Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Treatments and drugs
By Mayo Clinic staffTreatments for a broken ankle or broken foot will vary, depending upon which bone has been broken and the severity of the injury.
Medications
Your doctor may recommend an over-the-counter pain reliever, such as acetaminophen (Tylenol, others) or ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin, others). If you're experiencing a lot of pain, you may need a prescription narcotic, such as oxycodone (Percocet).
Therapy
After your bone has healed, you'll probably need to loosen up stiff muscles and ligaments in your ankles and feet. A physical therapist can teach you exercises to improve your flexibility and strength.
Surgical and other procedures
- Reduction. If you have a displaced fracture, your doctor may need to manipulate the pieces back into their proper positions — a process called reduction. Depending on the amount of pain and swelling you have, you may need a muscle relaxant, a sedative or even a general anesthetic before this procedure.
- Immobilization. To heal, a broken bone must be immobilized so its ends can knit back together. In most cases, this requires a cast. Minor foot fractures may only need a removable brace or shoe with a stiff sole. A fractured toe is usually taped to a neighboring toe, with a piece of gauze between them.
- Surgery. In some cases, a surgeon may need to use pins, plates or screws to maintain proper position of your bones during healing. These materials may be removed after the fracture has healed if they are prominent and painful.
- Ho K, et al. Ankle and foot: Foot. In: Marx JA, et al. Rosen's Emergency Medicine: Concepts and Clinical Practice. 6th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby Elsevier; 2006. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/119940582-3/803115108/1365/151.html. Accessed Feb. 11, 2009.
- Ho K, et al. Ankle and foot: Ankle. In: Marx JA, et al. Rosen's Emergency Medicine: Concepts and Clinical Practice. 6th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Mosby Elsevier; 2006. http://www.mdconsult.com/das/book/body/119940582-3/803115108/1365/150.html#4-u1.0-B0-323-02845-4..50060-3--cesec26_2557. Accessed Feb. 11, 2009.
- Toe and forefoot fractures. American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic=A00165. Accessed Feb. 11, 2009.
- Ankle fractures. American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00391. Accessed Feb. 11, 2009.
- Stress fractures of the foot and ankle. American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00379. Accessed Feb. 11, 2009.
- deWeber K. Overview of stress fractures. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Feb. 11, 2009.
- Hatch RL, et al. Metatarsal shaft fractures. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Feb. 11, 2009.
- General nuclear medicine. Radiological Society of North America. http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?PG=gennuclear. Accessed Feb. 12, 2009.
- CT: Body. Radiological Society of North America. http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?PG=bodyct. Accessed Feb. 12, 2009.
