Painful Toes: What You Definitely Need to Know about the Symptoms

Most people suffer from foot pain at some point in their lives and most foot problems are usually caused by ill-fitting shoes. The toes are most prone to damage because of the pressure imposed by ill-fitting shoes.

Preventing toe pains will eventually protect you from developing foot pains as well. However, you may not be able to prevent all type of toe pains as some of them aren’t related to ill-fitting shoes. For example, gout is a health problem that affects the big toe as well as other joints in one’s body. It’s a very painful condition that’s affecting many people. Gout strikes when the body is unable to flush out excess uric acid through the kidneys.

The inability to excrete uric acid causes it to accumulate and results in something called urate crystals. The urate crystals are the culprits of the joint pains. If your toe pain is caused by gout, there are a few things you can do to prevent the occasional attacks.

Check your Uric Acid Levels

The best thing to do is to see your doctor and find your uric acid levels. The goal will be to keep this acid level lower than 6 mg/dL. Your doctor can be very helpful in giving you instructions for lowering the uric acid levels.

Furthermore, there are some foods and beverages that are associated with gout attacks. One drink you should try to stay far away from is alcohol. It may be a hard thing to do if you’re someone who enjoys beers and other alcoholic drinks. But alcohol is very efficient in causing gout attacks. You’ll definitely have to refrain yourself from its consumption.

When it comes to foods there are some you should avoid as well. For example: bacon, sardines, meat, fatty foods, yeast, and mussels. Physicians advise those suffering from gout to stay away from these foods to prevent the attacks.

Gout isn’t the only cause of toe pain

Although gout is one of the reasons for toe pain, it’s not the only cause. Wearing ill-fitting shoes can cause chronic toe problems. Hammertoe is a condition in which the toe is damaged and bent into a hammer shape. When someone isn’t wearing the right pair of shoes there’s a chance of developing this problem. Therefore, wearing the right pair of shoes has a lot of importance.

There’s another toe condition called claw toe which also causes lots of pain. It’s when you’re unable to straighten your toe correctly. As a result, the toe points either up or down. Claw toe is caused by nerve damage, it’s mostly found in individuals who are suffering from diabetes. To prevent or alleviate toe pain caused by nerve damage, you’ll have to wear some sort of specialized shoes as otherwise, you’ll be risking even more foot problems.

Toe fracture, which is extremely painful can happen as well and it can happen to any toe. If it’s not a serious fracture you can heal it with simple medicines and rest. But if it’s serious, then surgery will be needed to correct it.

Ingrowing toe nails can also cause you pain. It’s a condition where the skin around the nail bed covers a portion of the nail. If it’s not treated, it can get infected and result in serious health problems. You shouldn’t take ingrowing toe nails lightly because once the infection spreads to the toe’s bone, it becomes a more serious problem.

To wrap up

A great number of people around the world suffer from toe pains. Although most of them know the cause of their pain, they hardly take the proper actions to correct the source of their problems. A foot massage can often provide some relief to the symptoms.

But you should always see a physician if you think your pain is something serious and you have no idea what’s causing it.

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