Hallus Rigidus/ Osteo arthritis of big toe joint - anyone have any experience of treatment??

[Cherrypie32]

Last weekly physio diagnosed the pain in my feet/toes as Osteo arthritis of the big toe joint. I've had worsening pain in my feet for years now, originally plantar faciitis, but it is now localised at the toes and I have associated pain from compensating with the way I walk. Anyway, next step is the GP in Weds and a letter to get referred privately to see a foot specialist/surgeon. Has anyone been through this? Will there be any short term fix as the short school run is now painful and I'm running out of shoe options that I can tolerate. Or am I def facing surgery? Thanks in advance x

Bump

Have you tried rocker shoes?

I had surgery (toe fusion) in December. Still in pain, still can't walk more than 100 metres. So make sure surgery is your very last resort!

And if you have surgery, get your vitamin d levels checked first.

I have hallux rigidus in left big toe, diagnosed 20 yes ago. Had neutral orthotics made for my shoes which I wore for about two years. Have never had a problem since, the shoes retrained my feet to walk differently.

Orthotics, not shoes, I mean.

Try strapping it. Rock Tape is good.
Anything that holds your toe straight will help to stop the pain.
I'll come back later and post a link to a video if I can find it, although the basic method is to tape on the inside of your big toe, around the heel and then around your instep...
You need to apply enough pressure on the tape to hold your tie straight when you're applying it.

TOE

I've had 3 ostenil (Hyaluronic Acid) injections in my left big toe joint over the last 3 years and have got another in about a month. Hurts like a bastard when they do it, but definitely is helpful. They are not considering surgery as necessary, nor is it likely to be for many years to come. However, I do spend my life in comfy 'granny' shoes, or barefoot at home.

I was later referred for orthotics at a different hospital as the podiatry department who are dealing with the injections don't do orthotics. Was given modified off-the-shelf ones, which were not much use at all - the extremely hard plastic soles made the whole soles of my feet feel like they were bruised all the time, so gave up. When I saw the original consultant recently about another injection I mentioned it, he was unimpressed and is writing to the other hospital to tell them I have to have custom-made ones! So I'll see what comes out of that.

All of that is through the NHS, you don't necessarily need to go private, but it will depend where you are in the country as to how far you have to travel to see a podiatry consultant. Both of my consultants are in different health authorities from my GP (and from each other), but are within bigcitywhereIlive. I had to ask my GP to hunt around on the Choose and Book system (or whatever it is called now) to find a specialist.

Actually, it's probably easier to show you with mine...
I start on the instep, then go around the heel, and up to the big toe. I put a bit of tape around the toe to stop it from peeling - that way it lasts several days.

Beautiful, isn't it?

I've had physio (weird electrical current sent thru toe making it twitch) and MUA - manipulation under anaesthetic back in 98 and it's mostly good now! I even run 5 miles at a time
the MUA kinda ground off the crunchy bits
my sister also has oa of r big toe (as does our dad ) and is having those injections mentioned above