Word choice problem

Not sure if this is the right forum, but I'm having trouble picking the right word for the noise my broken-footed MC makes:

I rolled over onto my feet, tried to stand – and buckled back to my knees with a pathetic cry.

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The impression I'm trying to give is not an angry, or macho, or dramatic snarl or howl. I'm trying to evoke a really human, vulnerable, noise. The kind of noise you'd make if you stood on a broken foot at the end of a really brutal day. A whimper or yelp rather than a snarl.

So I went for pathetic, aiming for the sense of "arousing pity, esp. through vulnerability or sadness". Trouble is, I think pathetic is more commonly thought of as meaning "worthy of scorn or derision", and that sends the wrong signal: the MC is so hard as nails that she scorns anybody expressing discomfort at a broken foot.

It's a small point, but can anybody help?

Thanks, guys. Yelp is probably the best word. I'll go with it.

I shall make the rolling thing clearer. Sam starts on her back, and I wanted to give the impression that she moved onto her feet and then put weight on them. Maybe..."I shifted onto my feet" or something will work.

Much, much, much better I think. Thanks, Silver.

I was all out of rockets and hand grenades, so getting the rifle back was my first priority: I didn't much fancy trying to hold off a platoon of warrior bugs with my sidearm. I tried to stand –*and buckled back to my knees with a cry of pain. Something in my right foot was badly broken, and putting weight onto it felt like stepping barefoot onto a razor sharp spike. I stayed on my knees for a moment, blinking tears out of my eyes and feeling stabs of pain shiver up through my foot and calf. "Painkillers," I gasped, and my armour squirted a dose of neural binders into my neck. We'd been ordered over and over to only use them in emergencies. This seemed to qualify...

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Thanks for all the help, everybody.