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This column is about my experience as an alternative health care provider within the modern medical system. Although I now live in Morro Bay, I still manage a health care clinic in the San Diego area, as I have done for the past twenty-five years and where I still work ten days out of each month.
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A Quick Fix for Turf Toe
by
Brian Dorfman
We're taking a break from our usual format to talk about turf toe, an injury suffered by one of our favorite football players, Bart Scott, of the NY Jets, as well as many of his peers in the NFL and NBA.
Scott had played in 119 consecutive games since 2004, yet was off the field recently due to an injury to his big toe. Scott is in good company. Chargers LaDainian Tomlinson, Darren McFadden of the Oakland Raiders and 49ers Terrell Owens and Pierre Garcon of the Washington Redskins have all suffered the same fate. NBA star Derrick Rose of the Bulls was similarly afflicted and missed at least three games last season because this condition. Soccer players also experience a high rate of these injuries, which in this arena is often referred to as "soccer toe."
The term "turf toe" is used for most type of injuries to the big toe, particularly as it relates to athletes. This injury generally occurs in the joint where the toe meets the ball of the foot (the metatarsophalangeal joint) and is the result of an impact that jams the toe bones together. We all know how painful it can be to stub a toe. But this type of assault is worse because it's high impact, meaning it happens at high speed, like when someone is jumping or running at full force.
Similar to all these areas we've been writing about (the thumb, wrist, lower back, neck and shoulders), the big toe joint has it's own way of being problematic and it's own unique way of being resolved. In the case of the toe joint, when it gets jammed it tends to not want to release. You have these two bones forced very close to each other and they quickly start to swell and calcify, which is the body's natural response to high impact injury. In my mind, the best thing to do is get the joint moving to avoid calcification and move out that swelling. What shocked me is that a quick search on the internet revealed that everybody in the business of turf toe treatment advocates immobilizing the joint and taking two or three weeks off to rest the injury. That is completely the wrong approach for resolving a turf toe issue.
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I've worked with a handful of high profile athletes in the NFL and NBA who suffered from turf toe and I was able to quickly mobilize the joint to relieve the compression and discomfort. It only makes sense — if a joint can't move, then it tends to hurt. If you get it to move, it feels better.
In my experience, turf toe responds very quickly to this type of treatment. So much so that they generally feel about 80% better with one treatment and rarely takes more than two or three for full resolution. Particularly for a high-end athlete. For me, that's what's so unbelievable about the conventional treatment method.
Bart Scott
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With most issues, like that of a knee, shoulder or hip, there's a complexity in resolving it and a complexity in how it got created. With turf toe there's no mystery. The toe got jammed and it needs to get unjammed. Very few things are as black and white. Every turf toe has an immobile joint, and every turf toe gets mobilized in the same way. And it's very accessible. You can't miss it. If you talk about the neck or the shoulder, for example, there are a lot of minute areas that make a big difference. If you move half an inch in one direction on a shoulder you're in a whole other part of the anatomy. With a toe joint, however, it's like a thumb joint, but only easier.
If a turf toe case is not resolved in a timely manner, there is a high possibility of a concurrent injury, which results from a change in biomechanics as the athlete attempts to compensate for the pain. These injuries can be much harder to treat. I once worked with a defensive back from Stanford, for example, who came into my office walking on the outside edges of both feet so as not to put his weight on the big toes. He had been dealing with the turf toe for quite some time and had developed groin issues because of the compensation.
So if you know Bart Scott, let him know we're here for him and that we can fix that toe in no time. Of course we're here for you as well. Either way, if you are dealing with turf toe, be sure to work with a practitioner who will mobilize the joint, not simply tape and wait. Get them moving and your toes will feel better forever.
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