When do you stop stubbing your toes? (warning: graphic bloody toe picture)

5t3ph4n13 · Mar 21, 2012

So, every couple of months or so since I've started barefoot running last July, I will stub and bloody the hell out of my toe. Tonight, 3.5 miles into a 5 mile run I broke off part of my big toe nail and left blood all over the sidewalk. I run on a lot of uneven pavement and it just seems inevitable this will keep happening and is pretty discouraging. When I stubbed my toe (not the one tonight) in October I had to take almost the whole month off of running and probably permanently lost range of motion in that toe.

Will this ever stop happening? Is it just my natural clumsiness that is causing it? Will my toes just become so tough that no amount of curb-kicking can bust 'em?

Don't look at the picture if you're squeamish about blood.....

Tonight's injury:

Barefoot TJ · Mar 21, 2012

I've stubbed my toes just a few times in the past three and a half years I've been running, nothing to make me want to stop running barefoot. The worst was when it was like 32 degrees F, and my toes and feet were numb. I was running a Half in Atlanta with Mokie when we started over one of those concrete bridges that's rounded on top. I didn't step high enough and scraped my big toe on my right foot pretty good. Thankfully, it wasn't bad enough to make me take time off though. I guess you just have to be more mindful of it until you get this thing down.

Now where's that gross picture thread? Anybody?

bubba hotep · Mar 21, 2012

I have not stubbed my toes in a good bit but over the summer it was on. My right big toe basically had a semi-permanent open sore on it. I was stubbing it like every week or so, just enough to keep it from healing up totally.

Mikkel · Mar 22, 2012

Are you sure to put your foot down right below your center, or do you slide it forward? I would imagine that if you 'put' your foot down correct it should not be possible to stub your toes. I have run BF for about 1/2 year including winter and this has never happened to me.

buzgal · Mar 22, 2012

Ouch! I know I am more likely to stub my toe when I am "zoned out" on a run because I am less focused on form, my environment, etc. One reason I like running barefoot is because there is an added mental component of paying closer attention to your environment. However if I run the same route barefoot over and over again, I don't really pay attention because of the familiarity/predictability factor of that route.
Hope it heals quickly!
Sarah

NickW · Mar 22, 2012

Ouch! I've only stubbed my toes a couple times. I also run with a stroller most of the time so I have about a second warning of the stroller jerking or bouncing before my toes come to the bump. I think I've just gotten to where I do not zone out like I used to either. That helps that I am in the moment now and paying attention too.

migangelo · Mar 22, 2012

i've stubbed my toes twice while running. never again. i do however kick many roots and rocks with the ball of my foot. i either don't lift high enough or just don't see it. after stubbing my toe the second time i learned to curl up my toes.

maybe you're pushing off and dragging your feet down instead of lifting up?

jldeleon · Mar 22, 2012

I know exactly the kind of sidewalks you are talking about -pavement that looks like an earthquake just shook the hell out of it. Just don't run on them. Run on the road next to the sidewalks. Or...lift your feet super duper high like a prancing horse, which I have been known to do. Do some knee lifts for exerises. Don't run when you're too tired either.

What you really need to do is stub your toe hard enough to fracture the joint, then when the scar tissue builds up, you won't notice it next time you do it -like me.

I've only stubbed the same toe twice. First time I am pretty sure I fractured the bottom joint -took 3 weeks to heal and the bruise was pretty much black. Second time, I totally bruised the upper joint in the same toe. It bypassed the lower joint because the scar tissue had made it so tough. Now that toe is noticeably bigger than my other toes and I actually had to stuff cotton in that toe of my VFFs to make it big enough to get my toe in. The first time I stubbed my toe I was "zoned out", last 500 feet of my run, thinking about being done, not looking down. Second time, I glanced up to avoid knocking the cane out from under an old lady hiking on the trail. The third time was right before a race, my toes were numb, I was trying to squeeze by some people and did not notice the bars sticking out of the bottom of the fence posts that were holding up the cheap plastic fence to keep the runners contained. I remember hitting it, but did not feel any pain cuz my feet were numb. It wasn't until afterward that I noticed a gigantic blood blister on the end of my toe. I didn't remember running on the end of my toe, and then it dawned on me. Duh. Was I looking down? No. So that's what I get. From the moment my feet hit the ground, that's where my eyes need to be. Period.

rbondi · Mar 22, 2012

When I got rid of the coffee table. Never stubbed them running. I wear shoes if I know I will be running that type of sidewalk.

