Hammer Toe Foot Pain

Behind the hammer

A hammertoe typically strikes the second toe located right beside your big toe, although it can happen in your third and fourth toes, as well. It’s created by an imbalance in the connective tissue that’s designed to keep your toes straight, namely your muscles, tendons, and ligaments.

Because of this imbalance, the middle joint in your toe starts to bend upward, a condition that can get progressively worse until it’s hard to straighten your toe at all. Your toe may also start to bend sideways, pushing painfully into your neighboring toes. The joint that’s bent upward also has a tendency to form painful calluses and corns, thanks to the friction between it and your shoes.

Lowering the hammer

One of the biggest culprits behind creating this imbalance is ill-fitting shoes, and ladies, we’re talking largely to you. Those trendy heels with the pointy toes are wreaking havoc on your feet, throwing off its structural balance and weakening the tissue that holds your toes straight. Men, too, can fall prey to ill-fitting shoes, as fashion trends favor pointy tips. Houston’s Foot Doc Sherman Nagler has performed hundreds of hammer toe procedures.

Outside of ill-fitting shoes, hammertoes are also created by a trauma, congenital structural irregularities, or as a result of corrective surgery, such as a bunionectomy. Neuropathic conditions, such as diabetes, also play a part in the development of hammertoes.

Hammer Toe can be very painful, please call Nagler Foot Center Today for a consultation. 713.529.1010