Losing my toe nail

[DJ Coldfusion]

I started putting a few miles a day about 4 1/2 weeks ago. Last week I upped my daily to 5 miles (albeit rather slow for now), and last night I noticed my the toe nail on my right foot's big toe is going black (its been bleeding from underneath the quick at the base of the nail -- not much but there is blood). I haven't smashed my toe, stubbed it, or done anything overtly to injure it outside of the percussive force my feet have to endure when I work on my aerobic conditioning.

So, since I know some of you put in some serious mileage, do you have problems with your toes? What can you do to prevent loosing a nail?

Honestly, any help would be appreciated. I skipped my workout this morning hoping to preserve the nail and I'm feeling a little guilty about loosing the mileage.

Thanks

[tryme]

toe nail

sounds like you have some kind of fungal thing going on.

the only cure is to pull it off, or it will infect your testicles and give you elephantitis of the balls.

[JIMI]

LOL OH MY GOD!!!!! you guys are great in here.

[Sean J]

Re: toe nail

Originally posted by tryme
sounds like you have some kind of fungal thing going on.

the only cure is to pull it off, or it will infect your testicles and give you elephantitis of the balls.

Does not sound too qualified to me.

But he is right: It could definitely be something infectious. But before you get into some kind of self treatment of it, it is inportant to diagnose it properly.

It could be fungal, bacterial or viral - those are just about the possibilities. Sounds simple. But if you treat it like a fungal infection and it is bacterial or viral it could get worse than if you do not do anything. The other way around, same problem.

[DJ Coldfusion]

I appreciate the response, serious and otherwise, but it is an impact injury . . . it is not a virus, noris it a fungus of any kind.

I've talked with a couple of people who run longer distances/races and they've told me the toenail is going to fall off. My doctor seconded that opinion.

[terry]

DJ,

Speculation: If your shoes are too narrow you could wind up with toenail trouble just from getting pinched. This could also happen if your shoes are not long enough.

Suggestion: There are a few specialty running stores that have very knowledgeable staff in them. You may want to try talking to these guys as a lot of them are competitive runners and are familiar with sports injuries. When you go, take your current running shoes for them to look at. They also may want to take you into the parking lot and watch your running stride to tell what your needes are. Alternatively, a sports medicine doc (but it will cost you) is always good.

I used to run on New Balances, but they screwed up my arches. Not bad shoes, just wrong for MY feet. I switched over to ASICS, which have a good running shoe for a high-mileage, wide-foot, pronator kinda guy. And the problems went away. But finding which shoe was the right one took a guy with some experience. This is not something you find from the high school kid that works at the local foot locker.

Good luck,

Terry

[Trace]

Black toenails are caused by your toe rubbing or hitting the top of your shoe. It causes a pooling of blood under the nail, sometimes the pressure of the blood can even cause your toe to throb.

To relieve the pressure, you need to make a hole in the nail and
drain the blood. One way is to heat the tip of a small, straightened paper clip and use it to burn through the nail until a drop of blood comes out, and then you can stick your foot in a pan of water until all the blood comes out. (If you're squeamish about doing this, see a sports-oriented physician and they can drain it for you.) Apply an antibacterial cream. Relieve inflammation with ice and anti-inflammatories.

If your toenail isn't painful, you don't have to drain the blood. Lubricate it with an antifungal cream and cover it with a bandage. But monitor the nail, as it will probably loosen and fall off over the next few months. When it gets loose, pull it off and continue to apply the antifungal cream. Finally, buy a pair of running shoes with more room in the toe box.

Proper toe room is a must. The number one mistake is buying your shoes too small. If you can feel the tip of the shoe with your toes, the shoe is too small. Remember, your feet will swell during your run and you can avoid blisters, black toe nails, and foot cramping by buying the proper fit.

Make sure there's a gap the width of your index finger between your big toe and the interior tip of the shoe, the next time you purchase them. Take care.

[DJ Coldfusion]

I bought some new shoes and started running again on Monday.

My shoe size is 14 // 4E (extra-extra-extra-extra wide) so the custom shoes get very expensive. I actually have a friend who runs a specialty shoe shop and has his customers run across a specially designed mat that examines the way their foot impacts the ground . . . the data extracted from this process is used to design and build/order a shoe that is custom built for the individual runner.

Its tough to find running shoes at "regular" so I typically look for cross-trainers.

I've lost toe nails before, but the injuries were caused by extremely large people stepping on my feet while wearing football cleets. I have drilled nails before (with a small auger bit -- very small actually designed for the task -- and using the method described above). There was always a ton of pressure in the past so I knew what to do, this time its jst different.

I appreciate everyones help. The toenail hasn't dropped yet, but I can no longer imagine it surviving.

Thanks again