Doctor of physical therapy explains what turf toe actually is, why it may cost Joe Burrow rest of the season

Joe Burrow is the latest victim of turf toe, and when watching from home, it’s easy to say one should not be bothered much by a toe injury.

However, the Cincinnati Bengals quickly announced their franchise quarterback will miss a minimum of three months, putting the rest of his 2025 season in jeopardy after playing in less than a game and a half.

Fantasy football players and football fans have constantly been left in limbo about players’ return statuses for a turf-toe injury, often not really understanding what it is.

 

However, when one goes in-depth on the injury, it is easy to see why Burrow won’t return until the holidays, at best.

“It’s a disruption, or an injury, with the tissues on the underside of the big toe. And that’s really, really critical, because whenever we walk, run, throw, swing a baseball bat, whatever it is, the last point of contact with the foot and the ground is the big toe,” Tom Christ, a doctor of physical therapy who also founded his own website, Fantasy Injury Team, said in a recent interview with Fox News Digital. “And no matter what of those activities I just named you’re doing, the power comes from the ground up through the arm. So you need to be able to power off the foot and, especially the big toe with running, even just basic walking.

“Turf toe is a disruption to those tissues to where they are no longer restraining the toe from just extending all the way upwards, and therefore, they’re no longer providing a firm base of push-off. So right now, if you went and tried to run off that big toe, one, it would hurt too bad for him to do it, but let’s just say that pain wasn’t the problem here, his toe would just continue to extend all the way into the rest of his foot, so he wouldn’t have a solid base of anything to push off.”

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Christ jokingly admitted he was “kind of” offended by such a seemingly non-serious name for a serious injury, but there is a reason why turf toe received its name.

“The thing is, the artificial turf doesn’t have the same give. Traditional grass, underneath it is dirt or mud, depending on what the weather’s been like. So if you watch this video, you literally see his left toe, the cleat gets caught in the turf. And since the turf can’t give the way grass does, it’s very plausible to say that he wouldn’t have such a significant injury if he was playing on grass. So that’s how it got its name, is because these injuries started to become more and more prevalent as artificial turf became more popular,” Christ said.

Christ said that a potential three-month return would be “aggressive” but “not impossible,” adding that the Bengals could have a rather optimistic timeline because it’s his left toe, not his right, given he will be able to push off just fine with his right foot. His position, too, also helps the case.

“Out of any position in football, a quarterback is the position that probably could return the fastest with his injury. …” he said. “Being a position that does the least amount of sprinting – of course he has to be mobile in the pocket, so Burrow could play at, like, half his mobility. Just, that offensive line, I mean, it might not go so well, but it could be done. 

“So 12 weeks is aggressive, but it’s not completely out of question.”

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