About 5 weeks ago my 40 lb son fell on my left foot. It hurt minimally and after a few days it was only slightly swollen on the place he landed and almost no bruising. The pain level was that of a deep bruise. After a few weeks I flew out of state for a family funeral. At night when I would take off my shoes, my foot had a deep ache, but I could still stand, walk and there was still little outward sign of damage. On the way home my foot began to hurt significantly and I started to get a small patch at the tip of my toe that felt tingly. It hurt to walk on the full part of my foot, but I could walk on my heel. At this point some light yellowish bruises had shown up along the inside of my left food, on the big toe on the bottom and along the front and back of the toes. The swelling increased. I had an x-ray done and it showed no broken bones. I could still walk on the heel but could not put weight on the entire foot. I decided to just try to stay off of it as much as possible and got some crutches. I elevated and iced and did some heat and soaking with epsom salts. Then I slipped three times slightly in one day and engaged the muscles on the foot abruptly. This didn’t cause immense pain but it swelled and the tingling spread. When the foot hangs down it looks dark in color, kind of a red-ish purple but it goes away sometimes and especially when elevated. The tingling goes away if I don’t move the foot but if I slip at all the yellow bruising returns and so does the tingling. I am assuming my next step is an MRI but my question is if there is any danger to trying a boot first? The MRI will not be covered by insurance and I am happy to continue to elevate and rest it if this is enough. It seems like every time it gets slightly better even the slightest movement is sending me backwards so I was thinking the boot would help. However, I don’t want to make the situation worse.