How to Tape for Turf Toe

This has the potential to get a little too medical-sounding, but we're going to do our best to keep it as easy to read as possible, so stick with us!

Let's talk Turf Toe. What is it? Where does it come from? We'll get to all of that in depth in a moment. All you need to know right now is that we're going to answer all of your questions and give you a step-by-step guide on exactly how to tape up for metatarsophalangeal, AKA, Turf Toe. 

As simply as possible, Turf Toe is a sprain of the ligaments in the big toe joint. It's a pretty common injury for athletes that play sports on artificial turf, as well as martial artists who's feet rub against the mats when they're grappling. 

However, it can also affect athletes that do individual or team sports that just generally involve a lot of forefoot running or activities that have a lot of loaded toe extension. Such as, scrummaging in rugby, offensive line in American football or sled pushes. 

The ways that you can tell whether or not you may in fact have it, is if you've got pain in your big toe joint or if your big toe angles inwards. Sometimes it'll be bruised, sometimes swollen, but more often than not, it'll come down to the pain you're feeling. 

If you're not sure, we would always recommend seeking medical advice before using tape or doing anything that has the potential to worsen the injury. 

We've seen other tapes being used in the past, so there isn't necessarily one correct set that you can use to tape for Turf Toe, but the two that we would recommend is a 2.5cm Zinc Oxide Tape and a 5cm Tear EAB.

If you're using a wider width of either of those tapes, you should be able to simply cut or tear them in half to get to your desired width. 

The first tape you're going to need is your Zinc Oxide. Start by applying your anchors. One around the base of the big toe and then a couple about half way down your foot, just shy of the ankle joint. Just make sure that you're far enough down the foot that you can pull your toe back to create the lever. 

For Turf Toe, we're trying to block extension, so make sure that the toe is in neutral before applying 3-5 strips from the big toe anchor, all the way down to the mid-foot anchor. Try and get them in slightly different directions, coming slightly around the toe (see below image for an idea of what to aim for).

After you've finished applying your Zinc Oxide Tape strips between your two anchors, lock off those anchors with one more loop of tape to keep everything in place.

Now you're going to want to grab your roll of Tear EAB. The idea here is to ensure that your Zinc Oxide doesn't peal away. Begin by wrapping your big toe, starting from the inside, and slightly pulling your toe backwards, covering all of the Zinc from the toe all the way down to your mid-foot anchor. 

Lock that all off with one more small loop of Zinc Oxide around your anchors and pat it down. 

Finish off with a quick test. You want to make sure that there isn't much extension in your big toe, especially within your pain range. If it feels secure, then you've nailed it! 

And that's it! That's how you can tape for Turf Toe. There are a few different ways to do it and some physios actually opt for Kinesiology Tape, but from our experience, using your common strapping tapes like Zinc Oxide and EAB are the best for keeping it as secure as possible. 

If you're taking a Hallux Valgus into account too when you're taping, be aware to keep the toe as straight as possible. If you want to learn more about any other applications, check out our learn page or get in touch! We're happy to help.