Curling toes or clubfoot....

[Fancy1959]

Hello everyone it's Fancy1959 . About a year ago someone in this chat room wrote about their toes curling under. At the time my toes were doing great and did not curl at all. Well as we all know as we battle this monster, MS is never boring and it is ever-changing. Now my toes are curling under and I noticed calluses forming on the top of my toes so I showed them to my neurologist about a month ago. He immediately said my feet were changing and I was developing club feet. Club seats are cause wind Ms causes the muscles and tendons in your feet and toes two becomes spacidic and tighten up the tendons and muscles in your feet and toes . This can cause your toes curl under, your arch goes up, and the stress you put on your foot moves in a whole new direction.

Basically he told me a club foot makes your arch go up, your toes curl under and you put more strain on areas of your foot that aren't used to strain and can be damaged from them. He told me if I left it unchecked I would set myself up for plantar fasciitis. Well I had that once and I never want to have it again!

He sent me to my local box store and told me to go to the doctor Scholl's kiosk and have my foot mapped. Based on this computer generated mapping, a specific arch support was recommended to help my foot and take the strain off of it. Well that's exactly what I did and I've had arch supports now for the past month.

I wrote this post to let everyone know that this is something real and it is MS generated and it is called club foot. Not all of us suffer from it but if you do I wanted you to know you were not alone. What is most important to about this post is we need to remember to take care of our feet because our feet are our base that supports our entire body. Share anything you notice and ask questions and perhaps someone will be able to answer them in the chat room. And make sure if you notice changes in your feet like the ones mentioned here that you show them to your neurologist as soon as you notice them. That will allow your neurologist to recommend the course of action they want you to follow to help your feet. I've taken a picture of my foot to show you. My right foot is more affected by being a club foot than my left which is odd because my right side is normally my stronger side. Anyway I'll show you the calluses as best as I can and if you have anything you care to share I hope we talk soon. Take care and remember together we are stronger, and there is much we can learn from one another in this chat room!

You can see the most noticeable calluses on my second toes over and on my right foot it's hard for me to even straighten out all my toes except my big toe. There's also calluses on my left foot and again the second toe over is most prominent and easiest to see.

If you have questions or anything you want to share or if you too are starting to see changes in your feet please respond so we can get a feel for how many people are out there fighting club feet. Again it's important for everybody to know that they are not alone. Remember together we are stronger and there is much we can learn from one another. I'll look forward to talking to many of you as soon as possible.

[erash]

Interesting Fancy1959

I would have thought that's more claw foot or claw toes medlineplus.gov/ency/articl... rather than club foot

Claw toes can be congenital (birth defect) or acquired (neurological)

Many years ago I worked in a clinic where my job was to put plaster casts on babies with club feet. The casts help the foot be repositioned to neutral rather than in turned. We had to change the casts almost weekly as the child grew.

Glad the dr scholl's seems to be helping 👍

[Fancy1959 in reply to erash]

Erash just telling you what my doctor told me. Perhaps over the years the term for the foot has changed. My toes go under causing my Arch and foot to get much steeper and angle and the result is I look like I have a club foot like an old mare of mine used to have on the farm. Thanks for the input and remember to ask about claw the next time I see the neurologist.

[erash in reply to Fancy1959]

Fancy1959

Things are always changing in medicine and I'm learning something new all of the time. I don't doubt what your neuro told you. It's just interesting to me since this is what I always thought of with club foot mayoclinic.org/diseases-con...

The important thing is that you try to prevent it from getting worse and causing bigger problems...whatever name they call it.

[Kenu]

Looks more like hammertoe to me. I have the same problems thru the years as it starts with artrophy. I finally had enough and went to podiatrist as my little toe and big toe was hurting about 8-10. Six weeks ago we did hammertoe surgery on little toe, don’t read internet as it will scare you away. I followed his instructions to the tee and was wearing my low cut 👞 and brace in a week. At one month we decide to take nail off big toe as it curled it would push nail into cucile. After this surgery I was right back into my normal 👞 and it was 5 the first week. It’s been three weeks for big toe and it’s at a 3. Little toe is 1. Doctor laughs and says I have three more on that foot. They don’t bother me yet....any question let me know 😎

[rjoneslaw]

@Fancy1959

I am glad you posted this. I don't have club foot but my toes tend to tingle and hurt when I lay down. My rehab neuro have me going to see about a shoe insert for my arch I have that appt on Nov 19.

When I first came out of remission my toes curled under and it was hard to walk, sometimes I would be walking and I would not be able to move because my toes decided it would be a fine time to curl up. Imagine just standing in the way and not being able to move. I was glad it happened when I was with someone who was strong enough to pick me up.

Now my toes will not bend. I can move them down and that is it. Sometimes it's painful to have my feet under the covers or my feet can be under the covers and my toes are freezing.

[Kenu in reply to rjoneslaw]

I have numbness, pins and needles feeling in right foot and hand. Also drop foot as I wear a brace. I never know where that foot is so I have to concentrate when walking or I might fall. I think the atrophy set in from no movement and then the hammertoes or claw toe. Yes they are always cold.

[Doubled51]

Over the last few months I noticed my little toe on right foot feeling funny and feels like it was curling under. I never thought of it being an ms symptom. Several years ago it had plantar fasciitis surgery on both feet and sure don't want to go thru it again. And my feet stay so cold they just. Anytime it's under 80 degrees I wear thick sock all the time. We learn something every day.

Donnie

[Kenu in reply to Doubled51]

Are you losing feeling in your toe? That’s how mine started was losing feeling and then it started to curl under and other toes on right foot followed. My toes are always cold or they feel cold. Probably the circulation not good with numbness and pins and needles all the time. My right fingers are the same. Left side Good.

[Doubled51 in reply to Kenu]

Kenu kenu yeah I've had numbness and tingling since my first flare up. Both feet and ankles which keeps moving up. But both stay so cold they're miserable even with insulated socks I can't keep them warm. Lately my hands are getting pretty bad to. Dr giving Gabapentin but it's not helping. I'd never thought about my toes being related to ms till fancy1959 need mentioned it. It has been bugging me for awhile and after I got to looking the w adjoing toes a are also curling some.. So ill be talking to Dr when i go back.I had a hard time hunting last year because I couldn't keep my feet and hands warm. For better boots socks and gloves this year so ill see.

Donnie

[Kenu in reply to Doubled51]

Maybe try heated socks and gloves, they make battery operated ones. My brother uses them on the railroad as those locomotives get cold in Wyoming.

[KarenUSA]

MS GYM has a series of exercises for foot drop that show you how to release the muscles in your feet, toes, and ankles. I find them helpful for my hammer toes.

[rjoneslaw in reply to KarenUSA]

yes you can find ms gym on facebook, youtube, instagram (?), twitter

[CraigS]

Ha! My toes have been pointing south for some time, I never thought it might be a symptom of MS.

The nails get real thick to protect the toe from damage (I suppose).

I’ll talk to my neurologist too, thanks.