Sarah Palin still has a Morton’s Toe !!
The attacks continue by the republicans against Dr. Burton S. Schuler, a foot specialist of Panama City, Fl. All that Dr. Schuler did was to comment that Gov. Sarah Palin had a common medical condition known as the Morton’s Toe, and because of it she may be having aches and pains just like anyone else.
According to Dr. Schuler the website eeemusings.com, first published a photo, on June 11, 2009 showing Gov. Palin having a long second toe, which according to Schuler is the hallmark of a Morton’s Toe. Schuler is a leading expert on the The Morton’s Toe and it complications and the author of the new book Why You Really Hurt: It All Starts In The Foot, the story of the Morton’s Toe.
He feels that Gov. Palin, is just like anyone else with a Morton’s Toe (Long Second Toe) maybe hurting, and under some abnormal stress because of it. Dr. Schuler said, “Because of her having a Morton’s Toe, and her constant fund raising, traveling, and duties as the Governor of Alaska, I think Palin has to be having some aches and pains.” He went on to say “it has been well documented, in numerous medical journals, and textbooks, for over 80 years, that a Morton’s Toe can cause many painful conditions of not only the foot but the whole body. The larger question is can the pain and suffering caused by a Morton’s Toe (Long Second Toe) make a person to temporary loose perspective” Schuler states this is in response to Palin reaction to David Letterman’s bad joke about her daughter.
However, this was not good enough for Palin supports GOP12.com, which refers to it self as “Breaking news on rising GOP stars and the 2012 Presidential Nomination”, claimed, among other things that Dr. Schuler said, “Sarah Palin’s Morton toe is hampering her political career” Dr. Schuler respone
“I never said that, it is a lie from the pits of hell”
Now another web site called The Pink Flamingo discounted Schuler’s comments about Sarah Palin’s Morton’s Toe
Schuler answered these Palin supporters by saying.
”The Morton’s Toe (Long Second Toe) is a serious medical condition that effect millions of peoples every day and these GOP guys make fun of it. Two of the most famous physicians of the 20th century dedicated decades of their time researching the abnormal first metatarsal bone (Morton’s Toe) and the problems associated with it.
What Is a Morton’s Toe?
In the 1920’s thru 1950’s Dr. Dudley J. Morton who taught at the Yale and Columbia Medical Schools, and who was considered to be this country leading authority on the human foot, stated that a problem with one bone in your foot, (Morton’s Toe) was the major reason for most foot problems. Building on his work Dr. Janet Travell, White House physician to President John F. Kennedy, and President Lyndon B. Johnson, and who was also Professor Emeritus of Medicine at George Washington University wrote that Morton’s Toe could also cause pain all over your body. She taught that a Morton’s Toe (Long Second Toe) could cause back, hip, knee, leg, foot, and ankles problems. It has also been shown that a Morton’s Toe can also cause fibromyalgia, arthritis, sleep disturbances (RLS), temporomandibular joint pain, and numerous other problems through out the body. The good news is that the average person can easily treat all of these problems caused by a Morton’s Toe (Long Second Toe) with a simple two-dollar pad.
Reference: Dr. Burton S. Schuler
Why your Feet really go Flat, the Morton’s Toe
In an 1928 Dr. Dudley Morton wrote an article in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, explaining how a loss of stability at the first metatarsal bone of the foot was the real cause of such problems as Fallen Arches, Flat Feet, Weak Ankles and Tired Feet. This condition is known as a hypermobility of the first metatarsal bone, and is known by the public as a Morton’s Toe (Long Second Toe) . Dr. Morton said this loss of stability would then cause the arch to fall, tilt or collapse inwardly because it has less support than normal in keeping the arch up. This is why the arch of the foot collapses, and we get flat feet.
Once this collapsing starts toward the inside part of the foot, then a chain reaction begins to take place that can cause many problems of your foot, heel and ankle. The muscles of the ankle will attempt to fight off this unnatural inward titling or collapsing of the arch. However, if the abnormal forces put upon the muscles at the ankle and at the arch are too great, then these muscles will become strained and exhausted. They will then start to hurt in their attempt to prevent the arch from collapsing and to maintain the balance of the feet.
This unsuccessful battle of trying to prevent the arch from collapsing by the muscles of the ankle is also a common cause of tired feet and weak ankles. Chronic ankle sprains can also be caused by this acquired instability at the ankle joint due to its battle of trying to prevent the arch from collapsing. This straining or exhausting of the muscles can also cause pains and spasms at night. The good news is that these problems can be easily treated with a toe pad or a shoe insert. In reality, true “fallen arches” are a rare thing. In spite of the fact that the term is now used to refer to several foot problems, in actuality it means a total breakdown and substantial deformity of the foot. This severe condition is, in fact, a truly uncommon occurrence in our time.
How to Stop High Heel Shoes from hurting your Feet
Most women just don’t believe me but after 34 years of treating them I know that they can avoid pain often, when wearing their high heel shoes by usuing a simply little $2.00 pad . By putting the pad right behind their big toe or in their shoe they will be getting the abnormal stress and strain off of the ball of the foot. Since pain from high heels is often caused by The Morton’s Toe (Long Second Toe) the Toe Pad that I write about often can be the answer .
This is not new. Dr. Dudley J. Morton who taught at the Yale and Columbia Medical Schools, and who was considered to be this country leading authority on the human foot, wrote about this in his 1935 book the Human Foot .
