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The response to the question below was authored by Marc Mitnick DPM

ankle fractures/unable to move toes

by Angela
(US)

I was wondering if I should be concerned...I fell down some steps last Thursday injured both of my ankles. I went to the hospital immediately after waiting 3 1/2 hours to be seen they X-rayed both ankles finding that my left was sprained but my right was broke in 2 different places and that surgery wasn't needed at that time the Orthopedic removed the splint and glanced at my foot where he then puts a air cast and tells me not to put any pressure on it what so ever to come back in 2 weeks since then I have done what I was told to do. I am in pain and the pain meds aren't helping out much my foot keeps swelling and tingling the top of my foot is turning red very very sensitive my toes are swelling and turning red and I can hardly move them without much pain being involved...I know bruising swelling and pain is a part of a fracture but is the rest of what I have mentioned normal as well??? Should I go back to the DR or wait the 2 weeks???

RESPONSE

Hi Angela,

The short story is that the discoloration in your toes concerns me. Keep in mind, I obviously cannot see the degree of redness, and swelling. I am also concerned about the fact that you are having pain in your toes when in fact it is the ankle that you fractured.
You are only wearing an Air Cast which is generally not very constrictive but nevertheless there is no reason you should be in so much pain.
The first question I

would like answered is whether or not you have been non-weight bearing on the affected foot. I would assume the doctor insisted, and the emergency room gave you crutches to use and told you to not walk on the broken ankle.
Assuming you have been a compliant patient and have not put weight on the foot and ankle, but perhaps have been moving around quite a bit (we all live busy lives), then the foot could swell and could cause the pain and discoloration that you describe as the swelling compromises the circulation into the foot and will thus cause discoloration.
The next question I have is does your toes turn color only when you are moving about or is the discoloration even present when your foot is propped up?
If the toes are discolored even when the foot is propped up (on a chair or in bed) then I would be concerned. In theory, when the foot is propped up, some of the swelling should go down and the color in the toes should look more normal.
At the very least if you are in a lot of pain and certainly if your toes are red all the time then you should definately call the doctor's office and run that past the doctor. He or she would be best suited to decide if that is normal, based on the amount of trauma to your foot and ankle, and then decide if you should be seen sooner than your next scheduled visit.

Marc Mitnick DPM
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ADDITIONAL REFERENCES

Mayo Clinic

Johns Hopkins Medicine

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Drugs.com

American Academy of Pediatrics

Penn State Medical Center

National Institutes of Health

Columbia University Department of Rehabilitation

ScienceDirect

Stanford Health Care

Illinois Bone and Joint Institute

Mount Sinai Hospital

Institute for Chronic Pain

University of Florida Health

American Family Physician

Cedars-Sinai

University of Maryland Medical Center

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ankle fractures/unable to move toes

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