Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: Lauren Vogelbomb Here. Your pinky toe might seem like it
Speaker 1: serves no real function but to look cute. But if
Speaker 1: you've ever stubbed, fractured, or otherwise injured it, you find
Speaker 1: out otherwise. You're probably surprised at how much an injured
Speaker 1: fifth toe affects your everyday life. The pinky is part
Speaker 1: of an extremely complex system within the foot. Think about
Speaker 1: how much strength, flexibility, and fine motor control is packed
Speaker 1: into that relatively small structure. Every floor standard foot is
Speaker 1: composed of about thirty three joints, twenty six bones, twenty
Speaker 1: ish muscles, more than one hundred tendons and ligaments, bercy
Speaker 1: to keep the tendons lubricated, and a whole bunch of
Speaker 1: blood vessels to keep all of that equipment working. All
Speaker 1: of these parts can make any foot injury extra unpleasant.
Speaker 1: For the article, this episode is based on How Stuff Works.
Speaker 1: Spoke by email with doctor Aditi Gupta Ja, a consultant physician.
Speaker 1: She said, any pain in that area is definitely high
Speaker 1: since it is mostly muscle and blood, leading to more
Speaker 1: inflammation and aches when swollen. Should something happen. You can
Speaker 1: learn to live without this little piggy, but it's easier
Speaker 1: to have one, as it works in concert with the
Speaker 1: other toes and the rest of the foot to get
Speaker 1: humans who walk where they need to go. How stuff works.
Speaker 1: Also spoke with podiatrist doctor Bruce Pinker. He explained the
Speaker 1: purpose of the pinky toe is to provide balance and propulsion.
Speaker 1: As one takes a step, the foot rolls from lateral
Speaker 1: to medial In normal foot biomechanics, this motion helps us
Speaker 1: push off to the next step. When the pinky is
Speaker 1: damaged in some way or has to be amputated, that
Speaker 1: propulsion is limited, leading to an affected gait. It can
Speaker 1: also cause from imbalance. It turns out that our reliance
Speaker 1: on the foot's tripod of balance that is the heel,
Speaker 1: the pinky toe knuckle, and the big toe knuckle is
Speaker 1: pretty crucial. Loss of any one of those elements can
Speaker 1: significantly inhibit a person's ability to walk or run, or
Speaker 1: skip or tango. Because it helps control balance and push,
Speaker 1: the pinky is also important in sports like swimming. Competitive
Speaker 1: swimmers have to push off of diving boards and the
Speaker 1: sides of pools during turns, so losing pinky functionality could
Speaker 1: put a crimp in their livelihood. All of your toes
Speaker 1: can suffer fractures, dislocations, or sprains from heavy blows or
Speaker 1: high impact activities, but being located at the outside of
Speaker 1: the foot means that your little toe is extra vulnerable
Speaker 1: to impacts like stubs and shout out to anyone else
Speaker 1: who frequently tries to move through furniture instead of around it.
Speaker 1: The pinky is so particularly at risk from ill fitting
Speaker 1: footwear and especially from shoes with narrow toes. Due to
Speaker 1: constriction and friction, the bursi that helped cushion and lubricate
Speaker 1: the other equipment in your feet can become swollen and irritated.
Speaker 1: A painful condition called bursitis hammer toe can develop, which
Speaker 1: is when the toe abnormally bends in the middle. It
Speaker 1: is more common in the second, third, and fourth toes
Speaker 1: at the middle joint, but can occur in pinkies too.
Speaker 1: A narrow or pointed toe box can also cause a
Speaker 1: bunyonette to develop, which is a painful bump on the
Speaker 1: outside base of pinky toe caused by inflammation at the joint,
Speaker 1: and pinkies are infamous among podiatrists anyway, for developing corns,
Speaker 1: which are lesions made up of layers of hardened skin
Speaker 1: that can build up when a shoe repeatedly presses and
Speaker 1: rubs against a certain spot. Corns can be tender and annoying,
Speaker 1: like having a rock in your shoe that you can't
Speaker 1: get of, but can also cut off a nerve or
Speaker 1: bursa and cause deeper damage. For some of these ailments,
Speaker 1: simply switching to a shoe with a wider toe box
Speaker 1: and using soft padding to prevent further irritation can resolve
Speaker 1: the issue. But let's say you severely stubb or snash
Speaker 1: your toe and fear that it's fractured. What next? Don't
Speaker 1: try to tough it out, Visit the medical professional and
Speaker 1: get an X ray. A fracture that isn't properly treated
Speaker 1: could subject to you to premature arthritis if the joint
Speaker 1: is impacted. Doctor gup Deja said, if the little toe
Speaker 1: is severely bruised or injured, it needs to be cared
Speaker 1: for based on the kind of injury. If it's only
Speaker 1: superficial skin, it repairs itself over time with good hygiene
Speaker 1: and antibiotic ointments. If the muscle or bone is however, injured.
Speaker 1: Conservative management is advised to try and preserve the defected part,
Speaker 1: and mostly a sprint is applied, which is a bandage
Speaker 1: that's tied to the adjacent toe so that movement is
Speaker 1: restricted and healing can then occur. And in the event
Speaker 1: that you have to get your little toe amputated, there
Speaker 1: are plenty of options for getting you back on your feet,
Speaker 1: including physical therapy and shoe inserts. How Stuffworks also spoke
Speaker 1: via email with pediatrist doctor Mark Hinkus. He said losing
Speaker 1: a pinky can be psychologically distressing and we often refer
Speaker 1: patients to a counselor before and after the procedure. They
Speaker 1: also may use a special custom insul after the operation
Speaker 1: site heals. Again, it's always better to be on the
Speaker 1: safe side. So if you experience swelling, in pain, a
Speaker 1: burning or numbness in your pinky toe, have a hard
Speaker 1: time putting weight on your foot, and notice crookedness or bruising,
Speaker 1: and if you heard a popping sound when an injury occurred,
Speaker 1: hobble on in to see a medical professional. They'll be
Speaker 1: able to test for damage to the bones and surrounding
Speaker 1: nerves and blood vessels and help you figure out how
Speaker 1: to reduce discomfort while you heal. Heal pun intended after
Speaker 1: the fact. Today's episode is based on the article Surprise
Speaker 1: your Pinky Too Does Serve a Purpose on HowStuffWorks dot Com,
Speaker 1: written by Aleiah Hoyt. Brain Stuff is a production of
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio in partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com and is produced
Speaker 1: by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts from my heart Radio,
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