Two weeks ago, I ran over my foot with a pallet of frozen food loaded onto a pallet jack, something that usually weighs over 1000 pounds.
I was sure that something was broken. I was in the worst pain I'd ever experienced in my life.
Then, the doctor at the emergency room gave me the diagnosis: a broken pinky toe.
My initial reaction was, "That's it?"
Two weeks later and I'm still in pain every time I walk (weird, I know, since I have a broken toe).
Everybody I encounter seems to have the same reaction as I did when I found out that the "only" thing wrong with my foot is a broken toe, "That's it?"
I know, I know, I'm a bit biased on the level of discomfort I'm facing right now, and I haven't ever broken another bone to compare the discomfort to, but, I think that broken toes should stop being reduced to being just "it."
Every injury might be different, and everyone's pain tolerance is different, but when someone says they're in pain every time they walk, maybe you should take their injury a little more seriously.
One of the worst parts about broken toes is there's no way to really treat them. There is no cast, no sling, just some tape to keep it straight and cautionary advice to keep walking to a minimum.
The fact is, though, in my case, I ran over all five of my toes on my right foot. It's just that the last two toes got the worst impact, leaving big bruises and only one broken bone... so you can imagine that I'm in more pain than one broken toe would imply.
Still, if someone says that they're in pain, don't belittle their pain because it's "just" a broken toe or it's "just" a sprained ankle. That could be the worst pain they have ever experienced. Let them have their struggle.