Question
Thank you in advance for your opinion! My situation is: I fell down my stairs about a 6 weeks ago and ended up with an avulsion fracture across the distal joint of my left great toe. I had surgery to re-attach the tendon and remove the bone fragments from the joint about 3.5 weeks ago and stiches were taken out 2 weeks ago. My questions are: How long till I will be able to move my toe towards me? Is tingling on the bottom of my toe normal? Also when I take a shower my foot and toe that had the injury turn a purple color. This is the only time I notice that this happens and when I get out of the shower after a few mins the color goes back to bright pink/red, Is that normal? Is there anything I can do to spead up the recovery? Will I be able to run again soon? Again thanks for all your help. I really do appreciate it.

Answer
An injury like that creates both bone and tendon damage (for which you had surgery) and also damage to the nerves.  The nerve damage is responsible for the tingling and the coloration.  That should slowly return, but takes months.  The surgery on the tendon will make it difficult to move the toe up (dorsiflex).  You should go for physical therapy to help to increase the strength and flexibility of the injured area.  Once rehabilitated, you should be able to run again.

All the best,
Andrew Schneider, DPM

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