In this painful condition, one or both of the toe joints may contract and develop irritation where it rubs on shoe gear. Patients with high-arch feet or low-arch feet may develop hammertoes. Also poor shoe gear choices such as high-heeled shoes or poorly sized shoes may be involved. Within the foot, the little muscles in the arch that would normally keep the toe joints straight become weak. The stronger muscles in the leg that would normally lift the toes up or flex the toes down now overpower the little guys, causing the joints to deform.

Treatment may involve simple common sense shoe choices, special pads to cushion the tops of the toes, or custom-made inserts to control the flat foot. More severe hammertoes may cause other problems in the ball of the foot requiring release of soft tissue contractions. Several variances of the hammertoe include predislocation syndrome, soft corns between toes, and mallet toes. Predislocation syndrome is where the early second toe hammertoe deforms the soft tissue on the sole of the foot. This person has pain at the base of the second toe on the bottom of the foot.

A second variant is where toe bony knuckles rub together between toes, causing a moist corn or thickening of skin to occur. The mallet toe occurs where the last toe joint is contracted, causing a corn on the top of the toe behind the nail or at the tip of the toe beneath the nail. Once the joint contraction cannot be manually straightened by manipulation with the fingers, the hammertoe patient is a surgical candidate.

Surgical choices explained by a podiatrist may include removing a portion of bone from a toe joint, filing off a spur, or fusing a toe joint. Some surgery may be performed in the podiatrist's office or more extensive repairs will require an out-patient surgical facility.