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. 2024 Oct;21(10):e70073.
doi: 10.1111/iwj.70073.

A systematic review of the claw toe deformity: What is known and what is needed apart from surgical procedures

José de Jesús Mayagoitia-Vázquez  1   2 , Daniel López-López  2 , Israel Miguel-Andrés  3 , Ricardo Becerro-de-Bengoa-Vallejo  4 , Marta Losa-Iglesias  5 , Juan Gómez-Salgado  6   7 , Luis Ángel Ortiz-Lango  2   3
Affiliations

A systematic review of the claw toe deformity: What is known and what is needed apart from surgical procedures

José de Jesús Mayagoitia-Vázquez et al. Int Wound J. 2024 Oct.

Abstract

The claw toe deformity is a painful condition that mainly affects the adult population. Although there are many different treatments to solve the deformity, there is no optimal procedure to restore the normal foot mechanics. The objective of this review was to identify the technical features of the kinematic evaluation methods used in patients with claw toes. Furthermore, the aim of this review was to clarify what is known and what is needed apart from the surgical procedures to correct the claw toe deformity, with the purpose of reducing risk factors of falling in elderly people. A search in electronic databases, such as Scopus (n = 78), Google Scholar (n = 705) and ScienceDirect (n = 290) was conducted. There were seven articles (43.75%) related to the fixation (arthrodesis) of proximal and distal interphalangeal joints, one article (6.25%) describes the correction of the claw toe through plantar plate tenodesis and release of collateral ligaments, four articles (25%) describe the procedure of tendon transfer, one article (6.25%) describes flexor digitorum brevis tenotomy and a proximal interphalangeal joint arthrolysis, and another article (6.25%) presented the impact of partial phalanx osteotomy to treat the claw toe deformity. In conclusion, the review indicates that there are several studies related to the treatment or correction of claw toe deformity. However, there is a lack of knowledge of the postsurgical effects of treating claw toe condition, especially in the structural mechanics (plantar pressure distribution, stability, gait, foot mechanics and so on) of the foot after the correction of the claw toe deformity. The analysis of the foot mechanics after the correction of the claw toes has to be paramount to determine the benefits of the correction.

Keywords: claw toes; foot; gait; lesser toes deformities.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Preferred Reporting ltems for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses 2020 flow diagram for the systematic review.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Analysis of the risk of bias of the studies included. (1) Green (low risk), (2) yellow (unclear risk) and (3) red (high risk).
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Risk of bias summary in the studies. (1) Green (low risk), (2) yellow (unclear risk) and (3) red (high risk).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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