Whether you stubbed your toe on a dresser or rolled your ankle while playing soccer, your first thought it likely “Shoot, I hope this isn’t serious.” But what signs or symptoms should you look for to determine whether or not your foot injury is serious, and what should you do if you’re not sure about the severity of your injury? In today’s blog, we share some tips for helping to determine if your foot injury is serious.
Determining The Severity Of Your Foot Injury
What’s the best way to determine if your toe or ankle injury is serious? Take a look at this checklist to help determine the severity of your foot injury.
1. Pain – Pain is the most obvious indicator of the severity of an injury, but since many foot injuries hurt a lot in the immediate aftermath, charting the course of pain over the next few hours or days is a better indicator of severity. Mild or moderate injuries tend to get less painful within 24 hours, but if pain is consistent or actually gets worse, it’s a sign of a more significant foot injury.
2. Sounds – An audible sound at the moment of injury can also be a key factor in helping to determine the severity of your injury. If there’s a crack, a pop or an audible snap, that could be the sound of a bone breaking or a ligament tearing. It’s never great to hear an injury, and the sounds you hear alongside the injury can be an indication of its severity.
3. A Tearing Sensation – While you may not hear a fracture or a ligament tear, you may feel this tearing sensation at the moment of injury. Many people say that they could feel a tearing sensation when they sprained their ankle or injured their Achilles, and oftentimes this means the injury is more significant.
4. Affecting Your Gait – The more that an injury affects your ability to walk, the greater the likelihood that it’s a more severe injury. You may be slightly hobbled in the immediate aftermath of acute trauma, but if you can’t bear weight on your foot, or doing so is extremely painful, odds are your foot injury is a bit more severe. If walking is painful or your gait is impaired, don’t try to push through this discomfort. Give your foot a rest and see how it responds in a day or two.
5. Visible Deformity – A final way to identify a severe foot injury is by looking at the foot and searching for signs that something is visibly wrong. Obviously a bone sticking out of the skin is an indication of a severe fracture, but there are less “obvious” signs that could mean a large problem. Swelling, discoloration or discharge from the foot area are all signs of a more serious foot problem that requires attention.