Possible popped blood vessel

The topic above really doesn't relate to my question. My boyfriend plays basketball just for fun and recently his foot has been hurting. We thought it was the arch in his foot, the shoes he wears don't have really good arch support. Well we bought a Dr. Scholl's massaging gell Sport replacement insoles today to see if it could help. He only plays once a week and by the time he went to play again the pain in his foot would go away somewhat. Tonight, he jumped up and landed on his foot and heard a loud pop. He just got home and pulled off his sock. The place in his foot where the pain is coming from is back in the same place but now the spot is is bulging out of place and is purple. We don't have health insurance, is there something we can do?

[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
The symptoms are suggestive of a muscle strain or a ligament sprain. The bluish discoloration can be due to rupture of the superficial blood vessels causing bruising and hematoma formation. Ask your boyfriend to apply cold compresses and take some anti inflammatory analgesic like Diclofenac. If the symptoms persist then he may need to get xray foot or MRI of the foot to rule out any fracture and other soft tissue injuries.

It is very difficult to precisely confirm a diagnosis without examination and investigations and the answer is based on the medical information provided. For exact diagnosis, you are requested to consult your doctor. I sincerely hope that helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing.