The Little Piggy That Didn't Make it to Market: Turf Toe

It’s a Sunday in January and what does that mean? It is time for football! The playoffs are upon us and with them all of the great predictions of who will shine, who will fail and what miracles will happen. This past season has been one that has sparked a lot of interest and will go down in history for sure. Between Tebow and the Bronco's miracle games, the Packers and their unbelievable loss to the Chiefs, the Colts and their failure to impress and the New England Patriots steady march toward the playoffs, it has been an eventful season. But with football comes injuries, and there has been a lot of activity in the press lately concerning “Turf Toe.” So, what exactly is it, and what are the quick facts you need to know?

Turf Toe is an injury resulting from your big toe getting pushed too far up, while the rest of your foot is digging into the ground. So, for a play by play description of this term, here’s the scenario. Player A has his toes digging into the ground with his heel up into the air like the stance of a sprinter before they are about to take off. Player B comes up from behind and either loses their balance or doesn’t see Player A’s foot there and stands on their heel. Player A’s toes further dig into the ground causing an excessive amount of pressure on the joint just behind his big toe. Player A falls on the ground in agonizing pain and the coaches and trainers rush over to see what happened.

So, what can be done for Player A after the injury has occurred? Well, there are three levels of turf toe injury. The first is just a stretch or “strain” of one of your ligaments in that joint and the player will probably be able to stay in the game. The second is a little more severe and is a partial tear of your ligament. This player is going to experience more swelling and pain and will want to protect this joint because their body is telling them they are the verge of a severe injury. The third is your classic game stopping injury where the player has completely torn the ligament. They will have a great deal of swelling, pain and bruising and they will be out for several weeks to heal. In order to decipher which level your injury is at, your podiatrist will do imaging studies to determine how severe the ligament has been damaged. The best way to fix a turf toe is time. You need to prop your feet up and relax, because that ligament needs to have a good long while to reconnect, so that you don’t injure it again. Sometimes a cast or walking boot may be used to isolate that joint to where the ligament has time to heal.

Unfortunately, this makes for disappointed fans. Your big toe is a huge contributor to your walking and running ability. Without it, you are unable to readily push off the ground and propel forward. So, without it working, it will be hard to make the quick movements necessary for a football player to be great. As for that little piggy, although he didn't make it to market, he has made the commercials during football a little bit more entertaning this year.