Read more below to find out what footwear recommendations our lead sports podiatrist, Tim Maiden, recommends and ways to prevent the condition to keep you pacing forward without pain.
Running puts a lot of pressure on your feet and creates moisture in your shoes. These two factors make runners with ingrown toenails more likely to experience discomfort. If left untreated, a toenail can become infected, leading to more serious health problems.
The medical term for ingrown toenails is onychocryptosis. It is an unpleasant condition in which the nail grows incorrectly and cuts into one or both sides of the nail bed. The problem is more common in shoe-wearing groups, especially during activities like running, kicking, or jumping that involve high foot impact.
How Can You Avoid Developing Ingrown Toenails as a Runner?
The most common causes of ingrown toenails for runners are ill-fitting running shoes that are too tight on the toes and improper toenail clipping.
Ingrown toenails are also more prevalent in young males who run regularly and women who wear high heels [1]. These activities create similar microtraumas in the foot area, with the toe absorbing some of the impact with each step. In addition, any repetitive pressure on the toe, like running, increases the chances of an ingrown toenail.
The following steps can either help you with your existing ingrown toenail or reduce your chances of getting one:
- Wear Properly Fitted Running Shoes Make sure there is plenty of width in the toe box of your running shoe to prevent undue pressure on your big toe. Also, make sure your socks fit properly and don’t constrict your toes.
- Keep Your Feet Moisture-Free Bacteria thrive in dark, moist environments like the shoe. If you have an ingrown toenail, air your feet throughout the day, wear clean socks, and keep your shoes dry.
- Cutting Your Toenails Properly Jagged edges or cutting the nail too deep can lead to the nail digging into the flesh and causing an ingrown toenail. Trimming your toenails correctly with sharp nail clippers and filing them into a rounded shape can help prevent this.
- Infections If you have an ingrown toenail, you need to keep an eye on it to ensure it is not getting infected. Signs of infection include severe discomfort, spreading skin inflammation, or pus around the area where the nail pierces the skin. Seek medical attention if you think your ingrown toenail is infected before it develops into something more severe.
- Managing Chronic Illnesses Chronic illnesses like diabetes can make ingrown toenails more dangerous. An infection resulting from an ingrown toenail can lead to complications, especially in diabetic runners. Managing chronic diseases can help prevent ingrown toenails from worsening.
Best Running Shoes for Ingrown Toenails
The most critical way to prevent ingrown toenails is to wear the right shoes. If your shoes are too tight, they can force your toes together and put undue pressure on your toenails. This is especially problematic if you are a long-distance runner or spend most of the day on your feet.
Continuous misaligned pressure due to improper footwear can lead to ingrown toenails and other conditions such as corns and calluses. To prevent this, choose shoes with a wide toe box so your toes aren’t compressed together.
As mentioned, infections thrive in damp, dark areas. So, beyond a wide toe box, you also want a shoe made from breathable materials. Spend time barefoot, giving your feet time to air. Make sure your shoes dry completely to lower your chances of infection.
In short, your new pair of shoes should have a wide toe box and be made of breathable fabrics. Here is a recommendation from our specialist sports podiatrist – a runner himself! – at The Foot Practice, for a good shoe for runners with ingrown toenails:
- Vivobarefoot footwear is designed to help you feel like you’re running virtually barefoot, extending the foot’s natural strength and movement so you can feel the ground beneath.
- Altra Running Shoes’ experimental shoe alterations, envisioned by athletes for athletes, let you run naturally through a Zero Drop™ platform and FootShape™ toe box shoe design.
- Xero Shoes creates addictively comfortable shoes to give runners that natural barefoot movement feeling with just-enough protection built with the “first-foot” design for performance.
What these shoes have in common is spacious toe boxes and very low heel drops, which encourage a midfoot or forefoot strike, so it may take a bit to get used to them.
If you’re running with an ingrown toenail, it’s important to watch for other potential foot problems. Many of these problems are preventable with the right precautions and proper foot care.
At The Foot Practice, our sports podiatrists know that runners put a lot of stress on their feet. We offer therapies for ingrown toenail treatment and other foot care services to protect you from conditions like infection and injuries.
If you’re looking for ingrown toenail management in Singapore, contact us to learn more about our skin and nail care services.
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Sources
Pico, Ana Pérez & Verjano, Elisabeth & Mayordomo, Raquel. (2017). Relation Between Nail Consistency and Incidence of Ingrown Toenails in Young Male Runners. Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association. 107. 137-143. 10.7547/15-121.
