Hello , two weeks ago I fell and hurt my ribs. For about 6 days I was in great pain. I iced the rib and that seemed to help. I get the sence that it will take a couple more weeks to heal. However for the past couple days I have been feeling numbness on my big toe! Is that normal?
Hi, Thank you for providing the brief history of you. A thorough neuromuscular and musculoskeletal assessment is advised. As the mechanism of injury was a fall, where you have hurt your ribs, it will be just a hairline fracture for which x-ray can help. For this performing costal breathing exercises should help and improve the strength in the muscles. You can learn the exercises from net or a physical therapist. Now, you have numbness in the big toe, I suspect that due to the fall there might be some small strain on the spinal region in the lower back, which is leading to such symptoms. If an MRI is taken of the lumbar spine, the soft tissues can be seen and any injury present can be detected. Undergoing a simple physical therapy exercises for the core, spine, lower limbs strengthening should help you for more. In my clinical practice I see cases with numbness in the big toe, and along with MRI and Physical therapy recommendation they respond well. RegardsJay In Chat Doctor. 