How can I tell if I should have surgery to remove a big toe fracture fragment?

If you get a fracture in your big toe joint it can be easy to get talked into surgery. Especially if you see fragments on an X-ray. 

Your doctor may call old broken bone pieces by a number of terms:

"Osteophytes"

"Fracture fragments" 

"Loose bodies"

"Surgical targets"

If your doctor points them out and starts talking about surgery, the chances are good that you're going to want to have them removed. But there are times when surgery is totally unnecessary. 

How can I tell if I really need to have surgery to remove a fracture fragment in my big toe joint? 

Well, that's what we're talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast.