I've broken the small toe on my left foot twice (caught on the corner of a wall as I ran to answer the phone & landed wrong stepping down out of a trailer) and on my right foot once (my horse decided to stand on it & not move). I have to say that all three times I did not go to the doctor, just let them heal on their own and yes, it took a number of weeks before they stopped hurting. They stayed tender for a long time afterwards & both are a bit deformed now. And even to this day I have a problem with the fit of closed toe shoes. The seam/stitching for the tounge often hits right on my deformed little toes. Makes shoe shopping interesting.