In Chapter 8 of my book Why You Really Hurt: It All Starts in the Foot, I go into great detail about how to make the Toe Pad for about $2.00 to treat the pain not only from high heels but from many other conditions. Or, to see the Toe Pad go to the bottom of the home page of www.whyyoureallyhurt.com
IT’S YOUR FOOT, NOT YOUR SHOE, JOB, OR STANDING
The biggest misconception that I see on a daily basis concerning foot pain is that the reason peoples feet hurt is because they are wearing the wrong shoes. Not true! . After treating about 25,000 patients (that is 50,000 feet) over 34 years I feel the real reason for most foot pains is due to the patients picking the wrong parents when it came to their feet. What I am trying to say is that most foot problems are due to inheritances. Granted if you wear a pair of shoes that are not right for you to start with your feet will hurt.
Don’t forget that famous age old saying, “You cannot fit a salami into a hot dog bun.”
Other things like job and standing can aggravate a foot already susceptible to having problems, but by themselves, they are rarely the real underlying causes of the foot problems. They are simply the external stresses that finally push your feet over the edge at around 35-45 years old that causes you to have foot pain. When I tell patients for the first time that their foot problems are NOT likely due to their job, shoes, and or standing on their feet too much, but rather due inheritances they tend to look at me in disbelief. As most people they where under the impression that their shoes, job or standing was the real problem causing their feet to hurt. Let me show this is not right. Does everyone you work with, having the same job as you have bad feet? Of course not. Does everyone who wears your shoe style have painful feet? Of course not. Does everyone who stands on the same hard floor, for as long as you do, have foot problems? Of course not! Then why do you, and not them. The basic answer is because in the great lottery of life, you were born with the tendency to have a Morton’s Toe (Long Second Toe) or some other foot problem.
Morton’s Toe
As with everything else this on website this writer believes that the Morton’s Toe (Long Second Toe) is the reason most people have most of their foot pains. It is not shoes, job or just standing.
METATARSALGIA AND THE MORTON’S TOE (Long Second Toe)
Metatarsalgia is a “catch all term” used by medicine to denote any one of numerous aching conditions that affect the forefoot. Metatarsalgia is characterized by a pain, burning, throbbing and/or swelling on the ball of the foot. There are five metatarsal bones in our feet. The very end of these bones in the fore foot area is called the “head” of the metatarsal bones. This is what our toe bones are attached to. Classically one or more of these metatarsal heads push down abnormally causing the tissues directly under the 2nd-4th metatarsal bones to start to hurt, burn, or swell. This most often takes place over a prolonged amount of time, of anywhere from months to years.
Morton’s Toe is the real cause of Metatarsalgia
There are several reasons that are given for getting Metatarsalgia. Ask most doctors or go to most websites and they will tell you that shoe is the major cause of metatarsalgia. I do not believe so. After treating the human foot for over 34 years I absolutely feel that the reason for the abnormal pressure, which is the most common reason for metatarsalgia is due to the abnormal stress put on the fore foot caused by Morton’s Toe
In Morton’s Toe the first metatarsal bone, (this is the one that the big toe bone is attached to), is unnaturally short. Hence resulting in a short 1st toe, or the more classically longer 2nd toe, what is know as “Morton Toe”. Because of this shortness, the 1st metatarsal bone can not support all of the weight Mother Nature intended it to support. This excessive weight has to go somewhere and in the vast majority of the time, it is shifted onto the head of the 2nd metatarsal bone.
This improper shifting of the weight from the 1st metatarsal bone is what causes all of the pain, swelling and burning in Metatarsalgia, may also be the cause of a callous being formed under the metatarsal heads. Morton’s Toe (Long Second Toe) is a heredity condition, that is to say you are born with a short 1st metatarsal.
Flat Feet, Fallen Arches, and You
Like most postings on this blog or web site, the Morton’s Toe (Long Second Toe) has some part in it.
Fallen arches and flat feet are no exception. The Morton’s Toe (Long Second Toe) has a great deal to due with it. Now it is true that before you came across this blog and the Why You Really Hurt: It All Starts web site you had no idea why your arches fell or your feet went flat. But now you will REALLY KNOW WHY THIS TAKES PLACE.
The why was first written about by Dr. Dudley J. Morton“in an article of 1928, and his books of 1935, He said that Fallen Arches, Flat Feet, Weak Ankles and Tired Feet all were caused by an unstable first metatarsal bone in the foot. This loss of stability will then cause the arch to fall, tilt or collapse inwardly because it has less support than normal in keeping the arch up. The end result of this happening is the real cause of fallen arches and flat feet
Once this caving in begins, the inside part of the foot, will also cause your foot, heel and ankle to have other problems. Because of this, the muscles of the ankle will be strained attempt to fight off this unnatural inward titling or collapsing of the arch. But it this unnatural strain of the ankles is to much it these muscles to become strained and exhausted. They will then start to hurt in their attempt to prevent the arch from collapsing and to maintain the balance of the feet. So, it our old friend the Morton’s Toe (Long Second Toe) that is the real cause of most fallen arches and flat feet.
I made it to Carnegie Hall
There is this old joke. A guy is walking down the street in New York City. He stops another guy and asks him “Excuse Me, how do I get to Carnegie Hall”. The guys stops and ponders for a moment then answers, Practice, Practice, Practice!!.
Well, thirty-four years ago this week I made it to Carnegie Hall. On June 4th 1975, the New York College of Podiatric Medicine held its graduation ceremony there. Yep, they called my name I walked down the aisle, and across the stage of one of the most famous building on the planet, shook the hand of the Mayor of the City Of New York, and became a newly minted foot doctor.
That was about 25,000 patients, 50,000 feet and a quarter of a million toes ago.
The point is this; I absolutely have no clue where that time went. A third of a century is a big chuck of time but I swear it was like yesterday. I think the secret is doing something you like. To be able to wake up and do something you really enjoy is the luckiest thing in the world. To help people get out of pain is even better.
