When your toes get bent out of shape, it can mean lasting problems for your foot health. Your body weight doesn’t distribute correctly when you stand or walk. Often, the problem only gets worse with time.
If you have hammertoes, you need to know more about this type of forefoot deformity and what types of treatment you need to maintain the strength and stability of your feet.
At Town Center Foot & Ankle of Kingwood, Texas, Dr. Stephen G. Eichelsdorfer (“Dr. Ike”) treats hammertoes and other types of foot deformities. Depending on the progression of your condition, your hammertoes may be flexible or rigid.
Dr. Ike helps you understand what this means for your foot health and treatment plan.
Deformed toes that take on a hooked, crooked shape like the top of a hammer are known as hammertoes. They can be flexible or rigid, a distinction that makes a difference in the treatment you need to restore your feet to their proper shape.
The amount of flexibility in your affected toes also helps show the progression of the condition.
In the early stages of hammertoes, affected toes remain flexible, meaning you can move them intentionally. But tension in the tendons that support affected toes can continue to increase, making the deformity more serious.
If you don’t get the right treatment support for flexible hammertoes, the condition can progress so you’re dealing with rigid hammertoes. Once the interphalangeal joint in your affected toe locks in the wrong position, you can’t relax the toe or straighten it. It stays stuck in a crooked shape.
Flexible hammertoes need the right treatment to prevent a more serious condition. Rigid hammertoes need more intensive treatment in order to restore correct foot and toe alignment.
When you come to Town Center Foot & Ankle with one or more flexible hammertoes, Dr. Eichelsdorfer suggests treatment options like:
Flexible hammertoes typically respond well to conservative treatment approaches.
In contrast, rigid hammer toes are a more serious podiatry issue, and require more intensive and invasive forms of treatment. Often, your only treatment option is surgery.
In hammertoe surgery, Dr. Eichelsdorfer releases the tension in the tendons and joints of affected toes, allowing them to lie flat and return to their correct position.
Our Town Center Foot & Ankle team examines your foot deformity and uses medical imaging technology such as X-rays to determine the necessary treatment path. Dr. Ike asks you about your symptoms and examines your feet, observing whether you can straighten bent toes on your own.
We stick with you throughout the treatment process, assisting you as you recover from hammertoes. With the right treatment and the right footwear going forward, you can heal from hammertoes.
Contact us at Town Center Foot & Ankle over the phone or online today to schedule your initial consultation.
