So after Eagleman this weekend I was afraid to take my shoes off to discover what hidden nightmares awaited me. I actually waited till we were home in New Jersey before I dared a peek…
Lo and behold I sustained a bruised toenail on the second toe of my left foot. It’s pretty painful but getting better. It’s getting a little black around the tip, but the base its just sort of a medium lavendar (my toenails are normally flesh colored).
My question is, is it okay to run with this? I’m still recovering from the race so I probably won’t run for a day or two anyways. But the last thing I want to do is make it worse, or make it turn black/fall off. I know black/missing toenails are par for the course for distance runners but I’d like to avoid them.
Is there anything I can do to cover it up or pad it to protect it? Like I said the pain isn’t nearly what it was and it hasn’t really gotten much darker, just a little. I’m racing an Oly on Saturday and I’m afraid I’ll forget about it while pushing myself in the race and just exacerbate the problem.
My toenails used to go purple/black all the time and then fall off. Once they fell off, I was fine but I wanted to figure out the issue - looked at the shoes, the socks, the gait, etc. Switched to a lighter and different shoe this year and no problems since. In terms of running after they went purple/black - no issue for me. Sometimes it was a little painful but not enough to stop me from running. And I just found that the worse they got, the more likely they were to fall off. Once they’d fallen off, the problem was gone. One thing I did use once they fell off was nu-skin which I would spray on the toes to help them out a bit. Worked like a charm at IMLP (although I lost 3 toenails after that race!)
Hi: 1) Buy shoes that fit. There is no excuse for damaging toenails unless you are kicking steps in going up or doing a major descent with a heavy pack and even then not so much. 2) If it is going to fall off, it is going to fall off. The damage is already done. 3) Its probably too late but drill a hole in the nail and let the pressure off. This is not as bad as it seems. Find the littlest drill bit you have and do it by hand. You will have total control and will never hit the skin. Trust me. 4) Go out and run and have fun.
If it turns completely blue, you will lose it for sure. It may take a month or more to fall off, but meanwhile, a new one is growing in underneath. I wouldn’t stop running because of it, or at least I never had. Losing the big toe nail is probably the worst as you have to be careful not to stub your toe or drop anything on it in between nails.
I’d also make sure you keep your toe nails trimmed. Just having longish nails can create situations resulting in toe nail distress. I’ll leave it at that.
Toenails turn black and fall off for two reasons: Shoe fit and stride error.
The fit issue may be unfixable, if you have a Morton’s Foot, which means second toe longer than big toe. You can try buying longer (half size larger shoes) or trying different brands.
Stride error is more typical. When your foot strikes the ground, it should already be moving rearward. If you are landing on a stationary foot (one that simply plops down and rests there if even for a millisecond) then your foot (and toe or toes) is being jambed forward into the front of the shoe. Repeat this action 5000 times in 10K, and you can count on losing the nail.
That’s how I got it in the first place (not trimming them) … I’d heard that causes it yet somehow I neglected to trim them anyways… one of those “it won’t happen to me” kind of things.
I can’t believe people are so nonchalant about it. This is gross stuff we’re talking about!
I guess I’ll keep on running as long as it doesn’t hurt too much. I’m still scared I’ll make it worse though.
simple bruise; it will heal. you can continue running. finding root cause is a good idea.
A funny “Art Linkletter-esque” story - my training partner has small kids. a few years ago, his daughter came home from kindergarten with a crayon drawing of Dad (a typical stick figure). She was extremely proud. He asked her who it was and she said “Daddy, its you … see, he has your black toe.”
My second toe is actually quite a lot shorter/smaller than my big toe. I am in new(ish) shoes that I thought fit pretty well (actually they’re what I used to wear before I switched away then switched back)… if anything there’s too much room in the toes, but definitely not too little.
I’m having a little trouble visualizing the stride error you’re describing. I’ve been running for two years and this is the first time this has ever happened. And hopefully the last!
Remove the pressure is quite important but I prefer the needle version. Take a needle, pass it under a flame to sterilise it, then insert just under the nail. Usually you can see your bleeding blister (that’s what a black toe nail is, a bleeding blister under the nail) somewhere around your nail. You just have to puncture the skin. It is not painful as you simple puncture the dead skin, nothing else. Sometimes you have to repeat twice over two days. I regularly have this kind of issue (Morton’s foot) roughly each marathon. You can run on purple toe nail (purple means a mixture of plasma and blood. If mainly blood, it will turn black before falling, but this can take month), and yes you can run on it the day after. Stride ‘error’ is also a likely cause, as well as poor clipping (what looks pretty is not always what is good inside a running shoe). Good luck, and welcome to the club
“I’ve been running for two years and this is the first time this has ever happened”
It’s likely to recur if you don’t figure out the cause. The stride error would be rather like skidding your foot into the ground and jambing your toes forward, but to a very tiny degree. In actual fact, your foot should be moving rearward when it strikes the ground, which would put a small amount of pressure on the heel, rather than the toe.
So picture your stride - your foot leaves the ground and travels on a line forward and up towards your butt, as your knee pulls it through. Once your knee reaches its forwardmost position, the shin then swings forward by centrifigal force until the hamstring and glutes are tight. At this point you should contract the hamstring and glutes, driving the foot down and back so that if you were immensely powerful, you’d actually create a skid mark or “burnout” as your foot strikes the ground pushing back. This relieves all pressure on the toes and toe box of the shoe.
Think of it positively. When the toenail falls off, you can take a ton of pictures of it, put them on your website, and then gross a ton of people out like I have:
I didn’t realize I had “morton’s foot” until I read your email. That is why the second toe on each of my feet have black toenails! Doesn’t stop me from running however!
Dug that from an old post of mine. From my alpine snowboarding boots which are race fit and forgot to trim my toenails. Figured it out on the 1st run, but it was already too late. Arrrghhhhh…
Have fun!
IMO, I’d trim it down now and wait a few week for a loose edge…and then pull.
