I had a wonderful new pedicure client come into the spa the other day who is a regular 10k runner. To her surprise, we weren’t your typical spa. I told her that we offer medical pedicures, and we are certified to assist various foot conditions. Like most runners, my client had trouble with the dominant toe. Constant impact from running caused trauma to her toe, making the nail to lift off the nail bed. It’s common for the nail to experience bruising and sometimes could lead to losing the entire nail!
The problem when runners lose their nail too often is that the nail at times, does not grow back normally. Often the nail bed is loose underneath, can grow back ingrown, become very thick over a period of time, and is prone to fungal infection.
Regular maintenance is very important in this situation to prevent this from occurring. In her situation she did have these problems and we removed the ingrown nail. At home, to help prevent lifting of the nails, be sure to keep them short.
Keeping the nail tapered by reducing the thickness of the nail will prevent future problems of the nail hitting the top of the shoe when the feet are enclosed.
My client also had a deep ingrown that was starting to curve painfully into her skin. This problem with the curvature is a possible indication that she is walking and running on the inside of her foot (pronation). We removed the ingrown but we had to address the problem of pronation. I had to refer her to a Pedorithist to check her gait (sequence of foot movement). If they found an imbalance in her gait they would recommend orthotics for her. This would prevent the pronation by forcing her to take her insteps in a neutral position.
I also had to take a look at her running shoes and do a bend test, as runners should always have support in their shoes to help absorb the shock when running or even just walking!
Following through with the preventative solutions, will help prevent future knee and hip problems as we get older. Our bodies will always let us know if there is a problem. We have to listen to our bodies before minor discomforts become major injuries, and do our best to take care of the little problems before they turn into big ones.