Black Toenail - Is it Bad and What to do About Your Runner's Toe?
Black Toenail, Runner's Toe, Foot Injuries.
A runner should be familiar with the most common running injuries.
This is the best way to prevent little or big injuries since being familiar with them means that you are also aware on the kinds of steps you need to take to avoid them.
Are you a beginner? Then you should invest some time into research about these injuries then you should do a lot of research about these injuries since you do not want to find yourself panicking over something you do not know entirely.
It may turn out to be just one of the common little injuries that runners usually experience.
One of the little injuries you need to take note of is a black toenail
and judging by the name I am guessing you would get the general gist of what such an injury would look like.
This is also commonly known as a runner's toe.
Reasons You Get a Black Toenail
There are a lot of possible reasons that a toenail would turn black while you are running.
Most obvious reason that it is colored that way is that it is bruised or the toe experienced a recent trauma.
One of the causes that this could happen is wearing new pair of running shoes while you are running and especially if you are not wearing any socks.
Due to this blood has gathered just below your toe nail which causes the toenail to look black. You could also get a black toenail from toenail fungus.
Black Toenail and Fungi Infection
Fungi infection to toenails can be caused by a number of factors and one of the most common factors is when you wear shoes that are still laden with your sweat.
Remember that most fungi leave in environments that have enough moisture for it to survive therefore you need to make sure that you are wearing a shoe that has completely dried out from your sweat or dried out after it has been washed or cleaned.
Another way you could expose yourself to possible fungi infection is by cutting your toenails too short.
This may create minor cuts in your toes that would give fungi an access way to infecting you.
When you are around certain public areas such as swimming pools, saunas, gyms, and showers make sure that you are always wearing sandals since these are the places where fungi can easily spread.
Have not been able to prevent a fungi infection?
Then it is best to consult a doctor for the best antifungal treatment.
Runner's Toe Due To Trauma
Do you have a black toenail and it is not caused by a fungi infection?
Then you need to take some steps right away to treat it. You can do this yourself or get another person to do it for you.
Whenever you have a runners toe, you need to get rid of the blood that has gathered right under your toenail.
Therefore what you need to do is get a needle, and heat it at a certain level so that you can be assured that it is sterile.
With the red hot needle, puncture your nail right at the middle and push the blood away from the place.
Just this simple, though it is actually easier said than done, and after it’s done you need to get some painkillers and antibiotics to make sure that you are able to prevent any infection.
The reason why you need to do this right away is that you do not want to wait for too long for the blood to dry up.
If you are too late, then there is nothing left for you to do but to wait for the nail to fall off which is really not a pretty sight.
Therefore you need to take necessary action immediately and be brave in doing so. You can also get a doctor to do this for you.
When the toenail falls off the area can be tender for a long time which may stop you from running for a longer time, so in the end, you will need to weigh up the short term pain of that needle versus the longer-term inconvenience of a toenail that falls off and needs to regrow again.
I hope this section helped you learn a little bit more about black toenail / runner's toe.
It's one of those joyous things in life that they you usually don't find out about until it is too late.
Take note of the facts and tips above and you will be able to enjoy your running better knowing that you are always a step ahead to those dreaded running injuries.
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It may turn out to be just one of the common little injuries that runners usually experience.
When you are around certain public areas such as swimming pools, saunas, gyms, and showers make sure that you are always wearing sandals since these are the places where fungi can easily spread.
