Overview
A broken foot is an injury to the bone. You may experience a broken foot during a car crash or from a simple misstep or fall.
The seriousness of a broken foot varies. Fractures can range from tiny cracks in your bones to breaks that pierce your skin.
Treatment for a broken foot depends on the exact site and severity of the fracture. A severely broken foot may require surgery to implant plates, rods or screws into the broken bone to maintain proper position during healing.
Symptoms
If you have a broken foot, you may experience some of the following signs and symptoms:
- Immediate, throbbing pain
- Pain that increases with activity and decreases with rest
- Swelling
- Bruising
- Tenderness
- Deformity
- Difficulty in walking or bearing weight
When to see a doctor
See a doctor if there is obvious deformity, if the pain and swelling don’t get better with self-care, or if the pain and swelling gets worse over time. Also, see a doctor if the injury interferes with walking.
