Turf Toe Information (1 Viewer)

[gbill2004]

With all the talk of turf toes these days with the injuries to LT and DMAC, thought I'd post some information on the injury:

Description

Activities such as football, basketball, soccer, field hockey and lacrosse show the high incidence of injury to the great toe joint on artificial surfaces. Other non-sporting causes include change in shoe gear, limited range of motion of the great toe joint, and sometimes flat foot conditions.

Mechanism of Injury

There are two mechanisms of injury for turf toe. The most common cause is hyperextension of the great toe joint. The great toe joint is hyper-extended as the heel is raised off the ground. An external force is placed on the great toe and the soft tissue structures that support the great toe on the top are torn or ruptured.

Physical Signs and Symptoms

Symptoms of acute injury include pain, tenderness and swelling of the great toe joint. Often there is a sudden acute onset of pain during push-off phase of running. Usually, the pain is not enough to keep the athlete from physical activities or finishing a game. This causes further injury to the great toe and will dramatically increase the healing time.

Injuries to the great toe that cause turf toe are graded into three categories.

A Grade I turf toe injury is considered to be mild and the supporting soft tissue structure that encompass the great toe are only sprained or stretched. This is the most common type of injury. There is minimal swelling with mild local tenderness and usually no black and blue bruising evident.

Grade II turf toe injuries are considered moderate in severity. They present with more diffuse tenderness, swelling, restricted range of motion and usually are mildly black and blue in appearance. There is usually a partial tear of the supporting ligaments but no articular cartilage damage.

Grade III injuries are considered severe in nature because of the considerable swelling, pain on palpation, restriction of range of motion, inability to bear any weight on the injured foot and diffuse black-and-blue appearance of the great toe. There is generally tears to the joint capsule, ruptured, ligaments and possibly compression damage to the articular cartilage of the great toe.

Treatment

Treatment is usually centered on an individual basis and the severity of the injury sustained. The following are general principle guidelines for turf toe injuries. The mnemonic ﾓRICEﾔ can be employed. The ﾓRﾔ stands for rest and is the hallmark component to allow for successful healing to occur. However, this is the greatest area of noncompliance because the athlete assumes the injury to be trivial and not severe enough to miss a game or practice. The ﾓIﾔ represents ice, which is usually performed for the first 48-72 hours after the initial injury. Cryotherapy consists of placing the injured toe in a bucket of ice water for 15-20 minute intervals. ﾓCﾔ signifies compression, which is done by taping the great toe in a compression dressing or strapping. The ﾓE: stands for equipment modification or change. For example, the use of a stiffer athletic shoe to resist motion of the great toe or the insertion of an orthotic to increase the support of the great toe.. Additionally, strapping of the great toe to limit motion may allow a highly competitive athlete to return to activities quicker. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) may be utilized for relief of minor pain as well as to decrease the inflammation of the injury.

Grade I injuries do well with strapping and usually only require a few days of rest. Grade II injuries should adhere to the ﾓRICEﾔ principles above and usually require one to two weeks of missed practices and games. Grade III injuries are more severe injuries and the healing process may take four to six weeks of recovery time from physical activities. Sometimes, Grade III turf toe injuries do not heal appropriately with conservative care and result in chronic pain and instability. Surgical reconstruction of the joint capsule, ligaments and articular cartilage may be necessary to restore proper alignment and function in these extreme cases.

 

[Avery]

The levels of severity; grade 1, 2, and 3; seems to be what most people have a problem comprehending. Even within those grades there are degrees. For example, a mild grade 1 or a borderline grade 2/3. I've seen people post things like, "Turf toe is serious. Player X had it and wasn't the same all season therefore Player Y will not be the same all season."

This grade level holds true for all strains. AC joint (shoulder) or various knee strains.

As I've posted before that some people still fail to understand, all strains are not created equal.

Edit to add: Now that I think of it. Perhaps this common lack of understanding about strains is something that can be taken advantage of. Swoop down and try to buy low on a guy like McFadden (who has a mild turf toe) or Big Ben (who has a mild AC joint sprain) if their owner has the impression that all strains are serious.

