If you have hammer toe you may be in a lot of pain. Because of this, you need to have a treatment done right away. There are different treatment options available, three of which are listed below. 

Wear the Right Shoes

Your doctor may tell you that you need to wear certain shoes to help you with your hammer toe. Because hammer toe causes your toe to bend at an unusual angle, you need to purchase shows that are broad and high in the front of the toe area. These are also known as wide-toe box shoes. Ask the doctor how much space you need between your toe and the tip of your shoe. This will prevent the shoe from rubbing on your hammer toe to help reduce pain while walking. 

You should not wear high heels if you have hammer toe, but instead, you should wear flats. There are hammer toe pads that you can purchase. These pads are placed on your toes around the toe joint to help relieve pressure on it. Purchase pads that have a gel lining as these are generally more comfortable to wear. Your doctor may refer you to an orthopedist or a podiatrist to have custom inserts made that are placed inside the shoe. This will help reduce pain while you are walking. 

See a Physical Therapist

Your doctor may suggest that you see a physical therapist. The therapist they send you to will have experience dealing with people who have hammer toe. The therapist will massage your toes and move them to see how painful it is for you.

The physical therapist will likely give you exercises to do at home. For example, they will have you move your toes individually and splay your toes. They may ask you to curl your toes up and down regularly. All these exercises will keep your toes supple and make the muscles that move your toes stronger. 

Surgery

If none of the treatments above helps you, the doctor may give you anti-inflammatory medication and ask you to use heat/ice on your hammer toe. If none of this works for you, they will likely want to do surgery to help you with this problem. The doctor will first do an X-ray on the hammer toe to determine the severity of your problem. They may also do an MRI if needed. 

If the problem is not severe, the doctor can remove a piece of bone of the joint that is causing the problem, which will realign your toe joint. If your hammer toe is more severe, the doctor will have to do a much more complicated surgery to help you. 

Your doctor can go over the above information with you in much more detail. For more information, contact a banner toe professional, such as Ankle & Foot Specialists of Puget Sound.

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