My son has overlapping toes that have developed over the past couple of years but only on one foot. What might cause this and should I be concerned?
×
4 Reasons Why Ask DoctorBase™ is the Most Efficient Way to SEO and Establish Your Brand Online
- Ask DoctorBase™ is a free service for patients on the DoctorBase platform - currently servicing over 6 million American patients of record.
- All answers submitted by healthcare professionals (you) are for entertainment purposes only and do not constitute doctor-patient relationships. All patients must agree to this before using Ask DoctorBase™.
- Our software and our Marketing Engineering staff review each answer and optimize your answers for keywords valuable to your specialty. It is a well kept secret that doctors (you) - not SEO consultants - are the ones who have the most valuable content prized by search engines. Ask DoctorBase™ "unlocks and optimizes" your content in the most efficient manner possible with today's technology.
- Finally, the doctor who provides the most popular answer - "the Featured Answer," gets an added benefit by allowing patients to write rave reviews about your expertise - reviews that are submitted to both Google and Google Local through our Preferred Data Provider relationship.
Ask Dr. Molly if you have questions or want a personal session on how to best use Ask DoctorBase™ for maximum marketing impact.
Squished/overlapping toes
Find low drug prices at local & online pharmacies
Featured Answer
1 UpVoted this answer
Overlapping toes could be caused partially by genetics and also by shoes, especially in a young child. The toe box of shoe may not be wider enough, thus not enough space for toes to spread out. Genetically it could just be an inherited trait from a parent, grandparent and so on. Check other family members' toes.
On the other hand, it could also be from a muscle imbalance that caused the flexor muscles (those on bottom of feet) to be overpowering of the extensor muscles (those on top of feet).
On the other hand, it could also be from a muscle imbalance that caused the flexor muscles (those on bottom of feet) to be overpowering of the extensor muscles (those on top of feet).
It is possible that your son traumatized (dropped something on or bumped the toe into furniture, etc) the 4th digit on the affected foot and may have damaged ligaments around the joints of the toe. It is also possible that this is coming from a biomechanical issue related to the function of his foot. The issue will become a problem if too much pressure from the overlapping toe onto the underlapping toe develops, and this could cause a great deal of pain and other issues. You should have him evaluated by a local Podiatrist in your area
It would be helpful to know how old your son is but this is probably just a personal developmental characteristic. As long as it doesn't cause him any problems it probably won't need to be treated. I would make sure that his shoes are fitting correctly and that he is walking and running normally and otherwise there is probably not much more that you will need to do.
over or under lapping toes are generally a congenital deformity. Only seek surgical care if it is causing irritation, reddening,or the toes become painful. there are simple procedures that can be performed to correct the deformity. Unfortunately, this is a surgery performed on a child and in the postoperative care it may be difficult to keep the toes from getting infected. Only seek surgical alternatives if it really bothers the child not the parent.
As stated this is not uncommon to see in a foot and ankle practice. That said I agree only have the toes corrected if they are causing a problem. There is little to do other than putting a soft toe separator between the curled 4 toe and the 3rd toe if there is some pressure there. I agree if he requires surgery go to a podiatrist that handles pediatric patients . The surgery is straight forward and not unusual at all.