Pain, difficulty walking, unaesthetic appearance. Mallet toes are a pathology of the foot –sometimes of the hand–very annoying and sometimes disabling of some common activities. It is a pathology that has to be recognized in the bud and possibly treated in a preventive and corrective manner before resorting to tendons surgery.

 

Deformed toes: what causes mallet toes

Mallet toe is a disease that usually affects the 2nd, 3rd or 4th toe: the first phalanx points upwards and consequently pushes the other two to curve downwards, like a claw. The toe assumes an unusual and painful position in the movements because the mallet toe will be then forced into stockings and unsuitable shoes.

As a result, the mallet toe carries callosity and even ulceration

The cause is an imbalance in the muscles and tendons of the foot. It can have various origins:

- congenital predisposition

- associated with hollow foot, hallux valgus, rheumatic foot

- associated with the use of shoes that are too tight

 

How to prevent, how to intervene: support or surgical treatment

Mallet toe deformity has to be recognized in time, as soon as the symptoms appear, as soon as toes or fingers are seen to assume an unnatural position. We have to firstly put our foot at ease, always:

     with shoes that are not too tight and with a heel of maximum 4-5 cm

     with insoles that absorb the shocks of the ground, daily and practicing sports

     with toe crests with rings for mallet toes

It is essential to wear insoles suitable for our problem: the foot has to be at ease! Before resorting to surgery we have to do everything possible to bring our toes back to their natural place.

A precious and specific aid comes from polymer gel supports such as the gel toe crest for hammer toes of the OK PED line. It is in fact an aid that corrects the deformities of the three central mallet toes. It relieves forefoot and toe pain caused by hammer, claw and mallet toes, and provides even pressure distribution.

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