3 Irrational Foot Health Fears: Debunked!
Maybe you dropped a heavy canned good directly onto your big toe, or perhaps you finished a long spring hike only to find a dark, bruised spot under your nail. Your mind immediately goes to the worst-case scenario. In the spirit of National Foot Health Awareness Month, we at PodiatryCare, PC, and the Heel Pain Center are here to help you take a deep breath and look at the facts. Most of your foot-related anxieties are based on myths or rare occurrences that have very logical explanations that we detail below.
The Truth About Losing Your Toenail
The fear that your toenail is just going to spontaneously fall off after a bump is one of the most common irrational thoughts. If you see a purple or black spot under the nail, that is simply a subungual hematoma, which means a bruise under the nail.
While it looks scary, the odds of the nail actually falling off are lower than you think. Usually, the nail stays attached and grows out over several months. Even if the nail does eventually detach, it only happens because a new, healthy toenail has already started growing underneath to push the old one out. Your body has a built-in replacement system that is working behind the scenes before you even realize there is a problem.
The Rusty Nail Tetanus Scare
You were taught as a kid that stepping on a rusty nail is an immediate death sentence. But, while tetanus is a serious bacterial infection, the rust itself is not actually the problem, which means if it’s buried in dirt somewhere, it’s probably not carrying the bacteria.
And with medicine today, the odds of a healthy adult with an up-to-date booster shot developing tetanus from a small puncture are incredibly low. If you have had your shot in the last ten years, your immune system is already coached and ready to fight off the infection.
The Myth of the Splinter in Your Bloodstream
Lastly, there’s this idea that a small splinter or a stray piece of glass in your foot will enter your bloodstream and travel to your heart, but the probability of this happening is practically zero. Your blood vessels have specialized walls, and a foreign object is much more likely to be surrounded by your immune cells and pushed out as a sliver or a small pimple.
It is almost impossible for a splinter to navigate its way into your major circulatory system and go for a ride to your chest.
Still, Better Safe Than Sorry
There are still toe problems out there you shouldn’t ignore, so if you have any doubt, we still encourage you to visit the podiatrist!
At PodiatryCare, PC, and the Heel Pain Center, we care for a wide variety of foot and ankle ailments. Dr. Matthew Tschudy, Dr. Rebecca Wiesner, Dr. Kristen Winters, Dr. Laura Vander Poel, and the rest of our teamare ready to serve our Hartford County patients. To schedule an appointment at our Enfield location, call (860) 741-3041; for an appointment at our South Windsor location, call (860) 644-6525.