A lot of neurological injuries cause issues with the muscles. The nerves get damaged and often leads to a constant, involuntary flexion. I celebrated Halloween this year with a bone fusion surgery to correct this (painful) deformity.

The Basics

Claw toe is a deformity of a toe, often the last four toes, where it's bent down. The degree of this can vary, but it can be enough to cause difficulty putting weight on the food and looks like, well, a claw. It's similar to hammer or mallet toe, but affects the end and middle joints of the toe.

It is often painful due to difficulty wearing shoes, walking on the foot, and the cause of the deformity. It's associated with several other issues with the feet due to these factors. It's divided Into two stages/types: flexible and rigid.

Causes

Several factors may contribute to the formation of a claw toe:

• Neurological conditions and trauma

• Family history

• Ill fitting shoes

• High arches in your foot

• Diabetes

• Nerve damage

• Arthritis

• Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease (CMT)

Treatments

Treatment depends on the stage, but surgical and non-surgical options exist.

• Orthopedic shoes

• Wider shoes with low heels and more arch support

• Shoe inserts for arch support

• Bone fusion surgery

• Tendon release surgery

• Exercises to strengthen the muscles of the foot

• Splints or kinesiology tape

My Toe

Following the neurological injuries after the brain tumor, I had drop foot. That was corrected in 2017 with surgery, and for a while, everything was normal. Gradually, over the next two years, I developed a flexible claw toe in the foot I had drop foot in (left).

I tried splints and well-fitting shoes and I managed for a while. It started to get bothersome, so I saw a podiatrist in 2019, who did a tendon release. He warned that it could return, but it did well for a while.

I continued wearing splints and an orthopedic shoe, but it returned gradually. However, it was now 2021 and I was going through marathons of infections and it wasn't something I could address. So, I just did the best that I could until I could return to the podiatrist.

Finally, I was able to go to the podiatrist this fall. Due to non-surgical options and the tendon surgery failing, we opted to fuse the first and middle joints of the toe.

The pain was intense the first three days. Most people don't have the claw toe deformity in the big toe; it's the most painful one to have deformed due to the size of the first joint in particular. A lot of the body weight and balance is also on the big toe! The claw toe had begun to warp my entire foot - ouch!

After the third day, the pain drastically dropped. Since then, my foot has felt much better than it has for a while! The foot is no longer curved, the pain is only mild in my legs and hips, and I haven't had as much neuropathy in my feet! I still have a massive scab and I'm not supposed to put my full weight on it yet - but I'm optimistic about it and glad I had it!