I will never forget the day that I first felt the pain in my toe. The first thing I did when I got home was searching for Sharp Pain in Big Toe, and that is why I am writing this now because the results sucked. The day it happened I was coming out of the blocks the same way I had 1000s of times before in my career. On my first step on my right foot, I felt pain through my toe that was shockingly painful. It made me want to stop the run, curl into a ball with a bowl of ice cream and ball my eyes out. I had never felt anything like the pain before, and it is evident that it was not planning on going away anytime soon.
Sharp Pain in Big Toe Problem #1 – Repetitive Use
Unless you remember a specific trauma to your toe like jamming it or banging it into something, most toe injuries are actually due to repetitive use. For me, it was sprinting and putting a lot of force through the toe in horrible positions. For you, it may be running, jumping, or just walking in awful shoes. The critical point to take away is that these injuries usually sneak up on you over long periods of time.
You never know how important something is until you can’t use it. Let’s face it; we take advantage of our big toes most of our life. They get very little respect but play such an important role. Without the big toe it is hard to walk, but almost impossible to run or cut with any speed or power in sports. The big toe transfers most of the force that runs through our legs into the ground.
To get this injury to start feeling better, it may require some time not putting these forces through the big toe. If you have gotten the injury from running, it may be a good time to switch to biking or doing another activity for a period. Rest will allow the sharp pain in big toe to rest up.
Sharp Pain in Big Toe Problem #2 – Check Out Your Shoes
Shoes are cool because they can look great on our feet they protect our feet so that it does not matter what we walk on. Here is the problem though, our feet were not made to be in shoes. Ever felt like as modern society goes forward toe boxes on shoes get smaller? These small toe boxes set us up for issues.
My issues came from wearing track and field spikes. The toe boxes on these shoes are often narrow, and it causes the toes to be squished together. These toe boxes present a massive issue for the big toe. It does not want to be pushed towards the other toes. It wants to be wild and free. When the toe is forced in, it puts that toe capsule in a compromising position.
Sharp Pain in Big Toe Problem #3 – Sometimes You End Up in a Bad Position
As a kid, I remember watching NFL games and seeing my favorite players not playing because of turf toe, and I would get so mad. You make millions of dollars to play pro football, and 3you are missing a game because of your toe? The idea seemed so ridiculous until it happened to me.
Turf toe is when you’re you are pushing off of your toe, and it gets extended too far. It can cause damage to the surrounding muscles, joint capsule, and ligaments of the foot. The pain is unreal, and the problem with it is that sometimes you end up in a lousy position and before you know it you have turf toe.
Dealing With Sharp Pain In Big Toe
Taping for Sharp Pain in Big Toe
The first thing you need to know about taping is that it often will not solve the problem, but it will help you to play through it if you are an athlete. The tape job shown is for turf toe, and the tape job is to help prevent the toe from overextending. The tape job is not an easy one to do by yourself. It is best that you see a trained professional like an athletic trainer to get the tape job done.
Let Your Toes Breathe
When you are dealing with bunion pain in your big toe, you need to work on two things. The first is spacing out your toes and the second is how you push off when you run. The cause of the toe pain is your big toe being forced in and creating pressure on the joint. To prevent this, when walking around try and put the spacers in. The two spacers will give your big toe a chance to heal and feel great.
When it comes to your running form, the worst thing you can do is have a heel the internally rotates when you are running. The reason this is bad is that you push off from a wrong angle and it pushes your big toe towards the other toes. If you can clean this running defect up, you will also be able to help avoid future sharp pain in big toe issues.
Treatment for Sharp Pain in Big Toe
One of the best things you can do when dealing with turf toe or a bunion is to get treatment from a professional. A provider will be able to properly evaluate your injury and help you make some better choices going forward. The problem with 100% relying on self-treatment is that you don’t know the extent of how bad your injury is. You could have already done serious injury to the joint capsule and not even know it.
The types of providers you should consider seeing for sharp pain in big toe
- Chiropractors
- Physical Therapists
- Massage Therapists
- Register Dietitians
- Sports Physicians
- Other holistic health providers
How to Find The Best Treatment for Sharp Pain in Big Toe
9INE POINT Health is the best resource for finding healthcare providers for injuries. The reason is that the database allows you to search for healthcare providers based on their skills as well as their type. Meaning if you want a chiropractor that specializes in feet and also knows acupuncture you will be able to find just that.
9INE POINT Health then makes it incredibly easy to compare healthcare providers using their 9INE POINT Number. The 9INE POINT Number is out of 100, and it measures the healthcare providers ratings, engagement and the number of insurances that they accept. The number allows you to make a quick evaluation of their abilities. Find that help for the sharp pain in big toe much quicker.
KHO Health was acquired by was acquire by 9INE POINT in the summer of 2019 and is now referred to as 9INE POINT Health.
9INE POINT Health was created by 9INE POINT in '19 as a means to provide athlete-driven resources to "Protect Athletes' Minds, Body and Belly". As well as be a platform for healthcare providers and other specialists to display their knowledge.