Buy Walking VideosSubungual Hematoma - Black Toenail
Wendy Bumgardener over at About.com has an injured toe from hiking a trail with ill-fitting shoes.
Black toenail is a common injury among runners, but can be avoided with proper shoe fitting and lacing techniques. It is covered so often by running magazines that I’m surprised that I have never had trouble with it. I’ve worn Ryka running shoes ever since I first started running, so I’ve never had trouble. I’m also reluctant to change shoes because of black toenail horror stories.
Black toenail has nothing to do with fungus (that’s a different malady). It is an injury to your toe from constant pressure from shoes. It’s like a bruise under your toenail, except if it’s bad enough, you can lose the nail.
Here is a technical explanation of black toenail from Wikipedia:
If you want to avoid getting a black toenail, here are some resources:
Footcare for the Woman runner - Women’s section - Time-to-Run - women’s on-line running information
Weblog - London Marathon - Times Online: The curse of the black toenail
After reading so many stories from people who have had black toenail, I’m surprised that I’ve never experienced it. I’ve had sore toes after hiking for too long in the wrong shoes, but I’ve been fortunate enough to not have this problem. If you have, don’t worry. It’s VERY common. As one runner said it:
“I use my toes to tell the seasons. If my first two toes are black then it is running season. If my little toe is black it is cross country skiing season. If I don’t have any black toes then I’m 10 pounds over weight. It is easy to run withseveral black toes than with 10 extra pounds.” - Jim Benike at UltRunR
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September 12th, 2006 at 9:33 am
I lost my right big toenail a few years ago during a long, steep descent from the mountains. The coloration actually goes through the whole spectrum. I just ignored it until it turned green, and then I went to the doctor to have it pulled out.
Last month I lost 3/4 of my “index” toenail after another mountain trip. The leftmost sliver remains.
I hike in running shoes or trail running shoes, which are a bit hard to tighten up tightly.
April 28th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
i have a black bruised toe nail on my right big toe. it hurts real bad and it basically falling off im just too scared to pull it off !
April 29th, 2009 at 7:11 am
Jessica,
It will fall off on its own. Don’t hurt yourself any further by pulling it off early. I used ALOT of Neosporin on my toe to keep it from getting infected. I don’t know if that helped or not, but it made me feel like I was doing something for it.
Laura