Nail injuries can be caused by a wide range of different circumstances. The majority however are caused by stubbing the toes or repetitive injury to the nail. Most people have experienced stubbing their toes, often while walking in the dark or while they were not paying attention. A large number of the time the toe nail becomes discolored. This is due to bleeding of the nail bed or skin that the nail is attached to. These are normally fairly benign problems that, after the original pain of stubbing the toe goes away, there is no other problem.

There are incidents where the patient can have continued pain after injury to the nail. When the nail bed begins to bleed that blood can build up underneath the nail and cause increased pressure. This increased pressure can cause a significant amount of pain. In these situations the pressure needs to be relieved. This is accomplished by making a small hole in the nail itself allowing the blood to drain.

Another problem that can occur is infection. Damage to the nail bed is an open wound, even though it's covered by the nail. If bacteria enters the open wound bacteria can begin to fester and become an infection. In these situations the infection needs to be treated like other infections, with antibiotics and possible surgical cleansing. If the injury is accompanied by a fracture of the end of the toe the incidents of infection in the bone can increase significantly.

Another entry that is just as common, especially in runners is repeated trauma to the nail causing the nail bed to bleed. Often this is seen in runners who wear shoes that are not long enough. With every step your foot slides forward up to an inch. So when wearing shoes that don't have an inch worth of room between the toes and the end of the shoe, the nails are going to jam. This jamming of the toes and the nails causes the nail to be lifted off of the nail bed slightly. The lifting his very minor with each step but after repetitive walking or jogging the effect begins to accumulate. This will often happen in the second or first toe since they stick out the furthest.

To prevent this you need to buy shoes with at least an inch worth of room between the ends of the toes and the end of the shoe. Treatment is usually the same as was described above. If there's continued pressure a small hole will be made to release the pressure. Otherwise the patient just needs to wait until the nail grows out. This can take up to six months.