Walking, running and skipping with just four toes may be easier than you think. “If you're born without a pinky toe or have an accident and it's removed, you can completely do everything you wanted to do,” Dr. Anne Holly Johnson, instructor in orthopaedic surgery at Harvard Medical School, says.
The big toe carries the most weight of all the toes, bearing about 40 percent of the load. The big toe is also the last part of the foot to push off the ground before taking the next step.
A toe amputation may be necessary for a number of reasons, including following an accident or reduced blood supply due to a medical condition. The thought of this type of surgery can be frightening, but a toe amputation is actually surprisingly common.
Losing one or more toes does not necessarily mean that you won't be able to walk or even run again. However, it will adversely affect your balance and stability, and potentially change your walking biomechanics.
It probably is no surprise that your big toe is the most important when maintaining balance and bearing body weight. Your big toes bear just about 2 times the amount of weight as all your other toes combined! It still should not shock you that the pinky toes are the least important.
So, can you still walk and run with less than 10 toes? The answer is yes! It is still possible to walk without any of them, but your gait will need to compensate. There are prosthetics and shoe inserts available that may be of benefit too, depending on which one or how many you have missing.
The least important of your toes are undoubtedly your pinky toes. As the smallest toes, they bear the least weight and have the least impact on maintaining balance. People born without pinky toes or those who lose one in an accident will see very little, if any, changes to how their feet function.
It is the least important of all the other toes. Being the smallest one, it bears the least amount of our body weight and has the slightest impact on maintaining balance. People who lose a pinky toe in an accident or are born without one will hardly see, if any, changes in the functioning of their feet.
Toes' Effect on Balance: Your toes provide balance and support when walking. Chances are, losing one or more toes can impact your balance. Missing any of the three middle toes can significantly affect your walking. Recovery and Rehabilitation: After surgery, the pain will significantly improve after a week.
An amputation may be done for: Poor blood flow that cannot be fixed. Severe infection. Trauma or injury.
"Cinderella surgery" is a term for cosmetic procedures that make the feet look better, like fixing a bunion, reshaping the foot, or getting rid of corns, calluses, or other foot problems. The term comes from the story of Cinderella, who couldn't wear her glass slippers because her feet hurt.
Your toe should be fused and the wound healed around four to six weeks after surgery. Two to three months after your operation, you should be able to return to all of your usual activities and sports, although some mild swelling may remain for up to twelve months.
Under local anesthetic, a person will not be able to feel the procedure itself, but they may feel pressure or pulling. The surgery should not hurt. After surgery, a person will typically feel some pain in the toe and must have someone drive them home.
Prosthetic toes may be needed due to: Congenital or birth difference; such as brachymetatarsia (abnormally short toe), Amniotic band syndrome, or symbrachydactyly (missing toes at birth) Surgery – toe amputation due to cancer or tumor removal. Disease such as diabetes or scleroderma resulting in toe amputation.
The little toe: What is with that little toe? Well, it used to be much larger and was used for holding and climbing trees. Now the little toe serves no purpose in balance or walking. Some species of animals have lost the little toe all together and now just have four.
A traumatic amputation is the loss of a body part—usually a finger, toe, arm, or leg—that occurs as the result of an accident or trauma. An amputation is considered a disabling condition by the Social Security Administration (SSA) and may qualify you for SSD benefits.
Your pinky toe is the weakest digit on your foot, but despite its diminutive size, the little piggy that “goes wee wee wee” plays a big role in maintaining balance.
The first toe, also known as the hallux ("big toe" or "great toe"), the innermost toe.
Broken big toes generally take longer to heal. After wearing a walking boot and then eventually a shoe with a stiff sole, patients can recover from broken big toes in approximately 6 to 8 weeks. Broken toes other than the big toe, commonly the pinky toe, take less time to heal.
“The activity of the major muscles of the ankle, knee, hip and back all increase if you walk on the balls of your feet or your toes as opposed to landing on your heels,” says Carrier. “That tells us the muscles increase the amount of work they are producing if you walk on the balls of your feet.”
Utilizing bone graft and additional fixation can become a hazardous and traumatic event for the frequently operated upon toe. One may see other complications that involve K-wires. Pin tract infections, K-wire migration and loss of fixation can all occur.
The most common type of surgery for toe fractures is open reduction and internal fixation. To begin the procedure, your surgeon will administer regional anesthesia. In many cases, sedation is also provided. Next, a small incision is created down the length of your toe to access the fractured areas.