General Cycling Discussion - Has anyone broken a foot?

I had a mishap today an i believe my foot is broken. It hurts so bad to walk. Lots of swelling and bruising.

How long after doing the breakage until you were on the bike again?

I broke one of my toes one morning getting ready for work and rushing around the house. Oh well, I thought, and I grabbed the shoes I was using for cycling at the time and wore them all day. They had quite thick, stiff soles and I figured they'd be my most comfortable bet. They were, but I was still in quite a bit of pain all day.

In the evening, I went out for a ride with a friend figuring I'd be fine because I would be wearing my stiff-soled shoes and wouldn't be putting any weight on the foot. I was fine ... until he stopped suddenly in front of me and I crashed into him. Normally in that situation, I would have put my foot down, but I didn't want to suddenly put that foot down because I knew it would hurt a lot. So I just tipped over, and landed squarely on my ribs ... cracking them.

In the clinic, I was told they couldn't really do anything about my ribs, and couldn't really do anything about the toe (which they confirmed was broken), but noticed that there was a tiny scrape on the toe and wondered when my last tetanus shot was ... I hesitated. The next thing I knew they were giving me a tetanus shot!

So I hobbled out of the clinic with a broken toe on my left foot, cracked left ribs, and a sore and useless left arm after the tetanus shot.

I tried to ride the next day, but made it about 200 metres before feeling like I was going to throw up, and deciding that it would probably be in my best interests to rest a day or two.


I have on other occasions done something to my foot leaving it quite painful (i.e. dropping a large can of something from a top shelf onto the top of my foot), but I've just taken a day or so off, and then kept riding.

I had a mishap today an i believe my foot is broken. It hurts so bad to walk. Lots of swelling and bruising.

How long after doing the breakage until you were on the bike again?

"Broken foot" covers a lot of territory. There aren't any bone splinters sticking out through the skin, are there? No? Good.
If it hurts bad enough, or there are obvious bent pieces, or if the swelling/bruising is really bad, you might want to consider seeing a healthcare provider to get things checked out, if you haven't already.
In the meantime RICE is usually appropriate: Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.

I broke one of the tarsal bones (one of the long bone that runs from the toes back to the heel area). These bones act sort of like leaf springs, and absorb some of the shock when walking. I was in a walking cast for a month, at least, and it took literally YEARS before I could walk without some level of pain. Sorry!

I wasn't riding at the time, so I don't know how long it would have been to get back on a bike, but it would seem to me that the flexy-bendy spring action would be kind of the same.

I'm not sure that an inter net bike forum is the best place for medical advice. Might want to pose this question to a medical professional after they have evaluated your injury.

I'm not sure that an inter net bike forum is the best place for medical advice. Might want to pose this question to a medical professional after they have evaluated your injury.

I wasn't asking for medical advice, rainman. I simply asked those of whom had broken foots to tell me how long before they could ride again.

Anyway, the point is moot as I went to get it looked at and its a major sprain, not a fracture.

its a major sprain, not a fracture.

Good news.

I can't speak for the foot but a broken ankle took me three months.
For comparison.

I broke (well demolished) a bone in my foot. I was in a cast for 8 weeks and had several months of PT. So it depends on what you did.

As others have said, "broken foot" covers a lot of ground. There are a couple of dozen bones in there (26, I think). I've done it twice for sure and once probable, and all they told me to do was wear shoes that fit well and take aspirin--but that was with minor fracs of the little bones. A broken heel bone would be a much different deal.
In general, my doc (a cyclist) told me it would be self-limiting, to do what I felt like I could do. Elevating the foot while you're sitting or lying down will reduce the pain and throbbing, and ice packs or hot packs may help (another thing the doc told me is that there's no clear evidence one is better than the other). But I'm not qualified to give medical advice, so feel free to do something else.

Avoiding docs as much as possible(nothing personal) I walked around
on a broken foot for a week. Finally going for xray, cast six weeks,
2 more weeks off the bike after that. Walked off of a curb. Dumb move.