Hi @rayhorne,

Welcome to Connect. I'm tagging @johnbishop, @etsy, @mari, and hope they will join in to share their insights about hammertoe.

You may also wish to view this discussion, "Foot Pain," http://mayocl.in/2oNrjTg, where you will meet @simmie @cherril @success101 @blswilliams @jan52241 @robertlclark who have talked about similar pain.

And, here is some information from Mayo Clinic, as well:
http://mayocl.in/2ocxyyt
@rayhorne, I noticed you had posted your message in the Chronic Pain group; may I ask the reason for posting in the Kidney & Bladder group? We' are so glad that you've joined Connect, and would love to get to know you better.

Sorry, I am new and got into the wrong group

Hi @rayhorne, welcome to Connect. I'm sorry your wife is having pain with her feet. I saw that @kanaazpereira shared the Mayo Clinic page on hammer toes which has good information that may give you some treatment options. I have a bad case of hammer toes also which my neurologist told me was typical for people with small fiber peripheral neuropathy - in fact he took a picture of my toes and asked if he could use it in one of his teaching seminars. I have no pain with my neuropathy. I only have the numbness and tingling so I have kind of ignored the hammer toes. My sister-in-law had her hammer toe fixed with surgery which she said made it better and was a fairly easy procedure (she is an RN).

I use a magnesium lotion on my feet to keep them moisturized and also try to do some stretching exercise of the toes - mainly just when I'm sitting I raise the back of my feet and try to flatten to toes to stretch them a little. Can't remember exactly where I found the exercise but I know that exercise is a key for people with arthritis. Exercise has helped me a lot with my polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) which I have and causes pain in my shoulders, arms and hands. Prednisone helps with that to get rid of the pain but it has it's downside too. I'm currently trying to taper off of the drug and hoping the PMR goes back into remission.

Does your wife have special shoes to help with her arthritis pain? One of the things I've done the past few years is to make sure the shoes are wide and roomy in the toe area so that it's not putting pressure and making the feet feel worse.

Here are a couple of YouTube videos that may help with exercises:

Hammer toe stretch and mobilization - http://bit.ly/2oaGxOU
Toe home physical therapy exercises - http://bit.ly/2nOJuTD

You may want to discuss treatment options for your wife's hammer toes and/or arthritis with her doctor. Also, it might be helpful to see a rheumatologist who specializes in this condition if it's not her doctors specialty. If you would like to seek help from Mayo Clinic, please call one of our appointment offices. The contact information for Minnesota, Arizona and Florida can be found here:
http://mayocl.in/1mtmR63.
John

I had my second hammer toe surgery. This one was unsuccessful. Wish I could show you pix.