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"Jammed" feeling toe (Read 3500 times)

    You've ruled out arthritis?  There's a thing called hallux rigidus/limitus that essentially means that there's some arthritis in the joint where the big toe connects to the foot (like where you get bunions).  Typical treatment is to limit hills and superflexible shoes, NSAIDs and, if necessary, a cortisone shot.  I discovered mine when I had an abdominal injury that relegated me to running at significant inclines on the treadmill.  All that bending caused a flareup.  I've had a couple cortisone shots with great success.  I have a great podiatrist (around a 3-hour marathoner) who diagnosed it immediately and backed it up with an x-ray that shows this funky bony thing on the joint.  He said maybe stiffer shoes would help, but recognized that those typically result in a hip injury (for me), but that other than that just do what I can.  Ironically, mine seems to get worse when I don't run.   

    awesomeman


      Hey. I have the exact same condition. I run a lot and play basketball. It hurts a lot on the joint, but the pain is sudden and goes away. Now my hip is starting to feel like it is a bruise, but I am not sure. Had this injury for around a year and it gets worse everytime I land on my toe awkwardly. It is also on my right big toe

      awesomeman


        I believe the hip thing has nothing to do with it, but these symptoms sound a lot like my injuries. What did your doctor say about the injury?

          I believe the hip thing has nothing to do with it, but these symptoms sound a lot like my injuries. What did your doctor say about the injury?

           

          About the toe, he said it is arthritis and likely to get worse over time until I need either surgery (cheilectomy), fusion, or a replacement joint.  I have had a few cortisone shots (never more than 2 in a year) which helps for a few months.  Other than that, I just keep trying to flex it to keep as much range of motion as possible.  It hurts constantly but it's no better when I don't run.

           

          About the hip, just to keep up with strengthening exercises.  The toe thing has screwed up my gait a little and I am one of those people that sometimes kicks themselves in the leg while running.

          fishare1


            Have you ever heard of trigger finger?  Well this is a very similar situation.  It is unfortunate that you have been thrown around with different doctors that were not athletes and that may not understand how the body works on a functional movement based level.  The answers to your question are finally here.  How toes a "jammed" feeling toe occur and lead to hip pain upon wearing orthotics.  Are you ready?

             

            Keep in mind that the body does not want to feel pain, therefore it will do anything it can in order to avoid feeling pain.  Most likely what ended up happening was when you increased your mileage at one point in time of your training, you strained your glutes.  When this occurs it causes your hip to decrease in extension which leaves you with a short leg on that same side.  Because the body will not let you stand crooked it naturally causes your femur to internally rotate which in turn causes your tibia to externally rotate in order to give you extra length out of that limb.  When these rotations happen it causes a 'jamming' effect at the ankle which results in a decrease in what is called 'dorsiflexion' of the ankle.  This ankle jamming description will cause you to have an effect of pronation or navicular drop which will throw off your biomechanics and running or walking gait.  This series of events happens one after another because your body is smart and tries to cover up its own pain, and lets face it we are athletes therefore we ignore and push through pain to finish a workout or PR a race.  Once you put the orthotics into your shoe you cover up the fact that you were pronating, hence why the initial pain of your hip came back.

             

            Now that you understand the pain cycle from a neurological standpoint, now lets focus on what happens from a functional standpoint. Going back to the statement of the rotational domino effect of the pelvis to the femur to the tibia to the foot, we see that when rotation occurs between two bones it causes the muscles attached to those two bones to become rotated, like when you are trying to ring out a wet towel.  These muscle rotations signal to the body and cause the brain to shut those muscles down neurologically.  This will cause whatever bone those muscles are attached to, to have a 'jammed' feeling...it literally kind of is.

             

            THE ANSWERS: The way that you treat this is as follows:  seek a Chiropractic Sports Physician that knows the daily activities and movements of competitive athletes.  This physician needs to be LICENSED in the Graston Technique, not just do it or do a technique similar, I wouldn't trust someone that took the easy way out in this regards.  This chiropractor also needs to perform Active Release Technique (ART) as well as have the knowledge to professionally utilize Kinesiology Taping to help turn these muscles 'on' through the combination of treatments so that they can function appropriately.  It is very important that this chiropractic physician needs to actually utilize the physical adjustment just as much as the soft tissue techniques, the COMBINATION IS A MUST.  Lastly, the use of class IV cold laser and ultrasonic therapy will be of great benefit on top of the previously mentioned techniques.

             

            I hope this helps a lot, again I am sorry if you have been dealing with this for a long period of time and/or if you have been running around visiting a bunch of doctors trying to figure this out.

             

            Dr. Brian

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