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When I can run again with a broken toe?
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Bashed my fourth toe into hallway wall. Not angulated, but quite bruised and swollen.

How long before I can run on it?

I am interested in anecdotes (especially if they are of the 'three days later I was running without any problems' variety) rather than medical advice :)
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Re: When I can run again with a broken toe? [Drdan] [ In reply to ]
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My feet are cursed. I have many broken toe & foot bones in my history... In general, you are looking at 4 to 6 weeks, depending on your pain tolerance. Honestly, I would not run before 6 weeks. If by 4th toe, you mean the little toe next to your pinkie toe, and it is one of the bones in the toe, then maybe sooner. That toe does not bear as much force. If it is a metatarsal bone, then you are at 6 weeks, minimum.
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Re: When I can run again with a broken toe? [Drdan] [ In reply to ]
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Drdan wrote:
Bashed my fourth toe into hallway wall. Not angulated, but quite bruised and swollen.

How long before I can run on it?

I am interested in anecdotes (especially if they are of the 'three days later I was running without any problems' variety) rather than medical advice :)

Bones in general 6 weeks......
Most people i know start running slightly earlier with a broken toe, but we are talking about 3-5km runs after week 4, not 20 km
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Re: When I can run again with a broken toe? [Drdan] [ In reply to ]
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I can offer neither medical advice nor an anecdote of 'you'll be running by Wednesday'.

I broke my little toe in similar circumstances (fecken hurt, sounded like a 12" plastic ruler being snapped!) And that toe about doubled in size (volume) vs the one on the other foot).

I had to wear different shoes for about 3 or so weeks at work (wide running shoes not 'smart work shoes').
It took the full 6 weeks before I was able to run again.

Did a 5k as part of a tri as pretty much the 1st run back. Got around OK and didnt slow me. But it was quite sore on the last mile and defo had to leave it a few more days before another run.
I was 49 when that happened. A doc said to expect 5-7 weeks at my age and he was right.
Last edited by: BobAjobb: May 24, 20 13:08
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Re: When I can run again with a broken toe? [Drdan] [ In reply to ]
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Sounds like a good time to focus on swim training -

https://www.strava.com/...tes/zachary_mckinney
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Re: When I can run again with a broken toe? [Drdan] [ In reply to ]
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When you're pain free and comfortable

Trust me I’m a doctor!
Well, I have a PhD :-)
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Re: When I can run again with a broken toe? [ In reply to ]
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Thanks all - hopefully it will all settle down over the next few days and just be from bad bruising....
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Re: When I can run again with a broken toe? [Drdan] [ In reply to ]
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I broke my big toe once on a Tuesday and was running gingerly on the following Saturday. I taped it to the second toe and wore bigger shoes. Hurt for several weeks, but not much longer than 4 or 5 weeks and didn't have much trouble with it.

I also broke the middle bone in my foot. and ran on it 3 weeks later. That was a mistake and the pain was high for several more weeks.

With a toe taped to another toe, you can have some stability if you can bear the pain. With the foot, there's too much instability and no way to tape it to another bone. Wished I had accepted the cast from the doc and stayed off it for several weeks.

Not a coach. Not a FOP Tri/swimmer/biker/runner. Barely a MOP AGer.
But I'm learning and making progress.
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Re: When I can run again with a broken toe? [LEBoyd] [ In reply to ]
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LEBoyd wrote:
With a toe taped to another toe, you can have some stability if you can bear the pain.

Yeah this sounds about right. You're just playing a game of if you want to delay healing by training too early. It might hurt to train on it, but the repercussions aren't severe if you train too early.

https://www.strava.com/...tes/zachary_mckinney
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Re: When I can run again with a broken toe? [Drdan] [ In reply to ]
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I broke the same toe 8 weeks bf Kona 2017. I was on the AlterG right at 6 weeks and was able to show up and finish the event. I supplemented calcium and D.
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Re: When I can run again with a broken toe? [Drdan] [ In reply to ]
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When it stops hurting
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Re: When I can run again with a broken toe? [plant_based] [ In reply to ]
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plant_based wrote:
LEBoyd wrote:
With a toe taped to another toe, you can have some stability if you can bear the pain.


