What Causes You to Have Curly Toes?

Curly toes are something that many patients worry about.  Patients are concerned about everything from how they look in public to the long term effects that this will have on their ability to walk comfortably.  Many times curly toes are prominent in infants and many people have attributed this to being in an enclosed in the womb for so many months.  What many patients want to know is if this hereditary or if there is something that they can do to change it.

Curly toes do present a problem for wearing shoes, and that can be very frustrating for anyone.  Wearing shoes is just a common part of everyday life, so you would think it would be something that would need to be corrected right away.  If shoe wearing is the main problem and it doesn’t go away on its own then surgery is inevitable.

When curly toes are noticeable in children an assessment should be made to determine what the root cause of the problem really is.  Once that has been determined, then a treatment plan can be formulated.  If the treatment is successful then surgery isn’t really necessary, and most parents are more comfortable with treatment before surgery is an option.

Traditionally, a method called strapping was believed to help the problem, but it just wasn’t helping enough patients.  Doctors claim that curly toes show no symptoms, but many patients whether young or old really want surgery for cosmetic reasons, and so it has been a popular method to fix curly toes early in life.

For infants it is believed that this curly toe problem has been caused because of too much flexion in the toes thus making them curl up.  This is very common at birth since these babies have been in the womb for so long.  When the toes are flexed like this for long periods of time, this brings about a tightening of the stretching and joints.  The idea behind a procedure called tetonomy flexion, is that by using stretching of the tendons and joints that this can be fixed.  Through this surgery, many patients have experienced a certain satisfaction in doing so.  Most satisfaction is simply achieved from a cosmetic perspective because many patients do not experience pain or discomfort as a result of this condition.  Patients just want to be able to wear sandals or flip flops and not have people stare at their feet, so it just makes perfect sense that if the cosmetic challenges are hard on you that you would probably opt for the surgery.

Many podiatrists believe that strapping does work.  The easiest way to strap a patient is to have them put on foot splints at night.  This is what most physical therapists and doctors refer to as a dorsal splint.  The splint when worn consistently, meaning on a daily basis can really help straighten the toes out.  This is because the curly toe syndrome is usually related to a joint problem or tendon problem.  As mentioned earlier, the tetonomy flexion procedure can be done, but trying the dorsal splint may not be a bad idea.  When worn by children, this tends to work well because children sleep more soundly at night, but this may be much hard for an adult.

When it comes to babies, most podiatrists believe that when the child begins to walk, that this will be corrected over time.  Walking is a natural movement, and as the joints and tendons develop then the toes should begin to correct themselves.  When babies first start walking they are very uneasy in their movements, but they are very determined so they just continue to walk.  Eventually, as the foot begins to plant a little more stable and become flatter on the floor, the curly toe syndrome will go away.