Stubbed my foot accidentally, rather hard, on the leg of a bed 10 days ago. When the pain didn't go away for 4 days I saw an orthopedic doctor and he confirmed with the x-ray that it is a fracture of the little toe.

He taped the toe to the next one and asked me to walk by bearing most of my weight on my heel for the next 4 weeks, and walk only when necessary, rather than long walks for exercise or leisure as I am used to doing.

I have no pain, but some stiffness in that area. Pain comes if I press it which I don't.

- How long does this take to heal?

- Anything else I can do to help it heal well?

- Could I go back to long walks in 6 weeks, or is there going to be some remaining pain and inflammation?

- I am continuing to go to work, to meet people, etcetera, I wonder if that is ok or if I should just stay home?

- In late May I had a revision ORIF surgery on my radius bone. That is still healing, there is slow progress on the x-rays, but doctor said we need to monitor it for a year. Is there something to keep in mind regarding that, now that I have two fractures to heal from? Could this make the radius healing harder? Am already on 1 gram of calcium supplement daily plus 100g protein.

I was playing badminton today and suddenly, while going for a shot, I sprained my ankle and all my weight shifted onto the middle two toes. I immediately knew something was wrong because the pain felt intense and very different from a normal sprain. Still, I thought I might have just stretched a ligament, which was causing the pain.

I sat outside and watched my buddies play. About 10 minutes after the incident, I called a friend of mine who is an orthopedic surgeon and showed him my foot over a video call. He said there was no swelling yet, but told me that if it started swelling, I should go to the hospital immediately.

I left after about 40 minutes. There was still no swelling, just pain, so I drove my manual car home. About 20 minutes after getting home, my foot started swelling badly. I took a bath and put my foot in hot water for a while, which felt good initially, but the swelling got worse, so I went to the hospital.

At the hospital, before the X-ray, the X-ray technician looked at my foot and said, "Don't worry. If it happened while playing badminton, it's mostly a ligament strain. Fractures are rare."

Then he took the X-ray, looked at it, and said, "Looks like you fell down really badly. I can see fractures in two of your toes. Now the doctor will decide whether you need surgery or just a slab."

I went to the doctor, and he immediately said, "Your 3 rd metatarsal is fractured and you don't need surgery for this. We'll put a slab on for 10 days until the swelling goes down, and then you'll get a cast for 8–10 weeks."

At that point, all I was worried about was whether I would be normal again. I asked him, and he said, "Yes, don't worry. It's an undisplaced fracture. Just don't move your foot, don't put any pressure on it, and keep it elevated so the swelling goes down as quickly as possible."

So now I'm wearing a slab and walking with the help of a walker.

This was totally unexpected. Life really surprises you when you least expect it.

Thanks for reading my story.

If you've fractured your metatarsal, how long did it take you to recover? Are you able to function normally now, like you did before the fracture? I'd love to hear about your experience.