Ingrown toenails can readily occur when playing sports with cleats.  Below, from www.acfas.org shows common scenarios that podiatrists see on a daily basis.

 

Ouch! Young Soccer Players Sidelined by Painful ToesSnug cleats, repeated kicking lead to ingrown toenailsThis is a bad time of year to be a juvenile toenail.Suffolk, Va. foot and ankle surgeon Matthew Dairman, DPM, FACFAS, says he sees a lot of children with ingrown toenails during fall soccer season."It seems like every child is enrolled in a league," says Dairman, "The young kids wear hand-me-down cleats that don’t fit exactly right. The older kids like tighter cleats to get a better feel for the ball and the field."Dairman says these tight shoes crowd the toes together. Combine that with repetitive kicking, and you've got a recipe for painful ingrown toenails. Dairman can relate to his young patients. He had an ingrown toenail himself."I can certainly sympathize," he laughs. "Such a small problem with such big pain. If you hit the corner of that affected toe, it shoots an intense pain that lingers."Dairman says many of these kids don't tell their parents about the problem because they're afraid to miss a game. "By the time they come to my office, they've got a good infection brewing," he says.Young soccer players sidelined by an ingrown toenail may be able to get back into the game pain-free thanks to a simple, 10-minute surgical procedure. Dairman's ingrown toenail was cured permanently using this common treatment. He uses his experience to calm his sometimes apprehensive young patients."I take my shoe off and show them how my toe looks perfectly normal now," he says.During the short procedure, the foot and ankle surgeon numbs the toe and removes the offending portion of the nail. Various techniques can permanently remove part of a nail's root too, preventing it from growing back. Most children experience very little pain afterwards, and can resume normal activity the next day.Dairman says parents should teach their children how to trim their toenails properly. Trim toenails in a fairly straight line, and don't cut them too short. He also urges parents to make sure their children's cleats fit, since a child's shoe size can change within a single soccer season. If a child develops a painful ingrown toenail, soaking their foot in room-temperature water and gently massaging the side of the nail fold can reduce the inflammation.Dairman's four-year-old daughter hasn't shown an interest in soccer yet. But if she does, her father says he'll make sure her cleats fit right."After all," he says, "She has my eyes and probably has my toes too."

Tags: toenail pain, ingrown toenail, soccer

Philadelphia Eagles running back LeSean McCoy was resting a toe sprain early last week before the match up Thursday night with the Seattle Seahawks.  Fortunately this "toe sprain" was not turf toe.

Turf toe is a common injury amongst football and soccer players.  Turf toe is a sprain of the ligaments around the big toe joint.  This typically occurs on artificial turf, but can also happen on grass.

A hyper extension of the big toe joint causes pain, swelling and stiffness.  Treatment includes ice, rest compression, taping and wearing a stiff shoe which will prevent the toe from bending while it heals.

Tags: LeSean McCoy, big toe injury, turf toe, soccer, NFL

According to a recent article in 'peak performance', soccer (known as football in England) foot injuries may be on the rise.  Below is a portion of the article's concern:

 

"With the advent of Wayne Rooney’s injury in the run-up to the World Cup, metatarsal fractures have been topical. Rooney fractured the fourth metatarsal in his right foot. This type of injury has also afflicted other international players, such as Edwin van der Sar (Netherlands and Manchester United), Gaël Clichy (France and Arsenal), Ivan Campo (Spain and Bolton) and Paulo Ferreira (Portugal and Chelsea).The high incidence of metatarsal fractures in football players has raised the question as to whether modern football boots offer enough protection to the foot and whether they are to blame for the high number of foot injuries. Indeed, Rooney was wearing a new Nike model, the Total 90 Supremacy, for the first time on the day that he was injured.Although Nike denies that its boots are linked to a higher risk of injury, Tommy Docherty, the former manager of Manchester United, said that when he was a professional football player in the 1950s, it used to take six weeks to break a pair of boots in and players used to have to put them in a bucket of water (4)!

Another reason why we are hearing more of these types of injury is the terminology now used and the increased reporting of the injury by the media. Tony Book, a former professional UK footballer, told the Manchester Evening News that he believes the name of the injury has changed. He believes the old ‘broken toe’ injury is now reported as ‘fractured/broken metatarsal’ (4). This changing terminology, coupled with increased media reporting, may be giving rise to a perceived increase in the number of injuries. There may not be more metatarsal injuries now than there used to be, but we all certainly know more about them (6).Before MRI scans were widely available, ‘ankle pain’ was common, but now we have various degrees of ‘bone bruises’. Likewise, in 1960, no one had heard of ‘Gilmore’s Groin’, but by 1990 everyone had one! Again, this indicates that with changing times and advances in technology, the terminology changes but the underlying injury does not."

The moral of the story is that soccer can take it's toll on our feet.  Should you suspect an injury, consult a podiatrist who can provide you with a thorough examination to help your current foot condition and prevent any future injuries.

Tags: soccer, football, foot injury