Trying to get my back foot in the straps this morning. Felt a crack. Then the toes felt odd on the way in. I knew I was in trouble. Toe was 45 degree angle. Hoped it was dislocated. Actually broken. Lucky me.

Anyone else ever broken a toe trying to get into footstraps?

**** Bill - not good. Makes my toe seem not so bad. I think I am about 4 weeks out of action. The toe is on right angles and the doctor said there was nothing he could do but strap it to the other toe. No pain killers. Don't go to emergency on a Saturday arvo.

Sorry but good to see others missing out too. Did he straighten the toe before strapping it to the other toe? That musta hurt.
You must be using a lot of speed when u put toe in the strap to break it like that.

yup - BASTARDS!!!

Sputnik11 said..

**** Bill - not good. Makes my toe seem not so bad. I think I am about 4 weeks out of action. The toe is on right angles and the doctor said there was nothing he could do but strap it to the other toe. No pain killers. Don't go to emergency on a Saturday arvo.

Yeah rather a toe than leg but still annoying I would imagine.

kato said..

Sputnik11 said..

Trying to get my back foot in the straps this morning. Felt a crack. Then the toes felt odd on the way in. I knew I was in trouble. Toe was 45 degree angle. Hoped it was dislocated. Actually broken. Lucky me.

Anyone else ever broken a toe trying to get into footstraps?

Yep, lots and funny enough the same one. A week off the water and you'll be fine, just tape the two together and sail. Don't break the little or big toe they are the worst. I ended up making a fibreglass splint for the little toe so I could still sail otherwise its was 4 weeks of the water.

Kato - the thing that concerns me is the angle the toe is on. I have it strapped to the other toe, and its straighter, but it's going to mend quite crooked. Was this what happened with you? Were there any issues after it mended. Reason I ask is I'm a runner and don't want it to throw my biomechanics. I was a little annoyed at how little time or care that was given in the hospital. I mean I know there's not much you can do, but he didn't even seem to care about getting it straight to strap. It was sort of twisted as well.

I broke my little toe last winter at sandy point, lucky my feet were numb at the time so I didn't feel a thing, looked a bit ugly though when I looked down and saw it. Not much you can do for it I just taped mine together and put booties on so I could keep sailing. I certainly felt it that night though once my feet thawed out, took a few weeks to come good

Hey there Sputnik!
Turns out a colleague of mine did your toe fixing on the 19th. Any after shots? A cast won't help you but we could give it a red hot pull tonight and straighten it a bit if its really wonky. I'm back at work tonight from 2230
I broke my little toe at Bonno last year, similar fracture to you're from what my mate described. Tape and lots of it is your friend.

Only important toe for running is your big toe. Provides the thrust for your foot. Little toe less important then the rest after.

Baywave what type of fracture did you score? That plaster looks a little deficient...

Otherwise hope you recover well. Oh and my mate apologies about the brevity, was a super busy day Saturday arvo by all accounts!

having spent an hour in the Windsurfing Doctor's place in Tarifa, I managed to read the stuff up on the wall (was having a heat lamp put on my shoulder - squash injury aggravated when I was learning to jump)

According to his studies, feet injuries were the most common windsurfing injuries - mostly footstraps, mastfoot, fin edges and beach hazards.

Makes sense really.


The guy used to be one of the speed tridem sailors that did the speed events...

Hey baywave.

Hard to say, plaster just looks a little light on. I'm not sure that it'd even be doing its job.

Where did you get it done? Did you get referred to a fracture clinic? Depending on the hospital that's where you'd get your moon boot which we do use for distal fib fractures on occasion.

Do people think 2 weeks is enough rest for a broken toe? Hoping to get back out there today if the seabreeze kicks in....

kato said..

you'll be fine just don't kick anything

Thanks Kato. The cat's safe for another day then. All I need is some breeze . . . .

Actually I heard on the fishing report that there is a school of white pointers in a feeding frenzy in the water. I don't think anyone should be sailing.