Hi all. Out for a ride for a few hours this morning. It was typically February - cold, wet & muddy, but fun none the less. Got home, out of my scruffy gear & jumped in the shower. Happened to look down at my feet, and somewhat alarmingly, one of my big toes was purple. As in properly, blueberry colour purple. It was tingling a bit, and after a few minutes under the warm water, it started to return to its usual sort of pinky colour. I haven't noticed anything like this before. Wondering if its a sign of poor circulation, or my advancing years (mid 50s), or could it just have been cold? The rest of my toes were fine.
Has anyone else experienced anything like this?
Cheers
T
I never got to the bottom of why some of my toes used to do that. I used to be an outdoor instructor and my feet could go from wet and cold to dry and warm several times a day. Occasionally a toe would go purple and tingle. Sometimes it would last a while until the outer layers of skin died and flaked off.
I put it down to a temperate-climate version of frostnip where the toe and skin were so confused about whether to be warm or cold that I killed a layer or two 🙂
I sometimes worried that there might be an infection and showed a pharmacist a couple of times (usually causing disgust) but nothing really bad ever happened.
This probably isn't much help!
The only certainty in this is that you most definitely will die.
TBH I think you can get problems if you’ve wedged your foot into a shoe with a big thick sock when you normally ride thinner socks
Not to worry you but a mate of mine had sore feet and thought nothing of it. Completed his last munro not long after that and then rode in the Straffpuffer. Then a few weeks later after a MTB ride had a massive heart attack and passed away. Aged 50. Fittest skinniest bloke you would ever meet. Maybe get a blood test just to check there is nothing sinister going on.
“Purple big toe” - there’s a good name for a band! “Metaaaaaallllllllll!”
I've recently visited a Podiatrist and discussed my purple toe: Chilblains!
Recommended a cream Akaleine to use and advised to keep feet as warm as possible and avoid sudden temperature changes eg out of the cold and into a hot bath.