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

lump on top of foot 5 weeks after dropping an object on it

my daughter is a majorette and 5 weeks ago she dropped her mace tip end onto the top of her foot. it bruised and swelled at the time but we assumed that it was just badly bruised at the time as she could walk ok on it. however 5 weeks down the line and her foot is still slightly swollen and a hard lump has formed where the mace landed. could she have broken it without us realising?


RESPONSE

Hi,

I would think that simple trauma to the top of the foot in a young person would have healed five weeks down the road. The only thing that I can think of that would have delayed the healing process would be damage to the extensor tendons on top of the foot. These are the tendons that bring the toes upwards.
I would assume your daughter does a lot of walking and other activity and that is the case then it would not surprise me if the tendons continued to ache.
The reason for this is because the simple act of walking causes the tendons to "work" and therefore they never really have a chance to rest. So as she keeps walking and doing every thing else that she does (marching), then the tendons will stay inflamed and continue to hurt.
I am assuming the tip of the baton that hit her foot is rubber tipped and damage to the tendons would be the most likely scenario.
Having said that there is always the chance that she actually chipped a small piece of bone. This will happen in many instances where there appears to have only been minor trauma.
The fact that the area feels "hard" may be an indication that there is a broken bone. I say that because as the broken bone begins to heal the immediate surrounding area forms a lattice network for new bone to come in and heal. While this new bone formation is going on the area will feel hard and larger than the original area after it was traumatized.
The hard area however, does not only have to be a result of a fracture.
Since there are many superficial veins right under the skin, she may have broken one of those blood vessels. The area would have become swollen and redish purple in color. At five weeks post trauma, the dry blood could account for the hard lump on top of her foot.
As you can see I am only giving you a lot of conjecture.
Since it is five weeks since the trauma, why not take her to see a foot specialist in your area and let a doctor x-ray and examine the foot to find the true cause of the hard swelling?

Marc Mitnick DPM
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Comments for lump on top of foot 5 weeks after dropping an object on it

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Aug 10, 2018
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starstarstarstarstar 		Massage Through The Pain
by: MJ

I had a similar incident happen to me however I was in a convenience store and a 20oz soda bottle dropped on my outer foot. I'm a former athlete so I've had my fair share of injuries. I could walk on the foot with no pain only centralized to the spot of injury. Initially I figured it was just a severe bruise due to the discoloration however 3 weeks later there's still a lump and discoloration.... I remembered that when I had rehab after an ACL repair my trainer in college massaged the scar during the healing process to break down scar tissue and prevent the incision from healing bulky. I massaged the spot two days ago and although it hurt like the day of the initial injury the lump thinned out some (today, two days later). So today I am massaging it again (cringing through the pain) in hopes that it will eventually go down. So as the person mentioned above it may simply be a blood clot that needs to be broken down.
Jul 07, 2018
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Same Type of Condition
by: Bonnie

I had a similar thing happen. I had a HUGE jar of peanut butter fall on the top of my foot just about an inch or so below my big toe on my left foot and just below the last joint. It has been 4 weeks exactly. The lump is noticable and a little tender. It itches at times and when I scratch it, the area around it tingles. I had an xray about 2 weeks ago and it was ruled no fracture. What else could it be?

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