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Abstract Background Blood flow is essential in maintaining tissue health. Thus, compromised blood flow can prevent tissue healing. An adducted hallux, as seen inside a narrow shoe, may put passive tension on the abductor hallucis, compressing the lateral plantar artery into the calcaneus and restricting blood flow. The purposes of this study were to compare lateral plantar artery blood flow before and after passive hallux adduction and to compare blood flow with arch height. Methods Forty-five healthy volunteers (20 female, 25 male; age = 24.8 ± 6.8 yr; height = 1.7 ± 0.1 m; weight = 73.4 ± 13.5 kg) participated in this cross-over design study. Arch height index (AHI) was calculated, and blood flow measurements were obtained using ultrasound (L8-18i transducer, GE Logiq S8). The lateral plantar artery was imaged deep to abductor hallucis for 120 s: 60 s at rest, then 60 s of passive hallux adduction. Maximal passive hallux adduction was performed by applying pressure to the medial side of the hallux. Blood flow was calculated in mL/min, and pre-passive hallux adduction was compared to blood flow during passive hallux adduction. Results Log transformed data was used to run a paired t-test between the preadduction and postadduction blood flow. The volume of blood flow was 22.2% lower after passive hallux adduction compared to before (− 0.250 ± 0.063, p

Background: Onychomycosis is a fungal nail infection that represents 50% of nail diseases. Nail plate structure is altered in dystrophy of the nails. In 21% of patients, onychomycosis and onychodystrophy of the fifth toenail can be clinically confused or either coexist. The prevalence of this association at Centro Dermatológico Pascua is unknown. Objective: To determine the prevalence of onychomycosis in patients with onychodystrophy of the fifth toenail. Patients and method: a prospective, cross-sectional, observational and descriptive study of men and women with onychodystrophy of the fifth toenail at Centro Dermatológico Pascua from March 1 to May 30, 2010. We excluded patients with onychomycosis and/or onychodystrophy in the rest of the nails, patients with ringworm of the feet and those who were receiving antifungal therapy. KOH direct examination and culture of the scales obtained by subungual scraping with sterile scalpel were conducted. Results: One hundred patients were included. The prevalence of onychomycosis in onychodystrophy of the fifth toenail was 6%, and the clinical variety was total dystrophic onychomycosis. The unique causal agent was Trichophyton rubrum. All cases were women, with average age of 35 and history of use of narrow footwear. Conclusions: Despite of the low prevalence of onychomycosis in onychodystrophy of the fifth toenail, it is advisable to carry out a mycologic examination to confirm or rule out the coexistence of both diseases. The fifth toenail onychodystrophy is a common disease caused by narrow footwear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]