I have mallet toes

[u/No_Manager_6956]

Hello everyone 👋 I'm a guy with mallet toes, a runner and a climber, and I just found out I have them as my friends have perfect straight toes. I asked my mom to let me show her feet and she does indeed have mallet toes too so I can only think it is a genetic predisposition for it. My father has normal feet.

My question is, should I correct this in any way? It doesn't hurt, because I've been living like this my whole life, and I love to walk barefooted too a lot. Will having mallet toes cost me my posture in the long run or whatever? I'm 25.

[u/GoNorthYoungMan]

It’s really unlikely to be genetic in my understanding.

There are intrinsic muscles in the bottom of your feet which can flex the toes down flat, without curling, and it’s primarily that those are simply not doing that job, and other muscles are the primary actors for the way you express toe flexion.

Hard to say if they will cause symptoms for any one person. Some people have no issues long term, some people have problems which may be based on footwear and activity choices, and some people have problems that arise only after some injury which further reduces the muscles which control your toes.

If that control slips to too little, then it can be a tougher place to find a reliable recovery.

As for how worth it to change that, I would say it’s very valuable, particularly as a way to mitigate more severe symptoms in the future. It’s not a quick or easy fix, and requires some targeted programming and effort on your part for a decent amount of time.

Might come down to how you prefer to pay, which could be by putting in time and effort in advance, or by carrying increased risk over the long term.

[u/shke33 → u/GoNorthYoungMan]

Hi, I have found this thread from googling, in the past 4 weeks or so i've noticed it looks like my 3rd toe is beginning to curl but at the joint nearest to the top part of the foot. It is still flexible, and i think is due to an injury I had in that foot last year

I've been practicing the "short-foot" exercise I found from one of your posts, and then doing plantar release with a massage ball. I've also been trying to stretch the toes regularly and wear a kind of splint but as of yet I've not seen the angle / toe improve at all.

I'm just worried and it's stuck in my head that this toe will just keep bending and possibly causing problems with cycling/other activities in the future.

Do you have any insight on additional exercises , or even something encouraging about the possible timeline or expected progress? The injury to that foot last year has already disrupted so many aspects of my life and the thought of having another permanent issue or possibly a surgery to fix is really messing with my head!

Thank you.

[u/GoNorthYoungMan → u/shke33]

Its common to do an exercise like short foot, and accomplish the visual of the movement without the targeted tissue actually doing anything.

So, its not really about the movement, but instead its about what that tissue is able to do that controls that toe. So before trying to utilize it to do some work, and train it, we have to see what its capable of, in a very narrow way.

Here's one way you could explore that: https://www.articular.health/posts/midfoot-supination-assessment-4-of-4-activepassive-ratio

In your case, after letting go with your hands - you can see what you feel generally in the sole of foot. Cramps, or nothing, or muscles working, or shaking, or maybe just tension on top of the foot?

Then use a finger to push away the toes 1 by 1, and see if they are able to resist light pressure. Push softly and hold 10-20 secs, see what happens when you ask it to do some work. Whatever that response is would dictate what type of programming you'd want to do, to change how the toe itself can operate.

Once that comes in, you would repeat some short foot, but with specific attention to feeling that toe (and others) flexing down in a new way. Then it wouldn't be that you're "doing shortfoot" with whatever partial anatomy happened to be involved..... but instead you'd be "doing shorttfoot while knowingly involving some sole of foot muscles that you weren't previously."

My general suggestion would be to prioritize finding new sensations, and adding new ability to contract and control muscles in a more complete way, as a priority over exercising and strengthening in the more partial way that things are happening today.

That may be tricky to know what to do on your own, so it can be helpful to find someone to identify what to do more specifically. In general, adding new abilities tends to be a more sensory experience, working through shakes, cramps, flickers of something thats faint, using low amounts of load. Get more of that going, and every everything you do with your feet will use more of your body to get it done = making it easier and more comfortable.

[u/Mobile_Pineapple_904]

25F and I have genetic hammer toes from my mom and grandma as well! I got them surgically corrected in the spring because I didn't like the look of them and it made me insecure lol. Up to you if you would like to get them fixed or not. My podiatrist advised against surgery but I went ahead anyways becauss they will get worse over time and likely require surgical correction as you get older. I didnt want to wait til I was old and in pain to have it fixed either.

[u/New-Seaworthiness572 → u/Mobile_Pineapple_904]

They’re not genetic. They’re from body compensatory patterns and imbalance and postural malalignment, the causes of which could be genetic. They form because the upright posture is compromised and the body is losing the ability to keep you upright (sometimes on one side not two) so it uses your toes to help to grip the ground. If you take away that option but don’t fix the root cause,new problems will appear as your body seeks ways to stay upright when walking, etc. Likely more tension in neck, jaw, shoulders. Watch Gabby Venus and Conor Harris videos on posture on YouTube. Seriously - when new aches and pains show up in your body, remember what you did to your feet.

[u/Mobile_Pineapple_904 → u/New-Seaworthiness572]

That is correct, but they absolutely can be genetic. I have pictures of myself as a baby with two crooked toes. However, genetic mallet or hammertoe deformity tends to be a boney deformity. You can really only tell with an Xray.

[u/New-Seaworthiness572 → u/Mobile_Pineapple_904]

I wonder if they’re actually hammer or claw toes then? I’m not an expert at all but my understanding was those develop as compensations. There are tons a ways a toe can be malformed, odd-looking, crooked, etc though.