Anyone who has slammed their foot into a chair in the dark of night knows that it is awfully painful to break a toe. It can happen to anyone, no one is immune. Patients come in daily to my office for me to x-ray their foot and discuss the best way to treat the toe.
Even as restrictions are easing, there are a LOT of people staying home during this COVID-19 pandemic and many of them are not wearing shoes around the house. This makes them much more susceptible to injuring their toe while simply walking around the house. It doesn’t take much for an injury to that toe to happen.
While staying at home, model and television personality Chrissy Teigen did just that. She slammed her toe into something in the house and felt the same pain that we all feel. Instead of going to the doctor, she took to Twitter….
Broke my second toe. Can you even do anything for it? It just has to heal, right? I’m not about to go to the hospital like BROKEN TOE COMING THRU. Should I wrap it with gauze and a popsicle stick
— chrissy teigen (@chrissyteigen) April 28, 2020
Lots of responses came in, giving Chrissy advice on the way to care for a broken toe. Over 5,000 responses and suggestions! Unfortunately, the popular tweet was also seen by her doctor, who wasn't happy with her turning to Twitter for medical advice.
my doctor read my twitter and he is once again asking I stop going to u guys for medical advice of any kind
— chrissy teigen (@chrissyteigen) April 28, 2020
Now this being smack-dab in the middle of quarantine, I can understand why she wouldn't want to step foot in the hospital with something like a broken toe. After all, there are sick people there and Los Angeles was a hotspot for COVID-19. But she had other options than turning to Twitter.
In my opinion, she should have gone to her podiatrist. Her podiatrist would have been able take a quick x-ray in the office and determined the extent of the injury. He would have given appropriate advice as to how to treat the injury (Hint: It doesn't involve a popsicle stick).
I'm sure that some of the 5,000 Twitter responses were actually giving good information, but that shouldn't be the first place you turn when you have a medical issue. If the same thing happens to you, contact our Houston podiatry office for an immediate appointment. Leave Dr. Twitter to the celebrities.
