the x-rays would reach that high. There will be no danger to your baby.
If this were happening to me and the pain were severe enough to take ibuprofen, I'd go to the doctor just to be sure, if I had insurance. Otherwise I might wait a couple of weeks and try staying off the foot.
Either way, you are going to have to keep the foot elevated as much as possible. I don't advise doing what I did which was to stay on my feet. It took months for my foot and toe to heal.
They would order an x-ray if they suspected a break. If you're still walking on it, I would venture to make an non-professional guess that you merely bruise the bone and keeping off your feet for a bit would do you good.
Make sure you see your doctor, though!! Only she/he would know for sure what to do for you!
My mom broke her toe a couple weeks ago and it's still hurting her. She has a boot that she wears and figured that it would heal on its own. Then she spent the day baking without wearing the boot and her foot was killing her. I think she's finally going to go to the doctor. So my advice, it's been a couple days with little improvement (I hope you have iced it some) then it's possible it's broken. As far as the 3rd trimester, I'm not sure. The doctors will know the risks.
Hi J.,
My guess is you probably just bruised the muscles or tendons in your foot. If you went to a podiatrist, they might be able to palpate your foot and feel if there's a fracture larger than a hairline. A hairline fracture would only be visible through x-ray. Certainly call your doctor and talk to them about it, but just know that most times they're going to recommend having it checked out, if for no other reason than to cover their own behinds. If you can walk on it, I'd give it more time to heal and then mention it at my next doctor appointment and see what they say.
Good luck!
Oh my gosh...in my third trimester I totally wiped out in the middle of the street (it was raining) while holding onto my amost 2 year olds hand! I twisted my foot and landed on it and the exact same thing happened! It was swollen and bruised and I could walk on it, but it hurt like the dickens! I never did go to the doc b/c and the pain did finally go away but it probably took a week or more. I too think that if you can walk on it, it probably isn't badly hurt or broken. Try and take it as easy as possible, elevate it and put ice on it. If you do choose to go to the doc I'm sure it will be at no risk to the baby. Even if you have to get an x-ray it shouldn't be a problem.
