Podiatry Experts

Discomfort inside the great toe or hallux joint in the feet are often because of arthritis. This frequently is recognized as hallux rigidus. There are many different problems in the big toe joint that may cause pain, with gout symptoms being one more well known disorder. In some cases the joint is totally stiff and other times it's not necessarily rigid, it just has a decreased range of flexibility that is less than what is considered normal. The most frequent reason for a hallux rigidus will be osteoarthritis within the joint. This particular osteoarthritis will happen from a lot of wear and tear on in the big toe joint due to a dysfunctional issue with just how the big toe joint doesn't function the actual way it should. Another reason behind the osteo arthritis may be a one off (or possibly a handful of) injury to the great toe joint which does some injury to the great toe joint and induce the arthritis to occur. Commonly, the pain from hallux rigidus begins as a minor ache, sometimes with an periodic sharp shooting pain. With time, it slowly worsens and can turn out to be rather painful. It will also affect the way that people walk.

The therapies for hallux rigidus tend to be to some degree reduced because there is no solution for arthritis. The first approach is therapy for the pain which could involve injections into the joint and the using of pain prescription drugs. This is likely to almost certainly work effectively in the short term but is not going to heal the issue. Shoes that happen to be much more stiff or have a rocker under them are effective at limiting the movements in that great toe or hallux joint, but still provide for near to regular walking. You can also get a graphite plate which could be placed in the footwear to ensure they are inflexible to make sure that while walking the big toe joint doesn't move much. Foot orthotics may also be frequently used and may frequently have a rocker or another design function that ends underneath the great toe or hallux joint to also help restrict motion with the joint. You can also find other kinds of pads which you can use and also strapping on the great toe joint that may also be used to limit movement in the joint.

Surgery is another option that might be taken into account for hallux rigidus. There are various different techniques that a surgeon can take. One is to only fuse the joint. This tends to certainly prevent the pain but will impact the means you walk around to some extent. It is still a good option. An additional operative technique is usually to get rid of a bit of bone from across the big toe joint to permit the joint to move a little bit more freely. Another operative option is to replace the big toe joint using an artificial one or place a spacer in the joint so the osteoarthritis on the joints areas is removed and the two joints surfaces go forward on this spacer. The option of which of those solutions is a thing that the surgeon is going to have to make a decision depending upon how much deterioration happens to be done to the hallux joint and just how worthwhile the bone around the joint is and how deep the osteoarthritis goes.