Broken Toe

Common Causes of a Broken Toe

There are a myriad of ways to break a toe. Having said that, these are the most common causes of toe breaks:

• A broken toe may be caused by trauma such as a fall.
• A broken toe may be caused by wearing shoes that are too tight.
• Construction work without adequate toe protection.
• A broken toe can often occur when you stub your toe against something hard while walking or running.
• A broken toe may happen if you step on your own foot (as sometimes happens in sports such as basketball).
A broken toe may be caused by trying to take off socks or shoes that are too small for your feet and toes.
• A broken toe may happen if someone stepped on your foot with their full weight behind them (not uncommon in team sports ie. volleyball, soccer, football).

The most common cause of a broken toe is accidental trauma - either by dropping something heavy on your toe or stubbing your toe. Both of these causes often occur due to poor shoe choices. When carrying heavy items, be sure to wear shoes with adequate toe protection. The frequency of toe stubs can be minimized by choosing proper fitting shoes with adequate toe protection as well - expecially when you are walking in areas with a high risk to toe stubs (ie. in the forest where big roots/rocks lie or perhaps even when working in a marina or around boats).

Depending on the severity of the break, your doctor may advise taping of the broken toe to a neighboring toe for support. A cast may be needed if the break is significant or complicated.

Symptoms of a Broken Toe, or What Does a Broken Toe Feel Like?

Pain

If you have broken your toe, you will likely experience substantial pain in and around the area of the broken bone.

Inflammation / Swelling & Bruising

A recent toe break will almost certainly show indications of swelling - sometimes a LOT of swelling!. It would not be uncommon to see a change in color of the toe due to bruising; bruising occurs when blood leaks out from blood vessels into surrounding tissues. Some bruising would be expected due to a bone break but there are cases where bruising can be dangerous - especially if it doesn't stop (a very good reason to visit your physician after breaking any bone).

If there is an open wound surrounding the break, there will be risk from infection so take precautions to keep the wound clean and covered. As mentioned in our osteoarthritis page, any break or significant injury increases the risk of osteoarthritis (in the future) and the likelihood of this is increased further if the break occurs in and around the joint.

Scar Tissue & Fibrotic Adhesions

All connective tissue is living tissue; tissue requires a blood supply and is continually in a state of regeneration. Any and all connective tissue has the potential for injury and inflammation. Injuries can be small such as in the case of a strain, or injuries can be large tears or even avulsions (complete tearing). Once an injury is experienced, the area will experience both inflammation and the growth of scar tissue (otherwise known as adhesions).

The occurrence of scar tissue is a regular part of life. Scar tissue forms as part of the progression after injury occurs. Scar tissue essentially 'fills in the gaps' after a cut, tear or wound presents itself in the body. Scar tissue is composed of the protein, collagen; it is widely known in the medical community that scar tissue is weaker and less flexible than original tissue.

• Normal/original connective tissue is made up of collagen, but this collagen is aligned in a specific direction with each strand in alignment. This results in the connective tissue having a strong tensile strength while also having excellent flexibility and extensibility.
• Scar tissue is made up of a 'criss cross/ random' formation of collagen and attaches to everything in the area. You can likely imagine the result of a patch of scar tissue; the effect is similar to pouring extremely sticky glue in your hair. It interrupts everything and is disruptive to the function of the connective tissue. The caveat is that the scar tissue does its job - it binds tears together. You definitely want the tear to heal, but it is important to ensure the scar tissue goes away despite the fact that it does not go away easily.
• After scar tissue forms, although the wound or cut is now closed (and less prone to infection), the area of tissue itself is inferior in functionality to what it replaced.

Continuous re-injury and build-up of scar tissue makes it more likely that you will wind up with chronic pain, reduced Range of Motion or even arthritis (permanent damage).

Heal Quickly to Minimize Scar Tissue Growth & Reduce Re-Injury Risk

For tissue injuries, it is important to heal quickly and completely; this will help minimize the build up of scar tissue. If you don't, your tissue injury may be the start of a long term chronic injury resulting in a loss of Range of Motion and joint atrophy.

The human body will use scar tissue as a temporary solution and will try to build the scar tissue as fast as possible to heal tears in soft tissue (muscles, tendons). Scar tissue can form fast to bring together the edges of a tear, but working fast doesn't mean that the job's done right. When scar tissue forms it doesn't come together as neatly as regular (healthy) tendon/ligament tissue would. Scar tissue fibers will lay down over top of your tear in a cluttered, messy and jumbled up way.

This is how scar tissue works - it is messy and inelastic. The scar tissue that forms in your soft tissue will be unorganized and won't line up properly with the healthy tissue surrounding the tear. This scar tissue will attach to everything in and around the tear including the surrounding healthy tissue as well. This results in a long-term fusing together of everything the scar tissue touches, reducing your ability to move and making the injury even more painful!