 

[gbill2004]

The levels of severity; grade 1, 2, and 3; seems to be what most people have a problem comprehending. Even within those grades there are degrees. For example, a mild grade 1 or a borderline grade 2/3. I've seen people post things like, "Turf toe is serious. Player X had it and wasn't the same all season therefore Player Y will not be the same all season."

This grade level holds true for all strains. AC joint (shoulder) or various knee strains.

As I've posted before that some people still fail to understand, all strains are not created equal.

Edit to add: Now that I think of it. Perhaps this common lack of understanding about strains is something that can be taken advantage of. Swoop down and try to buy low on a guy like McFadden (who has a mild turf toe) or Big Ben (who has a mild AC joint sprain) if their owner has the impression that all strains are serious.

How do you know that DMAC's is mild?Any word on what grade of turf toe LT has??

 

[Xue]

Muscles get strained. Ligaments get sprained.

 

[Avery]

The levels of severity; grade 1, 2, and 3; seems to be what most people have a problem comprehending. Even within those grades there are degrees. For example, a mild grade 1 or a borderline grade 2/3. I've seen people post things like, "Turf toe is serious. Player X had it and wasn't the same all season therefore Player Y will not be the same all season."

This grade level holds true for all strains. AC joint (shoulder) or various knee strains.

As I've posted before that some people still fail to understand, all strains are not created equal.

Edit to add: Now that I think of it. Perhaps this common lack of understanding about strains is something that can be taken advantage of. Swoop down and try to buy low on a guy like McFadden (who has a mild turf toe) or Big Ben (who has a mild AC joint sprain) if their owner has the impression that all strains are serious.

How do you know that DMAC's is mild?Any word on what grade of turf toe LT has??

I don't really. Just surmising it from the quote from Kiffen that made it sound like it happened earlier in the game and he kept playing therefore I wouldn't think it was too serious. Re-reading it I guess it was a bit misleading. Just using it as a possible example.

 

[Avery]

Muscles get strained. Ligaments get sprained.

If you want to get real technical, strains actually involve the musculotendinous structure which are the muscles and their attached tendons.

 

[Englishteacher]

I'm a McFadden owner and I'm sending prayers out to his toe. That is all.

 

[gasFace]

I had it in school. It seriously was the worse injury I ever had

 

[Sheriff66]

It ended Jack Lamberts career.

 

[az_prof]

The levels of severity; grade 1, 2, and 3; seems to be what most people have a problem comprehending. Even within those grades there are degrees. For example, a mild grade 1 or a borderline grade 2/3. I've seen people post things like, "Turf toe is serious. Player X had it and wasn't the same all season therefore Player Y will not be the same all season."

This grade level holds true for all strains. AC joint (shoulder) or various knee strains.

As I've posted before that some people still fail to understand, all strains are not created equal.

Edit to add: Now that I think of it. Perhaps this common lack of understanding about strains is something that can be taken advantage of. Swoop down and try to buy low on a guy like McFadden (who has a mild turf toe) or Big Ben (who has a mild AC joint sprain) if their owner has the impression that all strains are serious.

Do you have a supporting link that tells us what degree their injuries? I hadn't seen anything yet. One thing to note in the informative original OP is that a major cause of the injury getting aggravated and becoming worse is not properly resting it. Again, in my experience these injuries tend to hang around and get worse during the season.

 

[Avery]

The levels of severity; grade 1, 2, and 3; seems to be what most people have a problem comprehending. Even within those grades there are degrees. For example, a mild grade 1 or a borderline grade 2/3. I've seen people post things like, "Turf toe is serious. Player X had it and wasn't the same all season therefore Player Y will not be the same all season."

This grade level holds true for all strains. AC joint (shoulder) or various knee strains.

As I've posted before that some people still fail to understand, all strains are not created equal.

Edit to add: Now that I think of it. Perhaps this common lack of understanding about strains is something that can be taken advantage of. Swoop down and try to buy low on a guy like McFadden (who has a mild turf toe) or Big Ben (who has a mild AC joint sprain) if their owner has the impression that all strains are serious.

Do you have a supporting link that tells us what degree their injuries? I hadn't seen anything yet. One thing to note in the informative original OP is that a major cause of the injury getting aggravated and becoming worse is not properly resting it. Again, in my experience these injuries tend to hang around and get worse during the season.

