Prevention and Remedies for Hammertoes
Penn Medicine reports that more than 7.2 million Americans are suffering from hammertoes. If you have hammertoes Pico Robertson, Beverly Hills, the end of your smaller toes bend from their middle joint. The curling up of the middle joint of any of the smaller toes leads it to bend downward. Eventually, your affected toe will be forced into a position, making it appear like a hammer.
If you have a hammertoe, treat it as soon as possible before it becomes dreadful and painful. A stiffer or more rigid hammertoe will be tough to make straight.
Without early treatment of hammertoes, the condition will progress slowly, leading to an imbalance during walking, corn, calluses, and skin ulcers. Below are strategies you can implement to prevent the development of hammertoes.
- Exercise regularly
Exercising is vital as it can help enhance the firmness of your musculoskeletal system. Your physical therapist can teach you the exercises to promote the healthy hardening of the muscles and joints of your feet. For instance, you can use your toes to collect marbles or other tiny objects.
Regularly stretched and strengthened muscles and joints of your smaller toes (the second to the fifth toe) will discourage their arching. When joints of your second to the fifth toes cannot bend, you will not have a hammertoe.
- Wear comfortable shoes
Wearing uncomfortable shoes exerts a lot of pressure on the muscles and joints of your toes. If the strain leads to curving the second, third, fourth, or fifth toe joint, you will experience a hammertoe.
If you wear the correct footwear size, there will be no pressure on your toes that leads to muscle or joint imbalance. Your shoes should have a roomy toe box. Wear low-heeled shoes that do not cause pain.
Solutions for remedying hammertoes
You can still develop hammertoes even if you wear comfortable footwear and exercise your toes regularly. Hammertoes can also develop due to a genetic disorder or certain medical conditions.
For instance, neuromuscular problems can promote the degeneration of muscles and the nerves that control them. Consequently, hammertoes can appear. Moreover, diabetes and diseases causing inflammation of joints can also cause hammertoes.
If you have hammertoes, it can be easily relieved when treatment is performed early. Potential remedies for hammertoes can include toe exercises, wearing shoes with a wide toe box, and using toe straighteners and splints.
Sometimes, hammertoes cannot be remedied non-surgically, especially if the condition is past its early stages. Surgical treatment can involve removing a small section of the bending toe joint to stimulate your toe to return to a flat position.
Alternatively, your podiatrist can surgically treat your hammertoes by enabling the lengthening of the tendons causing the imbalance of joints.
You will take about six weeks to recover from a hammertoe surgical procedure. During the recovery, the treated toe joints will be stiff and inflamed.
As a result, you need to limit the strain on your healing toe joints if you do not want complications. For example, keep the leg of the treated toe joints elevated, as it can promote healing and reduce inflammation.
Contact Eazy Foot & Ankle today to book an appointment with a medical specialist in treating hammertoes.