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I started to practice yoga online for the Covid-19 pandemic and currently I have been practising almost every day already for around half a year.

The phalanges proximales and the phalanges mediae are the green and blue bones respectively of the picture:

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I noticed in their intersection, my toes from below are forming corn calluses: becoming a little red and growing in a round shape. I am quite sure this is from practicing yoga, as sometimes I feel some nuisances in my feet when stretching or balancing on them. (That's why I preferred doing yoga in socks).

Question: Is it normal in the practice of yoga to develop corn calluses in the feet toes or this might indicate I am doing something wrong in my practice?

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  • Are you saying that your toe is larger, or that the actual phalange is larger? Because it sounds like you're asking if the bone has grown.
    – Alec
    Commented Aug 27, 2020 at 18:08
  • @Alec I just realised this is a type of callus, I now updated the question.
    – Puco4
    Commented Aug 27, 2020 at 18:12
  • Are you getting corns? Or are you getting calluses? They are two different things.Calluses are simply thickened skin due to friction and shouldn't hurt, I have many on my feet from martial arts. Corns are different and usually need medication or possibly getting them cut out.
    – JohnP ♦
    Commented Oct 22, 2020 at 15:04
  • @JohnP well, they are more calluses as they didn't hurt.
    – Puco4
    Commented Oct 22, 2020 at 18:01

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If you are rolling over your toes for instance in between cobra/up- dog and downward facing dog, and your skin is not too think on the upper parts of the feet/toes, this may happen. What you can do is to not roll over your feet, but instead mindfully flip the feet. On the other hand in cobra/up- dog you're pressing the top of the feet down the mat... Try putting less pressure on the toes, and more on top of the feet if you're doing up-dog, as this will distribute the pressure over a larger area than just the toes. Or try doing cobra pose instead of up- dog as this will not strain the top of the feet as much as you're also having ground contact with the front of the hips in this pose.

Please note that this is just from the top of my head, and it's a little difficult to know for sure without seeing your practice. Also, yoga isn't really magic, you'd probably get calluses in your hands if you were gardening every day for an extended period of time.

Good luck with your continued practice.

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  • I don't think up dog is the problem as I had the calluses on the sole of the feet, more than on the upper side of the toes. I think it comes from any pose where I am supported by my toes, like planks, chaturanga, runner's lunge, crescent lunge, etc.
    – Puco4
    Commented Oct 22, 2020 at 18:05
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    @Puco4 i talked with a physiotherapist this morning, calluses can also be caused by high intakes of calcium rich foods and standing too much, according to her. I would think that if your feet/toes are not used to friction and you suddenly increase it, that can be the main reason. But giving advice is difficult in general without seeing and knowing more. I hope this helps somewhat at least.
    – Mattias
    Commented Oct 24, 2020 at 4:27

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