Can I run if I have paronychia

Exercise itself is a good thing and is good for your health, but sometimes, the body is not recommended to exercise. If exercise will cause the disease to recur, it may also aggravate the condition and increase the difficulty of treatment. If you suffer from paronychia, you need to actively treat it. During the treatment process, you also need to protect your wounds and do a good job of cleaning, otherwise it is easy to cause wound infection and pus.

Can I run if I have paronychia?

Long-term walking or running will cause repeated friction between the toenails and the flesh in the nail groove, which will cause the keratin of the flesh to thicken. As the flesh continues to thicken, it will occupy the growth space of the toenails. With no place to grow, the toenails will drill into the flesh, causing pain in the nail groove. Therefore, it is recommended that after each bath or foot soak, while the thickened flesh (keratin) in the nail groove softens, use the tip of the nail file to repeatedly scrape the cuticle, or you can wipe it repeatedly with a bath towel. If you insist on doing this every time after taking a shower or washing your feet, you will soon find that the vague pain in the nail groove has disappeared and paronychia will never occur again.

When paronychia occurs, you should avoid strenuous exercise to avoid injury, squeezing and irritation. Because the toes are subject to some impact when running (especially when going downhill), the toenails (mostly the big toes) rub too much against the nail groove, causing the epidermis to be damaged, inflamed and festered, and causing unbearable pain.

What is the difference between ingrown toenails and paronychia?

Ingrown toenails refer to the condition in which the toenails are not properly cared for, causing hook-shaped growths that grow into the nail folds on both sides and cause the nail groove to disappear. Paronychia broadly refers to the inflammatory reaction occurring in the nail groove. The causes are numerous and complex, and ingrown toenail is just one of them. Ingrown toenails basically only occur on toenails, while paronychia is common on both hands and feet.

The main reason for ingrown toenails is the pressure caused by tight shoes. At the same time, some people like to cut their toenails bald when cutting them, and also trim the edges on both sides of the nail plate. The narrow tip of the shoe causes a relatively large pressure on each toe, leaving it with no way to retreat, while the newly trimmed toenail edge with sharp edges and burrs on the other side constantly scratches it, causing small skin breaks. Bacteria and fungi on the skin of the feet enter through these breaks, causing a local inflammatory reaction. Over time, granulation tissue forms at the wound site to repair the wound surface and is slowly covered by epithelium, which hinders the drainage of small abscess cavities and affects the growth of toenails. This repetition creates a vicious cycle.

Why does the nail groove become inflamed?

Except for the free edge at the front end of each person's fingernail (toe nail), the remaining edges and roots on the left and right sides are connected to the skin folds. These connecting parts form grooves, which are called "nail grooves". The most common type of toenail paronychia is ingrown toenail paronychia. The main causes of ingrown toenails are congenitally large curvature of the toenails or trimming the toenails too short and too deep, coupled with wearing shoes that are too tight, which causes damage and infection of the soft tissue of the nail groove. A small part is also caused by onychomycosis and fungal paronychia.

Paronychia initially presents with redness, swelling and pain in one nail groove, which may further become purulent and infected, and may spread to the base of the nail and the opposite nail groove, forming perionychia, or may spread under the nail to form a subungual abscess. If not treated in time, it may develop into chronic dactylitis and even cause osteomyelitis; it may also evolve into chronic paronychia, which is difficult to heal.