Hey guys- heads-up that there are some gross toe pictures in here -also, sorry because I didn't know how to hide them so you had to click them to enlarge. Finally, my toenails aren't usually yellow, I just ran a 15k mud run so it is hard to get that stuff out lol
So I have been doing great since my last "issue"- learning a lot and breaking PR's left and right getting ready for my marathon in October. I do a lot of mud runs, and did a 15k yesterday in the hills of West Virginia. I "top tenned" the raced for the first time which was exciting, however I have a bit of a problem now.
Prior to the race I went back and forth on shoes- I have a new pair specifically for mud runs that I have worn about three times. The first mud run was the same distance but I noticed my toes were CRAMPED in them and really sore by the end of the race from being squished- so I took the in soles out and wore thinner socks when training in them the 2 or three times I wore them afterwards. I decided to go with them and the thinner socks for this race yesterday, in hopes that they were broken in and a little looser now.
About 4 miles into the race I noticed my right pinky toe was beginning to chaff really bad on the far right. I could tell a blister was coming on, and I had the same pain on the outside of the big toe on the same foot. I have ran with blisters before and kept pushing on. By mile 7 I was really feeling it, form went out the window. This course was incredibly rocky and a lot of high speed downhill portions running over huge rocks and thick tree roots- however I don't ever recall hitting that foot on anything or feeling anything snap or tear. In fact I do recall stubbing my left foot on a huge rock at one point but that foot is fine.
After getting the shoes and the mud off, the skin on the pinky toe looked irritated, a little red, but no major discoloration or anything. I slipped on sandals and assumed I would be treating a blister when I got home. I checked it out when I got home and it was a little purplish looking which I thought was strange but it really only hurt on the skin. I even went on a walk without shoes with my daughter that night.
This is what it looked like before bed-
Fast forward to this morning, I can barely put weight on my right foot. I am limping around the house and can feel the toe throbbing with each heartbeat. This is what it looked like then (disgusting I know, the flash really highlighted the discoloration, it didn't look that bad until I turned the flash on.) Notice where the shoes made my toenails dig into the other toes.
I went to the tub and rinsed it off, and poured hydrogen peroxide on the toe, preparing to lance it with a sterile needle to drain the fluid. By now I was noticing the 4th toe was somewhat swollen too. The hydrogen peroxide completely dissolved that disgusting yellow blob in the last picture, and it was agonizing. I also noticed two distinct red lines on the top of my foot following the 4th and 5th metatarsals all the way up to the front of my ankle, starting from the tops of the toes. I finished cleaning with betadine and neosporin and wrapped it in a band-aid to keep the betadine off the carpet and the dog hair out of the wound, which was actually really minor once that blister melted off.
The throbbing was gone and I felt a ton of relief over the next hour. I ended up elevating my foot and falling asleep on the couch for a few hours. When I woke up the swelling seemed better, I could bear a little more weight, and the red lines seemed to be gone on the tops of my foot though there is still some redness, just not perfectly following the lines of my metatarsals like it was. I just took a picture and you can see the right foot is still a bit swollen and there is some redness - the 4th metatarsal isn't purple like it was, but still a little swollen. Unfortunately the discoloration is a lot more evident on my phone than it is here so this probably isn't helpful, and I also didn't take the band-aid off because I am not ready to re-clean it yet but you can still see the swelling in the little toe:
So here I am. I was planning to see a podiatrist tomorrow if the pain was worse- but I don't know what to do. I don't really want an xray because I just recently had quite a few taken for a carpal tunnel issue I am claiming with the VA and I am paranoid about that kind of stuff lol. I also don't think there is anything they can do. I don't think it requires surgery, and I don't think it is crooked enough to need a splint.
I also don't know that it is broken. I've never broken anything but I don't know what else it could be aside from infection- but I always thought a broken bone would quickly turn black/blue, and the fact that I didn't really have pain for 24 hours was strange. However, I am also not sure what else would have caused the red lines following my metatarsals on the top of my foot? I also felt no searing pain or pops, but I know you can easily get an overuse stress fracture from bad shoes/form etc.
The other thing is, I have no pain from bending, squeezing, or manipulating anything (including the 4th toe that was swollen and purple this morning, or the metatarsals beyond the toes) except in the little toe, and only in the toe itself, nothing beyond within the foot. I saw that typical RICE is a good idea, but I worry about ice- wouldn't that restrict blood flow to the area? I am also worried about compression because I don't want to have it heal crooked.
Any recommendations? Do you think I have a broken toe, or possibly 2? Is it worth booking the podiatrist tomorrow or should I just self-treat? I have a race this Saturday that I think is probably going to be scrapped, and unfortunately it was one of the ones I had been really excited about this year and had a large group going with me.
One last thing- I've always thought one of my feet was bigger than the other- but is it strange at all that the shoe did all this damage to the right foot, but nothing on the left-not even a little blister? I wonder if maybe I had a rock or something I didn't notice in the right shoe further squishing those toes together. Anyway, enough speculating on my part, please let me know your input.
