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Last week I suffered a rather embarrassing injury while rushing to the bathroom – a severely stubbed pinky toe. After determining (and confirming with two sources) that the toe wasn’t broken, I was inspired to do more research on my toes. Here are nine facts, one for each of my little piggies that isn’t turning purple.
1. They can replace your fingers
Since fingers and toes are both digits, they should be interchangeable, right? Well, in toe-to-hand surgery, toes can be used to replace missing fingers. The method was first used on humans in 1975 and is now widely used. Not every finger can be replaced, but often the big toe can be used for a missing thumb.
2. You can’t serve without one (even though you probably could)
To enlist in the army, you have to have all ten of your toes intact- their rules state that they will reject anyone for “current absence of a foot or any portion thereof.” But as it turns out, it shouldn’t be an issue, since a missing toe doesn’t cause much damage. In fact, doctors have been able to design special shoes for toe amputees that will correct minor step problems.
3. Anna Wintour thinks they’re sexy
Vogue Editor-in-chief Anna Wintour once listed the “unwritten dress code” of the Voguette, which included “toe-cleavage shoes, sans stockings.” She’s not the only one to preach the sexiness of toe cleavage- opening the vamp of a shoe is well regarded as a chic move in the fashion world. Frederick’s of Hollywood says showing toes can be sexually suggestive. However, the key is moderation. Manolo Blahnik warns that the secret is only showing the first two cracks.
4. Stalin’s were webbed
Joseph Stalin suffered from syndactyly, where multiple digits are fused together. In layman’s terms, the toes (or fingers) are webbed. There’s no evidence that the condition causes any problems, nor does it improve swimming ability, as might be expected. Other famous sufferers of syndactyly are Dan Aykroyd and Ashton Kutcher.
5. The Egyptians knew how to replace them
Even though a missing toe won’t cause significant problems, that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be replaced. In fact, toe prosthetics could date back as far as 3,000 years. Explorers found a mummy in Egypt with a leather and wood contraption that is believed to be a prosthetic toe. The “Cairo Toe” dates back to between 1069 BC and 664 BC and predates the earliest known prosthetic by at least 700 years.
6. You can wrestle them
If you can arm wrestle and thumb wrestle, doesn’t it just make sense that you can toe wrestle. Since 1993, the English village of Wetton has played host to the World Toe Wrestling Championship, a contest with too many toe puns to repeat. Contestants simply lock toes in a ring, then try to push each other out in a three-round toe-down (get it?). Despite the cult popularity of the sport, it was rejected by the IOC when organizers applied for inclusion in the Olympics. The sport was dominated in the last decade by Paul Beech, who nicknamed himself “The Toeminator.”
7. People have had as many as 13
The Guinness Book of World Records currently lists a tie for the most number of fingers and toes at 25. Two Indian boys, Pranamya Menaria and Devendra Harne, each have 12 fingers and 13 toes thanks to polydactilism, a congenital condition that results in extra digits. Polydactilism occurs in about one in every 500 births and can be treated. Marilyn Monroe is rumored to have been born with an extra toe on her left foot, but the proof is iffy.
8. Dancing on them sure can hurt
Ballerinas are famous for their incredible ability to dance “en pointe,” or on their toes. The technique requires not just strength in the digits, but also support throughout the body to stay straight. Not surprisingly, though, dancing en pointe carries a great deal of risk with it. The Wikipedia article has a long list of potential injuries; among them are tendonitis, dermatitis, hammer toes, stress fractures and bunions.
9. A toe injury ended Jack Lambert’s career
During his ten-year career with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Jack Lambert established himself as one of the NFL’s best linebackers. The nine-time pro bowler was key to the tough Steelers defense and famous for his missing front teeth. But despite his toughness, all it took to sideline his career was a toe injury. A reoccurring turf toe injury, where a toe is hyperextended, forced him to exit the league in 1984.
