Discomfort in the great toe or hallux joint of the foot is often as a result of arthritis. This often is called hallux rigidus. There are numerous conditions from the big toe or hallux joint that might hurt, with gout pain being one more well known condition. Sometimes the hallux joint is entirely inflexible as well as other times it's not necessarily rigid, it simply has a lower flexibility which is less than what is considered normal. The most prevalent reason for a hallux rigidus will be osteoarthritis in the hallux joint. The osteoarthritis will happen from a lot of wear and tear on the big toe joint due to a alignment issue with how the great toe joint isn't going to function the way it should. Another cause of the osteoarthritis can be a one-time (or perhaps a few) injury to the hallux joint that does some destruction of the hallux joint and result in the arthritis to occur. Commonly, the pain from hallux rigidus starts out as a minor ache, sometimes with an periodic sharp pain from the joint. As time passes, the hallux rigidus steadily becomes worse and might turn out to be rather painful. It is going to impact the way that you walk.
The therapies of hallux rigidus are generally somewhat reduced since there is no cure for arthritis. The very first approach is management of the pain and this might involve injections into the joint along with the using of pain prescription drugs. This is going to probably work well in the short term but is not going to heal the problem. Footwear that happen to be a lot more stiff or have a rocker underneath the fotwear are effective at restricting the action in this big toe joint, however support near to normal walking. You can also get a graphite insole that can be placed in the footwear to ensure they are stiff making sure that any time walking the big toe joint does not move much. Foot supports will also be often used and can often have a rocker or another design function that ends underneath the big toe or hallux joint to also help reduce motion with the joint. In addition there are some other type of pads that can be used and taping with the great toe joint which may also be used to limit action in the joint.
Surgical treatment is another option that may be taken into account with regard to hallux rigidus. There are a few different techniques that your surgeon might take. One of these is to only stiffen the joint. This will unquestionably prevent the pain and definitely will affect the method you walk about to some degree. It's still an excellent choice. An additional operative method is usually to get rid of a bit of bone from across the joint to allow it to move much more readily. The third surgical option for hallux rigidus is to replace the big toe joint using an artificial one or place a spacer in the big toe joint and so the osteo-arthritis about the joint areas is taken away and the two joints surfaces move on that spacer. The option of which of these choices is something that the operating surgeon will have to make a decision depending on how much damage was done to the joint and exactly how worthwhile the bone throughout the big toe joint is and exactly how deep the joint disease goes.