Yeah this sounds about right. You're just playing a game of if you want to delay healing by training too early. It might hurt to train on it, but the repercussions aren't severe if you train too early.


I would say that you can run on it as soon as you can tolerate the discomfort (which is today if you really grit your teeth).

I am not a proponent of taking time off for nuisance injuries. Running on a "broken" toe is not going to significantly impair its healing.

I had pretty severe PF for almost two years. I tried everything (including taking almost two months off from running). My feet hurt all of the time but nothing I did made it significantly better or worse. So I just ran and sucked it up. Then miraculously, it got better. Like Bruce Denton/Quenton Cassidy; I advocate running through everything ;-)

----------------------------
Jason
None of the secrets of success will work unless you do.
Last edited by: wannabefaster: May 26, 20 19:41
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Re: When I can run again with a broken toe? [Drdan] [ In reply to ]
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I second the 4-6 weeks post. I just fractured my big toe by tripping 3 months ago and spent the first 6 weeks not running at all then slowly eased in over the following 4 weeks, and I still don't think it's fully healed. Currently almost exclusively biking to avoid stressing it. Be careful and ramp up slowly when you do start back up.
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Re: When I can run again with a broken toe? [Drdan] [ In reply to ]
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Broke my pinkie toe and took off a day. About 6 weeks later was at my GP for my annual checkup and he said something to the tune of, “uh... I don’t like the look of that.” It was still fairly swollen and blue. I told him it would be fine, it’s just a pinkie toe, and so long as circulation is fine and it’s not sideways, what is there to do?
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Re: When I can run again with a broken toe? [wannabefaster] [ In reply to ]
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wannabefaster wrote:
plant_based wrote:
LEBoyd wrote:
With a toe taped to another toe, you can have some stability if you can bear the pain.


Yeah this sounds about right. You're just playing a game of if you want to delay healing by training too early. It might hurt to train on it, but the repercussions aren't severe if you train too early.


I would say that you can run on it as soon as you can tolerate the discomfort (which is today if you really grit your teeth).

I am not a proponent of taking time off for nuisance injuries. Running on a "broken" toe is not going to significantly impair it's healing.

I had pretty severe PF for almost two years. I tried everything (including taking almost two months off from running). My feet hurt all of the time but nothing I did made it significantly better or worse. So I just ran and sucked it up. Then miraculously, it got better. Like Bruce Denton/Quenton Cassidy; I advocate running through everything ;-)

This is my favourite reply :)
Last edited by: Drdan: May 26, 20 14:26
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Re: When I can run again with a broken toe? [Drdan] [ In reply to ]
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Drdan wrote:
Bashed my fourth toe into hallway wall. Not angulated, but quite bruised and swollen.

How long before I can run on it?

I am interested in anecdotes (especially if they are of the 'three days later I was running without any problems' variety) rather than medical advice :)

How do you know it's broken rather than just bruised or dislocated then relocated?

I kicked a dorm wall in college playing hall soccer and felt something amiss, my 4th toe was bent very strangely. I started moving it around trying to feel what was wrong and felt it pop back in, so presumed I had dislocated it. Think it hurt pretty bad and was swollen for a day or two but was walking on it fine within a week. Probably would have been fine to run on then too, though I wasn't a runner at the time.
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Re: When I can run again with a broken toe? [Drdan] [ In reply to ]
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I a not making this up. I once broke a toe in T1 and just missed the overall finish time I was aiming for. In sum, resume running when you're pain free.
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Re: When I can run again with a broken toe? [ In reply to ]
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Yay! Just did a gentle trail run after a week and all is good. I guess it was just bruised and swollen and not broken at all :)
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