If you've ever had toe pain, you know that despite its little size, a toe can cause a lot of discomfort. Your toes may be small, but they are vital to your body's balance, accounting for one-third of your foot's stability.
Your toes are made up of bone, muscle, tendon, nerves, and arteries, and inflammation or damage to any of these components can cause severe pain.
Minor issues can progress to severe problems that affect more tissues and possibly cause permanent deformities that require surgical or other invasive treatment methods.
Failure to treat foot and toe pain can limit your mobility, making it difficult to work out, exercise, participate in sports, and live normally. Chronic pain from toe problems can lead to life-altering conditions including insomnia and depression.
If you're suffering from foot or toe pain, the sooner you treat it, the better off you will be. There may be a variety of culprits behind toe pain, including:
1. Your gender
Some types of foot pain are more common in women than in men. Hormonal fluctuations may be to blame. Relaxin, for example, relaxes the joints, lowers estrogen levels after menopause, and can make your bones lose density, potentially resulting in toe pain.
Women may be more prone to some types of inflammatory arthritis, but men are more likely to develop gout, another type of arthritis. Gout is an inflammatory disorder marked by extreme toe pain, and one of the first indicators is typically a painful and swollen big toe.
Men are also more likely than women to develop type 2 diabetes, which can affect the feet. Diabetic neuropathy strikes men with type 2 diabetes earlier than women. Neuropathy is nerve injury in the feet that causes loss of sensation, tingling, and painful aches.
2. Bunionettes
Bone deformities on other toes, usually your last or pinky toe, are known as bunionettes. Toe pain can also be caused by bunionettes.
3. Arthritis
Because arthritis affects the joints, all varieties of arthritis, including osteoarthritis, inflammatory arthritis (such as rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis), and gout, can cause pain, inflammation, and deformities in the toes. While these illnesses can be uncomfortable on their own, they can also put you at greater risk of toe pain by altering your gait and making it more difficult to shop for decently-fitting footwear.
4. Hammertoes
Hammertoes are toe abnormalities in which the toes curl downward at the middle joint, usually the three middle toes.
A soft-tissue imbalance in which the tissue gets excessively tight on the bottom and overly stretched out on the top can result in this foot deformity.
5. Corns, plantar warts, and calluses
Any benign growth can cause pain in the feet and toes, ranging from minor to severe. Corns are the most prevalent examples. They may be irritating and acute, like walking with a pebble in your shoe, or so severe that you may require a corn removal surgery.
6. Neuromas
The nerves that run from your head to your toes might eventually become scarred or thickened, particularly if they've been damaged or affected in the same area several times.
An example of an activity that can result in this problem is wearing tight soccer cleats and kicking the ball with the same area on the your inside of your foot. This may lead to nerves getting pinched, eventually causing pain, burning, and loss of sensation.
7. Fractures
The little bones of your toes and feet are particularly delicate, and they are subjected to a lot of stress on a daily basis, making them more susceptible to stress fractures. Fractures can be difficult to detect, and many people go days or weeks without recognizing they've broken a bone in their foot.