Dress and care of the feet /

by John Lord Peck

The next and most important of the difficulties springing from this source is the enlargement of the great-toe joint. We continue to quote from Meyer:

“Not less important are the evils arising at the root of the great toe from the same cause. It has already been stated that the pressure of the upper leather pushes the point of the great toe against the smaller toes. The joint at the metatarsal bone thus becomes bent aside, so that it forms a protuberance on the inner side of the foot. If the point of the toe is now pressed against the ground in walking, this protuberance must be made still greater, and so pressed more forcibly against the upper leather. At the same time, moreover, the great transverse wrinkle in the upper leather—the result of the bending of the toes—presses directly on the same point, and the protuberance at the root of the toe is thus constantly subjected to a twofold and very injurious pressure. In these circumstances it is by no means wonderful that this joint becomes subject to a continual inflammation, which by extending to the bones must, in this situation, produce permanent and painful swellings, which become, in their turn, and even from slight causes, the source of inflammations and new growths of bone.

“In this manner arise those unseemly and painful swellings at the root of the great toe, which, either from mistaking their true nature, or from wilful deception, are called ‘chilblains,’ or ‘gout,’ just as one or the other term appears the most interesting. In many cases, moreover, this kind of inflammation of the bones, and their investing membrane, may lead to the formation of matter, and eventually to the disease known as ‘caries,’ or ulceration of the bone.”

Narrow-toed shoes furnish another influence strongly operating to produce large joints. The great toe is drawn farther than usual toward the others, and its joint thrown out in the opposite direction. All the toes are more crowded, until some of them are forced out of place while corns and grown-in nails are developed or made worse. Width at the ball alone will not prevent these effects. French and English styles are in this respect often pernicious. The whole tendency of narrow toes is toward deformity; and those who cannot because they happen to be the style, refuse to wear them, should make up their minds to accept the consequences with a good grace.

Another great cause of the prominence and swelling of the joint—which our author alludes to, but gives it hardly any of its real importance—is the backward pressure of the toe by shoes that are too short. This, in addition to causing sore nails, crowds the toes still more closely together, and pushes the joint still farther inward, away from its proper place. To illustrate.

Fig. 10. Fig. 11.

a, Phalanges, or Bones of the Toe; b, Metatarsal Bone; c, Joint.

Supposing these to represent the bones of the great toe and its metatarsal bone—which, in their normal position, are on the same line—we can see that if the toe bones a are bent toward the other toes first, and then pushed backward, it necessarily forces out the joint in the only direction in which it can bend, which is inward. The greater and more constant the pressure against the end of the toe by the short boot or shoe, the larger the joint, and the more it will project from the inside of the foot; the more liable also to soreness, swelling, corns, bunions, inflammation, and settled disease, and the more awkward, ill-shaped, and uncomfortable, not only to walk with but to look upon.

High heels also do their share toward bringing on this deformity. They cause the foot to pitch downward on the toes, sometimes pushing it a size farther forward into the boot than it would go if the heel was only moderately high, thus creating the necessity for a longer boot. The crowding of the toes is increased; and as they meet with resistance or a backward pressure from both sides and the end of the shoe, at the same time that there is a forward pressure from the heel by the weight of the body, of course the angle formed at the joint must be pushed out more acute, the foot making room for itself by stretching and treading over the upper at the sides.