Foot & Ankle Trauma Services

The easiest bone to break in your foot is a toe, for two reasons. First is the fact that they are in the front of the foot and the first part of the foot to come in contact with an inanimate object when walking. The second is that they’re smaller and thinner in comparison to the other bones of the foot, making them more susceptible to injury.

You can tell if you broke your foot and not just sprained it with several clues. First and most obvious is feeling pain directly on the bone and with movement at the fracture site, or a visually unnatural angle of the bone. Either an X-ray or MRI can confirm the diagnosis of a displaced fracture, non-displaced fracture, or stress fracture. Other signs include excessive bruising, pain, and swelling.

Foot injuries that require surgery are diverse, but the most common are fractures that are either displaced (separated), comminuted (multiple fragments), or open (bone or deep structures exposed). Other foot injuries that require surgery are more obvious like open wounds (with or without infection or drainage), foreign bodies, puncture wounds, gangrene, and serious ligament, tendon, or muscle injuries (tear or rupture).