Quote Originally Posted by TsPoet View Post
Those pictures could be of my feet, except yours are slimmer and it looks like your pinkie toe might not curl under enough o attack the underside of the toe next to it. I started wearing Vibrams last September, and I am so thrilled. My feet, knees, toes, hips and back haven't felt this good since I was in grade school.
The vibrams site lists feet types that they don't suggest their shoes for (awkward sentence?), including hammer toes. But, I've found that the muscles in those toes have strengthened and the separation of the toes keep them from attacking each other. I wish I'd taken a before picture. My toes are bulbous and ugly, but they no longer curl under.
I do have 5th metatarsal pain from the vibrams, my sports physiologist thinks this is from forcing the hammer toes to straighten somewhat in the show causing the nerves to be touchy. But, he likes what he's seeing so much in my feet and knees that he thinks the vibrams are a keeper.
I wear them all day every day, they aren't just running shoes to me.
This.

I think that if your hammer toes are genetic, correction with VFF's or CorrectToes won't work as well. But if your hammer toes are from shoes (which I think quite a few are since virtually all modern shoes are not designed well for proper foot function), they'll eventually help.

nscrbug - I think I've already shown you my podiatrist's website, but he addresses this issue. I've only been wearing my 'barefoot' shoes (Vibram VFF's and Terra Plana VivoBarefoot styles) for a month and a half now but I can't even begin to explain how much better my feet are. I have different issues than you do, but my podiatrist was totally spot on with his diagnosis (mush of which is on his website). 7 years of pain, multiple podiatrists, custom orthotics - all gone. All I had to sacrafice was my entire footwear wardrobe!

I will say that he predicted that once my feet realigned to what they should be naturally that shoes that didn't hurt previously might start hurting if they didn't meet his 'rules'. Last weekend my cycling shoes actually started to hurt and that's new. The pain was similiar to what you described in your original post - it felt like a quick tingling sensation and the like someone was crushing my three middle toes in a vice. It came on all of a sudden near the very end of my ride and it literally brought tears to my eyes. I suffered the last half mile home and immediately removed my shoes and the pain vanished. I don't know what I'm going to do about this, but for now I'm just recording it as additional information and we'll see what the future brings.