Black Toe Nails
There are a number of situations that can produce a bruised toe, or black toenail.
A common situation that creates black toenails is when the foot slides forward in a shoe or boot.
As you weight the foot, it stretches longer. This is referred to as "elongationî. Feet that pronate more have a greater amount of elongation taking place within the shoe or boot. Feet that are stable or rigid have much less elongation within the foot.
You can actually get black toenails from two different situations.
The first would be a foot that excessively pronates inside the shoe or boot, getting longer and bumping up against the front of the boot and putting pressure on the toenails, bruising the toenail so that it turns black.
The second situation would be a rigid foot that has very little elongation within the foot, but the shoe or boot is improperly sized and fitted. Therefore, the whole foot is actually sliding forward in the shoe or the boot, bruising the ends of the toes.
This is quite common in hiking boots when people hike downhill. Their foot slides forward to the front of the boot and the ends of the toes hit the front of the toe box of the boot. This can actually push the toenail backwards and it bruises the root area from which the nail grows (this area is called the matrix). The toenail will progressively turn black until it falls off and a new toenail will start to grow underneath the old bruised toenail.
Black toenails can also be created from a toe box that does not match the shape of the toe region on the foot. If the toe box is too narrow in height it actually puts a downward pressure on top of the toenails, then eventually, over a long period, this can bruise the toenail and make it turn black.
It is very common with runners to see black toenails. The main reasons for this are for one, their feet are unstable in the shoes they are wearing causing them to pronate and elongate. The second reason would be that the shoe is improperly fitted and the foot is sliding forward in the shoe. Third, the shoe is the wrong shape for the foot; they may be wearing a curve-lasted shoe and they may have what we refer to as a straight-lasted foot. So the shape of the foot does not match the shape of the shoe, therefore putting uneven pressures around the whole foot.
Superfeet footbeds can help alleviate the black toenail situation by reducing the amount of elongation in the feet, and helping to stabilize the foot inside the shoe or boot so that it doesnít slide around and bang up against the front of the shoe, particularly when walking downhill or running.
By filling the voids underneath the foot, including the arch, Superfeet footbeds can help to pull the toes back and maintain the true width of the foot by not letting it splay out and get wider as it is weighted.
In some situations, depending on the shape of the forefoot and the shape of the toes themselves, you may need to have the shoe or boot modified so that the toe box of the shoe or boot is expanded in width or lengthened just slightly if you are between shoe sizes.
Another modification that can be done to the shoe is having the room in the toe box of the shoe or boot increased in height so that there is no pressure coming from the top directly down on top of the toenails.
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