Thanks again!
So I have been doing great since my last "issue"- learning a lot and breaking PR's left and right getting ready for my marathon in October. I do a lot of mud runs, and did a 15k yesterday in the hills of West Virginia. I "top tenned" the raced for the first time which was exciting, however I have a bit of a problem now.
Prior to the race I went back and forth on shoes- I have a new pair specifically for mud runs that I have worn about three times. The first mud run was the same distance but I noticed my toes were CRAMPED in them and really sore by the end of the race from being squished- so I took the in soles out and wore thinner socks when training in them the 2 or three times I wore them afterwards. I decided to go with them and the thinner socks for this race yesterday, in hopes that they were broken in and a little looser now.
About 4 miles into the race I noticed my right pinky toe was beginning to chaff really bad on the far right. I could tell a blister was coming on, and I had the same pain on the outside of the big toe on the same foot. I have ran with blisters before and kept pushing on. By mile 7 I was really feeling it, form went out the window. This course was incredibly rocky and a lot of high speed downhill portions running over huge rocks and thick tree roots- however I don't ever recall hitting that foot on anything or feeling anything snap or tear. In fact I do recall stubbing my left foot on a huge rock at one point but that foot is fine.
After getting the shoes and the mud off, the skin on the pinky toe looked irritated, a little red, but no major discoloration or anything. I slipped on sandals and assumed I would be treating a blister when I got home. I checked it out when I got home and it was a little purplish looking which I thought was strange but it really only hurt on the skin. I even went on a walk without shoes with my daughter that night.
This is what it looked like before bed-
Fast forward to this morning, I can barely put weight on my right foot. I am limping around the house and can feel the toe throbbing with each heartbeat. This is what it looked like then (disgusting I know, the flash really highlighted the discoloration, it didn't look that bad until I turned the flash on.) Notice where the shoes made my toenails dig into the other toes.
I went to the tub and rinsed it off, and poured hydrogen peroxide on the toe, preparing to lance it with a sterile needle to drain the fluid. By now I was noticing the 4th toe was somewhat swollen too. The hydrogen peroxide completely dissolved that disgusting yellow blob in the last picture, and it was agonizing. I also noticed two distinct red lines on the top of my foot following the 4th and 5th metatarsals all the way up to the front of my ankle, starting from the tops of the toes. I finished cleaning with betadine and neosporin and wrapped it in a band-aid to keep the betadine off the carpet and the dog hair out of the wound, which was actually really minor once that blister melted off.
The throbbing was gone and I felt a ton of relief over the next hour. I ended up elevating my foot and falling asleep on the couch for a few hours. When I woke up the swelling seemed better, I could bear a little more weight, and the red lines seemed to be gone on the tops of my foot though there is still some redness, just not perfectly following the lines of my metatarsals like it was. I just took a picture and you can see the right foot is still a bit swollen and there is some redness - the 4th metatarsal isn't purple like it was, but still a little swollen. Unfortunately the discoloration is a lot more evident on my phone than it is here so this probably isn't helpful, and I also didn't take the band-aid off because I am not ready to re-clean it yet but you can still see the swelling in the little toe:
So here I am. I was planning to see a podiatrist tomorrow if the pain was worse- but I don't know what to do. I don't really want an xray because I just recently had quite a few taken for a carpal tunnel issue I am claiming with the VA and I am paranoid about that kind of stuff lol. I also don't think there is anything they can do. I don't think it requires surgery, and I don't think it is crooked enough to need a splint.
I also don't know that it is broken. I've never broken anything but I don't know what else it could be aside from infection- but I always thought a broken bone would quickly turn black/blue, and the fact that I didn't really have pain for 24 hours was strange. However, I am also not sure what else would have caused the red lines following my metatarsals on the top of my foot? I also felt no searing pain or pops, but I know you can easily get an overuse stress fracture from bad shoes/form etc.
The other thing is, I have no pain from bending, squeezing, or manipulating anything (including the 4th toe that was swollen and purple this morning, or the metatarsals beyond the toes) except in the little toe, and only in the toe itself, nothing beyond within the foot. I saw that typical RICE is a good idea, but I worry about ice- wouldn't that restrict blood flow to the area? I am also worried about compression because I don't want to have it heal crooked.
Any recommendations? Do you think I have a broken toe, or possibly 2? Is it worth booking the podiatrist tomorrow or should I just self-treat? I have a race this Saturday that I think is probably going to be scrapped, and unfortunately it was one of the ones I had been really excited about this year and had a large group going with me.
One last thing- I've always thought one of my feet was bigger than the other- but is it strange at all that the shoe did all this damage to the right foot, but nothing on the left-not even a little blister? I wonder if maybe I had a rock or something I didn't notice in the right shoe further squishing those toes together. Anyway, enough speculating on my part, please let me know your input.
Thanks again!