Pain within the big toe joint of the feet are commonly due to arthritis. This commonly is recognized as hallux rigidus. There are lots of disorders from the great toe joint that may hurt, with gout being an additional well known disorder. Sometimes the big toe joint is completely inflexible and other times it's not necessarily rigid, it just has a lessened range of flexion that's less than what is considered normal. The most prevalent reason for a hallux rigidus will be osteoarthritis in the great toe joint. The osteoarthritis may come after years of wear and tear on in the joint due to a biomechanical issue with how the hallux joint will not function the actual way it should. And the second cause of the osteoarthritis can be a one off (or a couple of) trauma to the big toe joint that does some destruction of the joint and bring about the osteoarthritis to develop. Commonly, the pain from hallux rigidus begins as a minor discomfort, sometimes having an periodic sharp shooting pain. As time passes, it slowly gets worse and can turn out to be very painful. It is going to change the way in which you walk.
The treatments for hallux rigidus usually are to some degree reduced because there is no solution for arthritis. The primary approach is treatments for the pain sensation which may possibly involve injections in to the joint as well as the taking of pain drugs. This can be going to probably work effectively in the short term however it is not going to fix the problem. Shoes that happen to be more inflexible or have a rocker under the fotwear are effective at limiting the movement in that big toe or hallux joint, but still support near to regular walking. You can also get a carbon fibre plate that can be put in the shoes to ensure they are inflexible in order that any time walking the big toe joint will not move. Foot supports can also be frequently used and will often have a rocker or another design feature which ends underneath the big toe or hallux joint to also help reduce movement with the joint. Additionally, there are other kinds of padding you can use and strapping of the big toe or hallux joint which can also be employed to limit action in the joint.
Surgical treatment is an alternative choice which can be taken into account with regard to hallux rigidus. There are lots of different techniques that your surgeon might take. One is to only stiffen the hallux joint. This may certainly prevent the pain but will affect the means you walk around somewhat. It's still a good option. One more surgical technique is to get rid of some bone from around the hallux joint to allow it to move much more readily. The next surgical approach is to upgrade the big toe joint using an artificial one or put a spacer inside the big toe joint so the osteoarthritis on the joint areas is removed and the two joints areas move on that spacer. The option of which of the solutions is something that the operating surgeon will have to determine depending upon how much destruction was done to the hallux joint and how viable the bone across the hallux joint is and just how deep the osteoarthritis should go.
