Is there long-lasting hammertoe pain relief?
A hammertoe is a foot condition whereby one or more of the joints in your toes is contracted. This leaves the toe deformed leading to pain in the ball of your foot, as well as callouses and corns.
Hammertoes can be quite painful and make walking difficult for some people. With the prevalence of hammertoe in the United States being 8.9%, we thought we’d take some time to give you our top five tips for hammertoe pain relief.
1. Insulating Padding
How do you relieve hammertoe pain? Well, one of the fastest ways is to simply resort to adding insulated padding to your shoes.
This can be a game changer as the padding helps to gradually reduce pressure around the hammertoe thereby lessening any pain.
2. Taping your Toes
This is another budget-friendly, low-cost option to minimize hammertoe pain. How does this help? Toe-tapping will serve to alter the muscle imbalance in the foot.
The tape will hold your toes in place, so they don’t bend causing you pain when they are in shoes or you’re walking around.
3. Anti-Inflammatory Drugs
To help manage pain, your hammertoe pain relief treatment plan may include being prescribed anti-inflammatory drugs.
Alternatively, podiatrists can also administer cortisone shots directly into the foot to assist with pain alleviation. These can bring about 3 to 6 months of reduced pain.
4. Orthotic Devices
Will hammertoe go away on its own? Unfortunately, not. Without corrective measures, the condition will only progress becoming worse over time.
That’s why we also recommend orthotics. Orthotics are shoe inserts that are designed to correct biomechanical foot deformities like hammertoes and reduce lower limb pressure.
With two types available – custom-made and off-the-shelf – our recommendation of which one you should purchase will be based on the severity of your hammertoe condition and whether you need additional cushioning.
5. Toe Surgery
Toe surgery is generally one of the last medical interventions that doctors will prescribe. That’s because we try to exhaust all non-invasive treatment options first.
However, if the hammertoe is disrupting your life or you’re in severe pain, then we’ll resort to corrective toe surgery to align joints.
The surgery may involve the removal of bone spurs, joint alignment, and or insertion of a steel pin to correctly position the toe.
Suffering from Painful Hammertoes?
Get in touch with me or request an appointment today so we can help you with a tailored hammertoe pain relief treatment plan.
Looking for more insight? Check out our previous posts:
- What are Orthotics and What Do They Do?
- 3 Useful Tips from Experts in Toe Fusion Surgery
- Should I Get an Injection for Foot Pain?
Disclaimer: Any information provided in this blog is not intended to replace medical advice given by qualified professionals.