Comments (16)
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If you wouldn’t have injured a toe, you could have gone for ten, and added Bob Marley’s death-by-toe in here.
posted by amdela80 on 12-22-2008 at 9:54 am
Bob Marley didn’t die because of a toe injury, he died from cancer, that was discovered because of a toe injury.
posted by LeeLee on 12-22-2008 at 11:14 am
dancing “en pointe” doesn’t just hurt your toes, it hurts your whole foot. when i was dancing in college (tried to finish a dance minor) i was so happy to finally get up on pointe, then i wasn’t because my feet bled all of the time. your whole body weight is not completely on the toes, but on the whole width of the foot, all the way around the front.
posted by the creature on 12-22-2008 at 12:37 pm
amdela80 and LeeLee: It’s much more complicated than that. He died from melanoma that had spread throughout his body. But there was apparently some indication that the melanoma originated in the injured toe, and on theory is that Bob’s refusal (based on religious beliefs) to have the toe amputated or treated allowed the melanoma to spread. Bottom line: the toe injury may or may not have been a factor in his death.
posted by Craig on 12-22-2008 at 12:47 pm
Toe to hand surgery has been around a lot longer than 1975. A friend of my parents lost his thumb during WWII. They replaced it with his big toe. Used to freak me out to watch him light his cigarettes.
posted by Paula on 12-22-2008 at 1:30 pm
Jack Daniels, of Whiskey fame, died of a toe injury. Angry that he couldn’t open the office safe, he kicked it and injured his toe. The injury became infected and resulted in his death. No word on whether or not he tried to disenfect the injury with a splash of whiskey….
posted by Bill on 12-22-2008 at 1:33 pm
#2’s not entirely accurate. One of my best friend’s had the front half of his foot amputated while serving in the army reserves. He is still enlisted and active in his unit, but they won’t let him go on combat missions anymore.
posted by nate on 12-22-2008 at 3:56 pm
I worked with a guy that I never noticed anything different about until one day the rest of the guys were joking about the “rule of thumb” and he gave the thumbs up sign and I noticed that his thumb was actually his big toe. And it was a huge big toe! They lovingly joke about him giving the toes up symbol…
posted by Diana K on 12-22-2008 at 4:32 pm
Actually if you read #2 again, you cannot enlist, but it doesn’t say anything about injuries sustained while in the military.
posted by Broken toes on 12-22-2008 at 5:08 pm
I had a friend who mowed her lawn barefoot and lost the first digit of her second tow on her right foot. It didn’t look too bad. I woudl always laugh when she would get a pedicure because she would have them put a little dot of polish on the nub.
posted by Kelly on 12-22-2008 at 7:49 pm
oh, mental floss. you guys should hire editors. this article is full of grammatical errors.
just one to point out…”If you can arm wrestle and thumb wrestle, doesn’t it just make sense that you can toe wrestle.”
that should read, “If you can arm wrestle, and thumb wrestle, doesn’t it just make sense that you can toe wrestle?”
posted by elih on 12-23-2008 at 5:41 am
I hate to say it, but the funniest story I ever heard was when my dad told me that my brother’s Iguana bit off his big toe…well, it was hanging by a fiber, but he did have to wrestle it out of the lizzard’s mouth to have it reattached…too funny!
posted by Brucesquatch on 12-23-2008 at 10:22 am
You can also pinch with your toes, if you tried hard enough. My mother use to pinch me and my sibs a lot when we were young. Didn’t want to be around her without her shoes on!
posted by Sandra on 12-23-2008 at 10:23 am
elih, the sentence that you claim is ungrammatical is not. Also, the issue is punctuation, not grammar. The sentence, “If you can arm wrestle, and thumb wrestle, doesn’t it just make sense that you can toe wrestle?” does not require the first comma because the subject of the second verb (thumb wrestle) is understood, not overt, and the subordinating conjunction “if” is not repeated. The first comma would only be necessary if the sentence were, “If you can arm wrestle, and if you can thumb wrestle, doesn’t it just make sense that you can toe wrestle?”
As you might imagine, I teach English.
posted by Ansav on 12-23-2008 at 11:59 am
Sandra, my father used to pinch us under the supper table, and when we’d squeal, Momma would get onto us.
posted by Vickey on 12-23-2008 at 12:31 pm
No mention of gout? I’ve done a lot real bad things to myself but have never experienced anything near the pain of gout. Thoughts of self amputation with a sharp shovel have passed through my mind. WOW.
posted by jim on 12-23-2008 at 9:28 pm