Most painful 'minor' injury/injuries?

[Strathclyder]

A bit of a random topic I know, but the genesis for it comes from yours truly pulling/tearing a back muscle back in December 2020.

Of course, it can rightly be argued that a pulled muscle isn't really a serious injury compared to the other back injuries that can be sustained, but speaking from the above experience, I can plainly say that, minor or not, it was as if someone was jamming a white-hot cattle prod right into the base of my spine. Pure, unfiltered agony that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. Couldn't make any significant movements without searing, white-hot pain wracking my body for over a week and had to be loaded up on solpadeine* (aka opioids) pills for nearly as long just for some relief from the searing pain and to enable me to get at least a few hours sleep (3-4 hours at minimum in the days following). I'd recovered enough by Dec. 25th to finally take a shower, but I didn't recover fully until the middle of the following January. God willing that will be the worst back injury I'll sustain for a good long while...

I can readily think of a few other examples, but that was the one that sprang to mind. What would your candidate for the most painful 'minor' injury be? I realize that this may be something of a contentious topic, but let's try and keep it civil, eh? Mods/admins, feel free to lock this if it's not in keeping with this particular part of the forum.

*: I was fully aware of the risks these pose before sustaining this injury, but there was little else on hand to quell the worst of the pain. Either way, I was able to ween myself off them and onto over-the-counter paracetamol as I slowly recovered.

 

[Farang]

For me, bruised ribs. For weeks any sudden movement, like going over a speed bump or shifting in my chair, was agonising. But that's not in the same league as what happened to my brother: cactus needles in his eye - he fainted because of the pain. Does that count as a minor injury? He made a full recovery.

 

[GusB]

For me, bruised ribs. For weeks any sudden movement, like going over a speed bump or shifting in my chair, was agonising. But that's not in the same league as what happened to my brother: cactus needles in his eye - he fainted because of the pain. Does that count as a minor injury? He made a full recovery.

Oh yes, I can attest to that one. I've had cracked ribs too, which results in the most horrendous pain. Comedy shows have to be avoided because the slightest chuckle can be agonising!

 

[Mag_seven]

Of course, it can rightly be argued that a pulled muscle isn't really a serious injury compared to the other back injuries that can be sustained

I pulled a lower back muscle (sneezing violently believe it or not) some time ago and it was literally the only time that I felt I had to go to A&E it was so painful.

 

[Peter0124]

Twisted/sprained ankles are horrible to deal with

 

[Spamcan81]

Dislocated kneecap - I've done it twice and it was agony each time.

 

[AlterEgo]

I’ve dislocated my thumb before playing football and that was absolute agony.

 

[birchesgreen]

I was climbing over a fence in my youth, my foot slipped and a delicate part of my anatomy suffered an injury. Drew blood too. Rather painful.

 

[gg1]

Not an injury but in terms of pain I have occasional severe cramp in my calf muscle.

I generally get a few seconds warning where the pain is slowly building up, at it's peak the pain is terrible best way I can think of describing the feeling is like a poker being jammed into the muscle from the inside my leg, with the muscle feeling like it's trying to burst it's way out of my leg, the pain subsides after a short time leaving me with an aching leg for anything up to a week. I've only ever met one person who's experienced cramp to quite the same degree, she's had 3 kids and described it as the worst pain she's experience, much worse than labour pain, though of course it is over a lot quicker.

 

[ABB125]

When I was about 5 (+/- a year or so), I fell off a style over a barbed wire fence. I managed to grab hold of the wire to stop the fall... However, the "grab" was actually impaling one of my fingers (directly in the middle of the second joint!) on a barb, so I was hanging from the fence by a single finger.
I don't remember how painful it was, but I imagine "very" is a suitable adjective.

I still have an odd scar on that finger!

 

[SuspectUsual]

Being something of a clumsy oaf:

- cracking the same rib three times in three separate accidents several years apart. Once playing football, once playing cricket, and once when a mate “jokingly” punched me. Every time it was incredibly uncomfortable, not least because two of them happened in summer and I have really bad hay fever, and sneezing was agony

- breaking all four fingers on one hand by stupidly pulling the door of a mark 1 carriage closed with my hand still in the way

- slipping on a wet kitchen floor, trying to regain my balance, and banging the back of my hand on the edge of a granite worktop. Blood everywhere, and a broken hand

 

[MotCO]

Gout - the pain is excruciating.

I also ricked my back so I could not stand up. I tried a hot water bottle, but without realising it, the hot water bottle was too hot and blistered my skin, which required dressing for three weeks!

I also had tendinitis - the pain shot up my leg, and caused me to have an episode of Atrial Fibrulation. I do have this from time to time, and the only way to get my heart back into normal rhythm is to go to hospital and have cardioversion - a 'jump start'.

 

[dgl]

Kicked a keyboard stand accidentally, it was one of the Apex syle that are quite solid, properly hurt my baby? toe and was really painful to walk on for a while, stupidly thought I'd still go into work when I was next in a few days after and ended up having to go home.

 

[DarloRich]

A paper cut can smart!


I have had loads of broken toes and fingers from sports ( cricket, rugby, football) Although by far the most painful was a blow to the gentleman area while batting. Agony. Almost passed out. Hurts now to think of it.

 

[SuspectUsual]

Although by far the most painful was a blow to the gentleman area while batting. Agony. Almost passed out. Hurts now to think of it.

Ah yes, I've been in a similar situation playing cricket. Of course, the cricketing convention at times like this is that every other player and the umps fall about laughing, which helps no end

 

[DarloRich]

Ah yes, I've been in a similar situation playing cricket. Of course, the cricketing convention at times like this is that every other player and the umps fall about laughing, which helps no end

to aggravate the injury part of the aforesaid gentleman equipment was nipped by the protective equipment.

And yes - it is in the laws that everyone must laugh

 

[Bayum]

Depends what you mean by ‘minor’.
Broken ribs can be caused by coughing and are exceedingly painful; ditto for pulled intercostal muscles.

 

[dakta]

suspect broke a toe trying to kick out at a spider that appeared out of a towel and dropped to the floor unexpectedly as i climbed out of the shower, missed completely and put my bare foot into a cupboard door.

Just a case of suck it up I guess bit I recall it being quite tender .

 

[birchesgreen]

I remember when i had an infected colon in Jakarta, i went to the bog late last night, i slipped and bashed my little toe on the corner of a wall. Hurt so much, though by quite a margin it was only the second worse thing that happened to me that night

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

I too have played cricket and the ball bounced up into my groin at speed, but worst pain in that region was when I was lying on my back with my knees up and I put my Playstation Vita on my knee for a moment to get my lucozade bottle and it fell unexpectedly.

Worst minor injury pain however was after I had my Covid jab, I woke up in the morning with severe cramp, the cramp was worse than any ball pain, I woke up screaming, something I don't do with pain usually.

Two incidents happened to me where there was a surprising lack of pain, as a kid I nearly drowned in the deep end of a swimming pool, and as an adult I fell over and had that "air knocked out of your lungs" thing, both times I had urge to struggle, but absolutely no pain at all. Also once when ill I felt as if I was freezing to death and another time as if I were burning, but not pain in a normal sense.

Also on this thread someone needs to mention the creator of foot pain... LEGO.

 

[MotCO]

Also on this thread someone needs to mention the creator of foot pain... LEGO.

Or standing on an electric plug

 

[Ediswan]

Dislodged left rib* due to meeting, at speed, another kayak pointing the other way. Initially, I could barely breath. GP declared the equivalent of 'no fault found'. A few days later I had to reach across to the passenger door in the car. There was a click, which resolved the problem.

Some years later, I had the opportunity to discuss with a doctor who was the physio for one of the GB Olympic teams. Their view was 'common injury' and proceeded to demonstrate on the classic dangling skeleton.

* Where the rib meets the sternum.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 10 Feb 2022 ==

Or standing on an electric plug

It used to be worse. Consider the power cords on garden equipment, with bare pins on one side. Much the same connectors used to be sold in pairs as lead extenders. You were supposed to wire the shielded socket socket to the live side, but nothing ensured this. Imagine standing bare-footed on a live mains supply !

 

[DarloRich]

I broke one of my knuckles punching a steel beam on the way out of Spotland when we lost in a play off semi final there. ( That didn't hurt until after I had driven back home!)

Also on this thread someone needs to mention the creator of foot pain... LEGO.

argh: The Lego land mine. Terrible thing.

 

[Scotrail12]

When I was on a weekend away and ended up getting a stress fracture in both feet (this was very quickly after lockdown 1 ended so suddenly went from 3 months of relative inactivity to 100,000 steps within 72 hours). That was not fun and I couldn't just rest it at home.

 

[OhNoAPacer]

I’ve dislocated my thumb before playing football and that was absolute agony.

Football pah!!!!!!!!!

I managed to dislocate my thumb playing chess.

 

[johntea]

I think the only time I have been in hospital was for a hernia operation - they knocked me out for that so I didn't feel a thing until the magic wore off and then OWWWWW for a couple of weeks!

I also brushed against a nettle or something once which somehow caused my right foot and lower leg to swell up to 2-3 times the normal size for about a week, went to A+E who prescribed some tablets and sent me hopping on my way!

