Morton's Toe (Second toe longer than the first) and Five Fingers
By Justin on Jun 15, 2009 | In guides | 9 feedbacks »
See the update to the original post below!
Mike writes in with this question:
I'd like to give VFF a try, but my first toe is fully one-quarter inch longer than my big toe. Can VFF be ordered to accommodate such a thing, also known as Morton's toe/syndrome?
Wikipedia describes Morton's toe as:
[T]he common term for the second toe (second from innermost) extending farther than the Hallux (big toe). Morton's Toe is typically due to a lengthened second metatarsal. This promotes an anterior position of the second metatarsal-phalangeal (MTP) joint in relation to the Hallux.
"Long toe," another name for Morton's Toe, apparently affects some 10% of the general population, enough to warrant it to be considered just a normal foot variant and not a foot disorder.
At present, Vibram does not offer a Morton's Toe variant for those with this foot variant. Depending on the difference in toe lengths, a larger size pair of Five Fingers may be enough to accomodate the discrepancy; however, your mileage may vary. This makes ordering your Five Fingers online a fairly risky gamble.
At least one person has requested that Vibram make a Morton's Toe VFF (See @robbycochran's tweet about it). Furthermore, as some anecdotal proof that Morton's Toe can still work with VFFs, Gerry, a runner/forum member at runnersworld.com who says his second toe is a full half inch longer than his big toe, notes that he runs some 12 miles a week in his Vibrams.
All of this is anecdotal and inconclusive, unfortunately. Does anyone out there know more about Morton's Toe and VFFs? If so, please comment below and tell us what you know!
Robby Cochran got back to me on Vibram's response to his request. Apparently, Vibram's CEO has Morton's Toe, and their recommendation is to measure foot length by going to the longest toe, which would be the second toe in the case of someone with Morton's. Thanks Robby!
Finally, if you're brave, you can mod your Vibram Five Fingers to accommodate Morton's Toe by lengthening the second toe.
a quick note before you go —
- Find Vibram Five Fingers in stock via the store.
- Subscribe by email and get your weekly BirthdayShoes fix plus news alerts OR subscribe by RSS
! - New to VFFs? Read the Vibram Five Fingers beginner's guide!
- Talk to over a 1,600 Vibram Five Fingers fans on the forums!
other Vibram Five Fingers Fan Photo Stories (view all)
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| « Christopher McDougall talks about his Vibram Five Fingers | Sandy Sommer Talks Kettlebells and Five Fingers » |
9 comments
"how to fit VFF's" (http://tinyurl.com/d4u9y9) guide you've kindly referenced in your reference section.
don't think they need to make a special version.
Just measure up for the longest toe, and go for it.
mc
http://RunningBarefoot.org/?p=1518
To fix the issue with wear under the second metatarsal, I placed quarter-size cut-outs from Dr. Scholl's gel insoles under the head of my first metatarsals, attached with double-sided tape. It took some experimenting to get the placement just right, but now it works great.
Where exactly is the head of your first metatarsal? I am trying to understand where to put the pad in my Vibram's. I am excited to try your method because the stress of all the pressure on the tip of my second toe is starting to really hurt.
I haven't been able to wear my Vibrams for about two weeks while I wait for the pain to subside. I tried to stretch out the second toe slot by heating the rubber (I read that technique in another post) but it still isn't long enough, and I can't risk the injury since I am in the military.
I bought the Vibrams according to the length of my second toe, but now my heel isn't sitting in the heel cup, and so my second toe is taking all of the stress of keeping the shoe in place. I have relatively high arches, and I don't know if this is a contributing factor.
I appreciate any suggestions people might have.
Sizing for my first (big) toe resulted in a fit that felt pretty good, but caused my second and third toes to kinda of scrunch or curl up just a little, and in my experience that leads to painful hammertoe issues.
It would be nice if they let me mix and match sizes, or better yet if my feet conformed more closely to whatever norm Vibram used for their designs.
Comment feed for this postLeave a comment
subscribe!
sponsors
popular posts on vibrams
into toe shoes?
Support Birthday Shoes and display your good taste in footwear!
The content of this site is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 3.0 License.
Note: This site is not owned, operated, or otherwise affiliated with Vibram or Vibram FiveFingers. The site is intended for entertainment purposes only. Per FTC regulation, it should be assumed that products reviewed on BirthdayShoes were provided to the blogger(s) for free or at discounted cost. Though this is certainly not always the case, we'd rather be in compliance with FTC rules & regulations governing bloggers and product reviews under the assumed "most biased" letter of the law. That said, if it's not immediately obvious, this site is a fan site for minimalist footwear such as Vibram Five Fingers, which is to say that there is a stated bias in favor of these products. Despite our stated bias, between the hundreds of user-submitted stories, the thousands of forum posts (both positive and negative, warts and all!), and the in-depth resources and guides, we do our best to provide in depth information on all products reviewed. In the end, though we strive to be a helpful resource and believe in integrity and honesty, we expect you to do your part — reading the research and making educated decisions (Read: take responsibility for your actions!). We have also passed on reviewing products (not VFFs per se) that were provided to us for free but did not "cut the mustard." If you have any questions about this disclaimer, please contact us!
©2010 by Justin Owings