right foot pain below 3 and 4 toes

by BONNIE
(INDIANAPOLIS)

I have broken right foot and had a fusion done and a revision and hardware removal

and another hardware removal.All was going ok except for arthritis pain and nerve pain. A month ago I had the misfortune of having a 24 oz can of spaghetti sauce hit on the top of foot and it bruised the heck out of it. I have had pain ever since then . I went to the ER x-rays were done and they said no broken bones post op shoe was put on and sent home to follow up with Dr in a few days. The DR says 2 stress fractures in the 3 and 4 metatarsal. How can they arrive at that diagnosis without seeing films? I do have bruising but thought it was just from the trauma that my foot had went through. PLEASE HELP ME I AM A DIABETIC AND WANT TO KEEP MY FEET BONNIE

ANSWER

Hi Bonnie,

The first thing to do immediately is find yourself another doctor. There is no way you can make a diagnosis of fracture without an x-ray, I do not care how bad the foot may look or feel.
If you still have a lot of pain, have a second x-ray as sometimes small fractures will not initially show up and it can take upwards of ten days for 'bone callus' to form which will indicate fracture healing.
If the second x-ray is also negative then you need a good diagnostician to figure out why you are having so much pain. Obviously without a fracture, one can assume you suffered a soft tissue injury.
Since you dropped the can on top of your foot, the first thing that comes to mind would be damage to the tendons that are on top of your foot that allow your toes to bend upwards.
As you may know, being a diabetic requires you to pay special attention to your feet and they should be under the care of a good podiatrist. So, it is important to get an accurate diagnosis in order to prevent the condition from worsening and thus creating perhaps other foot problems as well.

Marc Mitnick DPM
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