As I said a couple of post above, I was using McFadden and Big Ben as more theoretical examples but kinda worded it in a misleading way. Sorry about that again.According to the grape 1 indications:

Grade I injuries do well with strapping and usually only require a few days of rest.

Miss practice a few days and right back in it. Right now it's a wait and see how severe it is. All indications point to it not being a very serious injury but we'll have to wait and see.

 

[AnonymousBob]

Thanks for this info. If only we knew what level DMac and LT had.

 

[JamesTheScot]

The levels of severity; grade 1, 2, and 3; seems to be what most people have a problem comprehending. Even within those grades there are degrees. For example, a mild grade 1 or a borderline grade 2/3. I've seen people post things like, "Turf toe is serious. Player X had it and wasn't the same all season therefore Player Y will not be the same all season."

This grade level holds true for all strains. AC joint (shoulder) or various knee strains.

As I've posted before that some people still fail to understand, all strains are not created equal.

Edit to add: Now that I think of it. Perhaps this common lack of understanding about strains is something that can be taken advantage of. Swoop down and try to buy low on a guy like McFadden (who has a mild turf toe) or Big Ben (who has a mild AC joint sprain) if their owner has the impression that all strains are serious.

Do you have a supporting link that tells us what degree their injuries? I hadn't seen anything yet. One thing to note in the informative original OP is that a major cause of the injury getting aggravated and becoming worse is not properly resting it. Again, in my experience these injuries tend to hang around and get worse during the season.

As I said a couple of post above, I was using McFadden and Big Ben as more theoretical examples but kinda worded it in a misleading way. Sorry about that again.According to the grape 1 indications:

Grade I injuries do well with strapping and usually only require a few days of rest.

Miss practice a few days and right back in it. Right now it's a wait and see how severe it is. All indications point to it not being a very serious injury but we'll have to wait and see.

Not picking a fight, but what are all the indications that it is not very serious? Just because he returned to the game doesn't mean it isn't serious! If the information is that 2nd and 3rd degree injuries don't heal because the athletes don't take the injury seriously and don't rest it, that would necessarily mean that those athletes are fully capable of not resting it...which sounds to me like they are able to run on it despite the injury. Besides, isn't grading a sprain or strain more or less a guess? Take a few days to see how it responds. If it's seems to be geting better, you call it a 1st degree sprain. If it isn't any better, you order rest and say it's a 2nd degree sprain. You won't know if it's a 3rd degree sprain until the normal healing envelope for a 2nd degree sprain is past.

I'm afraid LT is in this boat right now as well, except that given how long it's been othering him, he may need the time off before it will heal.

 

[Johnny Ice]

The levels of severity; grade 1, 2, and 3; seems to be what most people have a problem comprehending. Even within those grades there are degrees. For example, a mild grade 1 or a borderline grade 2/3. I've seen people post things like, "Turf toe is serious. Player X had it and wasn't the same all season therefore Player Y will not be the same all season."

This grade level holds true for all strains. AC joint (shoulder) or various knee strains.

As I've posted before that some people still fail to understand, all strains are not created equal.

Edit to add: Now that I think of it. Perhaps this common lack of understanding about strains is something that can be taken advantage of. Swoop down and try to buy low on a guy like McFadden (who has a mild turf toe) or Big Ben (who has a mild AC joint sprain) if their owner has the impression that all strains are serious.

How do you know that DMAC's is mild?Any word on what grade of turf toe LT has??

Sportsline says RunDMC is ok."Darren McFadden, RB OAK

News: The San Francisco Chronicle reports Raiders rookie RB Darren McFadden, who had 21 carries for 164 yards and a touchdown Sunday at Kansas City, left the game with turf toe in the fourth quarter. McFadden, who stepped up when Justin Fargas left the game with a groin injury, is expected to be fine. If Fargas can't play in Week 3 at Buffalo, consider McFadden ready to assume the starting position with Michael Bush (16 rushes for 90 yards and a touchdown) the new backup. "I feel very prepared," McFadden said.

Analysis: It sounds like McFadden will be fine, but continue to monitor his injury throughout the week along with the status of Fargas. McFadden would be a No. 2 Fantasy option if he's named the starter, although the Bills defense has played well against the run this year. "