Buddy Taping Injured Toes

If you’ve ever been injured playing sports, chances are you’ve had a teammate hold you up and help you off the field. You’re a team – that means you play together in the good times and support each other when you’re down.

That’s also the idea behind “buddy taping” your injured toes! Your toes work together every day to support your weight and help maintain your posture and balance. When one of them is injured, the others can step up to help support the injured toe.

Buddy taping is a quick, convenient way to support an injured toe that can be done immediately after it gets injured, at home or on the field. For a minor injury like a sprain or strain, your uninjured toes can act as splints to align, protect, and support an injured toe. And all you need is medical or athletic tape like you might find in a first-aid kit at home or in a coach’s, trainer’s, or teammate’s bag if you’re hurt playing sports.

Buddy taping can help support and stabilize most toe injuries, but you should see a doctor immediately if your toe seems crushed, is bent at an unnatural angle, or is bleeding and has a noticeable break.

How To Buddy Tape an Injured Toe

Buddy taping is quick and easy enough to do on your own.

• Before you begin, make sure your toes are clean and dry. Decide which toes to tape together. You should avoid using your big toe or pinky toe as a buddy.
• Place a piece of gauze or cotton between the injured toe and its buddy for padding.
• Gently wrap the tape around the toes two to three times, snug enough to support the injured toe but not so tight that it will cut off circulation to the toe.
• When you’re finished, make sure your toes have good circulation. To check, push a fingertip against your toes. When you release it, make sure your toes turn pink again. If they stay pale, your tape is wrapped too tightly, and you should rewrap the toes looser.

It’s always important to make sure your toes have healthy circulation. Your blood delivers healing nutrients to your injury, so you want to make sure it gets there!

Change the tape and padding at least once a day and any time it gets wet.

Buddy taping is an easy way to support your injured toe at home or on the field, but it’s essential to make sure your toe heals correctly. If you’ve injured a toe, buddy taping is a great start, but there may be something more we can do to help you heal.

Call us at 916-961-3434 to schedule an appointment or contact us on our website. At your appointment, we’ll examine your foot, assess the injury, and develop a treatment plan to get you back on your toes.

We’ll be there for you like your toes are there for each other!