This page is educational and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
Please ask a qualified health professional about symptoms, treatment decisions, or concerns about your own condition.
Emergency? If symptoms are severe, rapidly worsening, or you think it may be an emergency, call your local emergency number or go to the nearest emergency department.
Bones & Joints
A Jones fracture is a specific break at the base of the fifth metatarsal (the long bone connecting to your little toe), occurring 1.5-3cm from the bone end in a zone with poor blood supply, typically from twisting injury on outside of foot, sudden pivoting in basketball/football, or repeated stress in runners and dancers—causing pain, swelling, and difficulty walking on outside of foot. Jones fractures are notorious for slow healing and high nonunion rate (20-30% fail to heal with boot/cast alone) due to poor blood supply to this zone, making surgical screw fixation the preferred treatment for athletes and active individuals (90-95% union rate, return to sport 6-10 weeks), while non-surgical treatment reserved for low-demand patients willing to accept longer recovery (12-20 weeks) and risk of nonunion requiring delayed surgery.
What it is and why it happens
A Jones fracture is a specific break at the base of the fifth metatarsal (the long bone connecting to your little toe), occurring 1.5-3cm from the bone end in a zone with poor blood supply, typically from twisting injury on outside of foot, sudden pivoting in basketball/football, or repeated stress in runners and dancers—causing pain, swelling, and difficulty walking on outside of foot. Jones fractures are notorious for slow healing and high nonunion rate (20-30% fail to heal with boot/cast alone) due to poor blood supply to this zone, making surgical screw fixation the preferred treatment for athletes and active individuals (90-95% union rate, return to sport 6-10 weeks), while non-surgical treatment reserved for low-demand patients willing to accept longer recovery (12-20 weeks) and risk of nonunion requiring delayed surgery.