 

[Trackman]

Torn ligaments in my right arm.
It was throbbing like fun, thought I would be OK in the morning but when dawn came the pain really started and I couldn't even get out of bed for a jimmy riddle. I ended up asking for a chair and used it like a Zimmer frame to get to the bog. Phoned in sick.
Doctors that afternoon, said I should I go to A&E but after examining me he knew what the problem and he is a specialist in that field. He told me 'It would have been better breaking it'. Funny that appointment, when I sat down I said 'It's my arm' - the doctor said 'I know!' - They must watch you walking in. Prescribed me pain-killers which I didnt want but said 'I give you some gel to rub on'. Anyway got the prescription, wasn't too happy with the pills but laughed and gave the gel a go... wow.. it worked! took the edge off a bit.

 

[AndyPJG]

Also on this thread someone needs to mention the creator of foot pain... LEGO.

Worse than that is the way to find the small self tapper screw you've dropped onto a concrete floor and can't see it....just kneel down to look and your kneecap will tell you where it is...works every time.

A paper cut can smart!

Ones from plan printing paper certainly do, the paper edges are razor sharp and the chemical impregnation just adds to it.

 

[Strathclyder]

I know I said at the start that this subject is rather relative, but yeeesh, some of these made me wince reading them.

A few more:

- Stubbing my toe on either the ladder of my cabin bed or the pull-out section of my computer desk. Both leave me hopping mad, clutching my foot and more often than not cursing up a storm.

- My dogs getting me with their claws when playing, getting it across the foot is by far the worst. Their dewclaws in particular can leave me gritting my teeth.

- Busting my cheek after blacking out in the bathroom one night. What happened was something similar to how I tore/pulled my back muscle (see below), but the difference here is that I got up too quickly, felt myself go lightheaded, pass/black out, fall forward, hit the edge of the sink (rounded edge mercifully), rebound and fall back into the corner of the room. I came to with a swollen, painful to the touch cheek that was bleeding, topped off with a black eye. Couldn't wash my face for at least a week after the fact, it was that painful. Still had to go into college the next day, with some of my classmates asking if I'd gotten into a fight or something. Thank god it was a half-day that day, could barely focus on my work (swollen eye/cheek and resultant lack of sleep will do that).

I pulled a lower back muscle (sneezing violently believe it or not) some time ago and it was literally the only time that I felt I had to go to A&E it was so painful.

I did it (god, this is embarassing to confess to) while over-exerting myself on the loo (if I recall correctly, the pain initially felt like constipation, which made me exert myself, which in turn made it 10 times worse). Exerting myself and then I felt a intensifying pain in my back. Next thing I knew, I was coming to on the bathroom floor, nearly screaming in utter agony. This was the first time I'd ever done something like this to myself and I really did think, in spite of knowing a broken back is infinitely more painful, that is what I'd somehow done. In my defense, when in the throes of white-hot pain, you tend not to think clearly.

God knows how I managed to get myself down the stairs to let my mum know what had happened, let alone get up and open the bathroom door. What scarcely helped was that I have a cabin bed (aka a bed on stilts) and I had to drag myself up the ladder and over the top of it, onto the matteress and into the least agonizing position - flat on my back with a hot water bottle slung underneath me. The hot water bottle did help take the edge off somewhat, as did being doped up on solpadeine. At the start, I too felt like I had to go to A&E, but apart from anything else, this was in the middle of the second lockdown, so I couldn't really even if I had done something worse than pull/tear a muscle.

Depends what you mean by ‘minor’.
Broken ribs can be caused by coughing and are exceedingly painful; ditto for pulled intercostal muscles.

The injury and/or how it was sustained compared to similar, but far more serious ones. I freely admit to not being a medical expert in any way shape or form, so I'm open to be ahem... dissected on this front lol

Not an injury but in terms of pain I have occasional severe cramp in my calf muscle.

I generally get a few seconds warning where the pain is slowly building up, at it's peak the pain is terrible best way I can think of describing the feeling is like a poker being jammed into the muscle from the inside my leg, with the muscle feeling like it's trying to burst it's way out of my leg, the pain subsides after a short time leaving me with an aching leg for anything up to a week. I've only ever met one person who's experienced cramp to quite the same degree, she's had 3 kids and described it as the worst pain she's experience, much worse than labour pain, though of course it is over a lot quicker.

I have similar pains in my legs on occasion, they usually occur after a long period of inactivity suddenly interrupted by moving/stretching too quickly or overstretching. How I'd describe what it feels like at it's peak is precisely that: like a red-hot poker is being jammed into the muscle from inside the leg. It lasts for about 2-4 minutes at most, but it leaves me winded and tightly gripping the closest surface every time it happens.

 

[Acey]

Dropped a headstone on my big toe ,used all my repertoire of Anglo Saxon expressions of annoyance !