Hammer Toe Treatment
While a tiny percentage of our body, our toes are vital for balance, movement, gripping, and sensory input for maintaining those activities. They play an essential role in our daily activities. Our toes propel us forward when walking or running. They help us grip a tree or rock as we climb. When their strength and flexibility are impaired with conditions like hammer toe, our performance, mobility, and quality of life suffer.
Don’t wait until you see a significant decline in your activities or foot function; visit Dr. Cameron at Foot and Ankle Center if you are experiencing any foot problems or discomfort. One of the region’s top podiatrists for over 10 years, Dr. Cameron has the experience to expertly diagnose and treat any ailment you may have, including hammertoes/hammer toes.
What Are Hammer Toes (alternately spelled hammertoes)?
You have three joints in your toes. When the middle joint of your second, third, or fourth toe bends, the front of your toe bends downwards. It makes your toe look like a hammer, hence the name.
You can have two types. Flexible hammertoes can be straightened out and corrected with prompt intervention. If not treated, they can develop into rigid hammertoes that are bent in a fixed position and require surgical intervention for straightening.
The tell-tale symptom of hammertoes is their appearance. In addition to the change in their appearance, you may have discomfort or pain in that toe. You can develop corns or calluses over time on top. You might experience redness or swelling, making walking or wearing your shoes difficult. It might progress to the point where you cannot flex or move the affected toe.
Hammertoes can often accompany foot conditions like plantar fasciitis or bunions, developing into a collection of increasingly painful, serious foot problems.
Causes of Hammertoes
Connective tissue imbalances often cause foot conditions like this. When your muscles, tendons, and ligaments are not properly balanced and in alignment to hold your toes in place, hammer, claw, and mallet toes can develop. While the precise cause is still unknown, there are some hereditary and environmental factors contributing to hammertoes:
Genetics
People can be born with a predisposition that will manifest later in life. Additionally, if you are born with structural foot abnormalities such as flat feet, you can also be more likely to develop the condition. Other foot conditions, such as bunions, can also predispose you to hammertoes.
Tight Footwear
One of the most common causes of hammertoes and other foot problems is poorly fitting shoes. Feet take the shape of the shoes you put them in, and fashion shoes are not foot-shaped. When you favor those footwear choices, you shove your toes into toe boxes that pinch and can create problems over time. Your toes will hold unnatural positions for as long as you wear the shoes, eventually straining muscles and tendons to the point of an imbalance. High-heeled shoes are one of the worst culprits for causing hammertoes.
Foot Trauma
If you are an athlete who has a history dotted with strains and fractures, you may be more prone to foot issues down the road. The injuries can contribute to hammertoes. They may be minor, but they are chronic due to your active lifestyle.
Medical Conditions
Joint degenerative diseases such as arthritis, nerve damage in your feet, and other medical conditions that affect your feet, like diabetes, can all contribute to hammertoes forming. If you have any of these diagnoses, you should check in with a podiatrist annually to assess your feet at a minimum. They can keep track of your baseline to diagnose any new conditions more effectively.
Hammer Toe Corrections at Home
If your condition is relatively mild, you can make some of the following lifestyle adjustments to alleviate symptoms and prevent further degradation:
- Choose Comfortable Shoes
You want foot-shaped toe boxes with adequate support and minimal heel height to promote foot health and allow your feet to function as they should. If you feel some toes squishing, the toe box isn’t wide enough. Avoid high-heeled or any other shoes that put pressure on your toes. When you must, a low, platformed wedge heel would be the least damaging choice for an elevated heel, but it’s still better to avoid it if possible. - Stretch and Strengthen
Exercises focusing on stretching your feet and toes and strengthening the surrounding muscles can help prevent and provide flexible hammer toe correction. Marble pick-ups, toe raises, arch lifts, toe stretches, and toe curls can help. Check out foot yoga, consult a podiatrist, or visit physical therapy for more recommendations and targeted exercises. - Use Over-The-Counter Cushions
There are many products you can try to help alleviate discomfort, keep your feet in proper alignment, and allow rest: bunion pads or sleeves, hammertoe splints, toe supports, toe sleeves, and spacers. Some dancers even use lamb’s wool to cushion and protect their toes and feet. You can also try taping to hold your toe in a more natural position, gently. While these products help with pain relief, they cannot result in a hammer toe correction.
If implementing these changes is not helping, you may need advanced treatment options from a hammer toe specialist.
Why See a Hammer Toe Specialist
As one of Utah’s top podiatrists, Dr. Cameron understands that hammertoes require different interventions depending on their severity. He can perform an assessment and recommend lifestyle modifications, custom orthotics, medication, physical therapy, surgery, or a combination to correct your condition.
Foot and Ankle Center can prescribe and generate custom orthotics formed for your feet, providing relief and keeping your feet in a position that will stop further hammer toe development. The clinic team can educate you on the contributing factors to your condition and how to alter your life to avoid it in the future.
Dr. Cameron can provide a referral for physical therapy if you need more rigorous stretching and strengthening. He can prescribe medications to reduce inflammation and pain or administer corticosteroid injections for more immediate relief. If less invasive measures won’t be enough to make a difference, Dr. Cameron may recommend and perform hammer toe treatment surgery.
Hammer Toe Removals
Dr. Cameron is a board-certified reconstructive foot and ankle surgeon and can competently handle any of your operations.
If you still have a flexible hammer toe, he can perform an in-office procedure to lengthen the flexor tendon on the bottom of your toe. Without an incision, this is a low-risk procedure done under local anesthesia for hammer toe correction.
If needed, Dr. Cameron can perform a more invasive tendon transfer, which involves pulling the tendon across the top of your toe joint to straighten it. This compensates for muscle weakness and reduces pain with slightly more risk.
Unfortunately, rigid hammertoes require a trip to the operating room for hammer toe removal. Dr. Cameron can perform a joint resection, cutting your ligaments and tendons to restore proper joint alignment. He may need to remove part of your bone and use temporary pins to hold the toe in place while you recover.
The last hammer toes surgery is a joint fusion where Dr. Cameron removes a portion of the joint for the bones to heal and fuse. This requires more surgical hardware until the bones fully heal. This procedure won’t restore mobility but will straighten your toe and reduce pain.
No matter the condition of your feet, whether you have flexible or rigid hammertoes, Dr. Cameron will work with you to create a treatment plan you’re happy with. Your job is to take care of your feet, but even with the best preventative care, you can still develop an issue. Knowing when to go see a podiatrist like Dr. Cameron is crucial. Once there, he will take care of the rest, helping you return to enjoying your life without a second thought about your feet.