For the past few years I have been having the same agonizing problem with my left big toe. Every time I go to take off and stand up my back foot (I'm Goofy) hits the traction pad and I have a sharp pain in my big toe. I have tried to get up slower or place my foot lighter, but nothing seems to work. Still after surfing and what not it hurts to bend it all the way, and it is not nearly as mobile as my other toe. I think this may have something to do with Volleyball and playing barefoot on the hard grass. I want to say its "turf toe" but I have no idea what that is like or the type of pain that includes. I have wrapped my big toe up and it does soften the blow. I am only asking for some insight or if anyone has had this problem because it has been years and it still gives me trouble. I'm lookin to rid of this pain!
I have the same problem with my right big toe. I'm thinking your right about it being turf toe, but i'm not excatly sure how it is cured. I think rest is the main option with maybe a possible surgery. I have had this problem for a few years now, but I only really notice it when i'm not wearing booties. I always hurt it in the summer without the extra armour on.
If the big toe, big joint hurts: A summer of flatness will help correct turf toe or similar injury. Do not do any motions to aggravate it. Only wear shoes that aggravate it the least. If you do have to surf, put a sock on and duck tape (like athletic wrap) your toe slightly bent downwards, so your toe(s) are less likely to bend backwards (give support). Then put a booty over top and duck tape the booty around your ankle/calf so it doesn't fill with water when you get into boardies. Turf toe braces can be ordered off the internet but they aren't very sturdy and they are hard to surf with. I had broken and developed turf toe from wrestling, it will torment your surfing, hard to drop, hard to backside, hard to turn. Just try to stand flat foot and make barrels or cruise. The pain got so bad i eventually started surfing switchfoot on a fish. The only fix is 6 plus months of rest, sorry. Dont forget Ibuprofen therapy, shoes (no flip-flops even in summer), rest. Definitely no skating, dont bend it. If you find an exercise that doesn't hurt it, stick with that.
Thanks for the info! Definitely helpful! I feel like I have given it plenty of time to heal, but I guess not. I'm headed to PR soon, so looking to make a make-shift brace or something, that wont necessarily affect my surfing. It's a pain, maybe I'll meet up with the Doc and see if he has anything for me before I depart! Cheers!
don't underestimate the power of ice. I struggle with an old knee injury, and ice is my savior. when you finish activity, ice it down as soon as possible, and keep it on the area for 20-30 minutes. it will be uncomfortable at first, but you will get used to it. do not keep it on there longer than that, or you could risk frostbite. hope you feel better man.
I have that problem with one of my boards trac pads. I jam my toe constantly and then rip the skin off. My other boards trac pads don't doit to me so what Im getting at is that it could possibly be the type of trac pad on your board causing the catch in the first place. You could always go back to wax.
I have the exact same problem. i found that the mm size of the tail block was too tall. you can get smaller tail blocks just look on the packaging and that should alleviate much of the problem.
If you have jammed it hard once on your board, thats enough to make the toe hurt every time you try to bend it. so going foward even if you just apply more then normal pressure to it through surfing or volleyball or whatever it will take even longer to heal. the only thing that will cure it is time and lack of impact on it. unless you have done more damage like a break? I had the same problem and every time I jam my toe on a lazy take off it hurts.
This sounds like Turf Toe, which is a major sprain of the ligaments that connect the toe to the foot. It is a very difficult injury to heal as you use your toe so much. The fastest way to heal it is to put your foot in a walking boot and leave it there until it heals. Ibuprofen and ice are your friends too. Once it has healed, don't just go back to full activity. You are going to need to do PT (yes, PT for your toe) to get it back to full strength. This injury can take several weeks to maybe even months to fully heal.
Hey, I had this problem, but not my big toe, the toe next to it. (my feet are weird, this particular toe extends farther out than my "big" toe). I injured it surfing, when I blew a take-off since my hands slipped during a pop-up, and this toe took all the weight when I fell into my board. I also play a little bit of soccer and jog occassionally, so it bothered me a lot, and would often re-injure it surfing, if the toe even so much as brush up against the board surface during a pop-up (as it turned over before I planted my feet). I found a band-aid that was waterproof and was adhesive enough so it didn't come off from surfing, running, etc. It helped stabilize the toe during those activities, and prevented any reinjury. I would wrap two band-aids around it before any session. It eventually went away, and I stopped wrapping it up once I started wearing booties.
Another thing I have done to help a little bit with the injury is change my duck dive foot. I'm a regular foot, but I started sometimes catching the toe when duck diving, which would always hurt the most. I started changing which leg I would dive with to try and let the injury heal. Like I said before, I really only do it in the warmer months when i'm not wearing booties. The booties do seem to help, and I would advise against split toes because they dont stabilize the big toe.