Barefoot Jim · Mar 22, 2012

I made the transition to barefooting about 8months ago. Seemed like i was stubbing my toe every few weeks. The when it got colder and i went almost exclusively with the vibrams, it stopped happening (even on some warm days when I'd go totally barefoot for a few miles.) Now that it's warming up, and I'm back to mostly barefooot, it hasn't happened again. I'd like to think its because I'm in better shape and my legs and feet are stronger. But who knows. So maybe it stops after a few months. Jeez I hope so.

5t3ph4n13 · Mar 22, 2012

It was probably just lack of attention, I was slowing down for a crosswalk. So it looked REALLY hardcore crossing in front of that lady and cars who probably thought I was totally insane, flinging blood everywhere.

Barefoot TJ · Mar 22, 2012

Barefoot Jim · Mar 22, 2012

i was gonna say...when it has happened it does look pretty hardcore.
i've had some pretty interesting conversations about barefoot running...and my sanity, sitting in front of my house with a smile on, sweating after a good run with blood spattered everywhere and my toe looking like wounded meat

Rusinque · Mar 24, 2012

Ohh thats got to hurt! Ive never actually bleed while barefoot. I usually run in Huaraches, but still, no stubbing.

Alejandro 10 · Mar 24, 2012

I stop stubbing mine the second I get back in bed after my 3 am trip to the thinking room. On the other hand, I have stubbed them here and there while running, but I don't believe it is with any more frequency than from before I started barefoot and minimalist running.

Barfuß Chelsea · Apr 10, 2012

So I literally just read this thread for the first time not six hours ago and thought, Yeah, sure I've stubbed my toes, but I don't have anything witty or new to add to the conversation, so I suppose I won't post...

And then I went on a 15km run.

And this is why I'm now choosing to post:

Stephanie, we don't really know each other in these forums yet, but I'm choosing to blame you.

Just kidding.

The left toe I did in at 6km, but it didn't hurt too badly. I just happened to kick the uneven pavement at just the right angle, I suppose.

Although the first picture doesn't show it, I did a significantly better job on the right toe. Fortunately (or stupidly?) I was less than 1km from home. Knowing I was so close to home, I kept running, but I was seriously concerend that I'd broken it. Anyway, I had just passed a guy that I'd passed on my way out about 45 minutes beforehand (NO clue how, as I did a bridge to bridge run, up one side of the river, back on the other side, and there's only one place to cross in between, but that place was behind us before I passed him the first time! Whatever, not the point, but at least you know why I was a little distracted...

) and I was feeling pretty smug. I was also trying to make sure he didn't have time to see the dried blood on my one foot, so I didn't slow down as much as I should have to run over a 15-foot wide patch of cobblestones. And then one jumped up and bit me. Ok, ok, so it was definitely my own stupid fault. Smug + distracted + a little clumsy by nature =

The worst part is knowing there's no way I'm going to be able to hide this from my husband and his I-told-you-so look...

NickW · Apr 10, 2012

Barfuß Chelsea said:
The worst part is knowing there's no way I'm going to be able to hide this from my husband and his I-told-you-so look...

Hahaha! That's how I always feel with my wife! Lol!

5t3ph4n13 · Apr 10, 2012

Haha, Oh poor Chelsea! I'll take the blame

. After this picture I re-stubbed the toe twice. They weren't bad, I minorly scrape toes often and don't bleed but because it was newly busted it bled both times.

I don't even try to hide it from my husband, even though he is vocally anti-barefoot. He never ever ever takes off his shoes (at least they're Toms so less support) so I don't think there is a chance we'll meet on a middle ground.

rickwhitelaw · Apr 10, 2012

I got frostbite and quit stubbing my toes. If I touched my toes in the slightest, I would black out from the pain. Course, I'm not recommending this to anyone.

Actually, I haven't had too many problems with stubbing my toes while running. I think I pre-load my arch before landing to absorb shock, so my toes are lifted as the ball of my foot hits. I don't have any tips on how to do this, it just seems to happen naturally. If you could find some trails with rocks and roots, that might help.