Question: I broke my fifth metatarsal a year ago. It's been very slow and it's only in the past 3 weeks that I've been walking (albeit with a bit of a limp, and slowly) crutch-free. Last week, however, the fracture site went red and the pain was different. There's been pain there all the time and still stops me wearing shoes, and squeezing my foot is better than it was but is still unbearable. It's not shooting pains, just a bad inside pain. Lettting go or taking shoes off instantly relieves the pain. All along, you haven't been able to see anything, so this red patch is completely new. The pain is also different. It was dull and like a 'squeeze'. But since the red patch, it's been burning, like a red hot poker is poking right through my foot. When the burning pain stops - like at night, after I've been lying in bed for a couple of hours - the pain is 'in' my bone and very, very sore, and comes in waves. What's going on with this foot? Why would it suddenly go red like this? Any why after so long?

By the way, I don't have back pain. I must have ticked that by mistake. The email is just about my foot. The rest of me is healthy and pain free. My foot is the problem and also the source of pain. Sorry for any confusion.

I'm not diabetic. There's no further injury to the foot. It's red exactly where it has been hurting me for the past year, because of the first injury a year ago. But the redness is new and has come out of the blue. All shoes hurt me - exactly in this area - but I found a pair of bare feet sandals that I have managed to wear without too much discomfort. It has been 5 days now and the burning pain won't go away. I don't understand why the inflammation would appear so long after the injury...

I have uploaded a photo of the x-ray of the original injury for your info. This was 1 week after the fall, taken a year ago.