Hi all,

After ~1.5 years of chronic pain following an overuse injury (literally from just incline walking on the treadmill for too long), I (22F) was diagnosed with osteoarthritis in my right first MTP joint. There also appears to be some degeneration in my other toes as well.

My concerns about pain and my gait changing were ignored by my podiatrist until I decided to find a new one, who immediately ordered an MRI, and I just got the results back yesterday.

I was scared that the MRI was going to come back with nothing, and that all of this pain I’ve been feeling would just be in my head or from overreacting; it was jarring to learn the opposite, that I have moderate arthritis and extensive inflammation around the joint that explain the constant pain I’ve been in. I know I should be happy that there is an explanation for my pain, but I just feel sad.

The delay in my diagnosis/treatment isn’t entirely my first podiatrist’s fault either. My GP referred me for an MRI last year after I told her about my pain, but I didn’t take my pain seriously enough to pay up the $800 copay for an MRI. I just didn’t think they would find anything.

I’m feeling incredibly depressed and upset: partially because my pain was ignored for over a year and a potentially fixable injury snowballed into a degenerative disease, and partially because this diagnosis confirms that this pain is here to stay. I also have extensive concerns about my long-term mobility and pain management. I am already unable to enjoy things like running, climbing, or even walking, so I have a lot of anxiety towards how this might affect my life in the future. I’m constantly on my feet for my job which means my feet are constantly sore and achy already.

Any advice or insight would be appreciated but I mostly just wanted to complain somewhere where people might understand. Thanks.

I've read so many posts that were helpful, so I thought I'd share my experience. (And of course I still have questions for those further along in the process!)

I’m 13 days post MTP arthrodesis with a cheilectomy. I’ve been NWB in a boot since.
In two days, I go back for my second-post-op visit. If all looks okay, I’ll move to walking in the boot. For reference, I'm a 55 yo F in the U.S.

How It Started (Background)

I saw a podiatrist about 5 years ago because my feet were often painful after lots of walking or hiking – or just regular walking in shoes that were not sneakers. This podiatrist said that my issues were either a result of congenital metatarsus adductus, or a result of 20 years of martial arts, or a combination. He pointed out that the ankle injuries I’d had could have been a result of an altered gait due to my foot issues.

He also told me that a surgery was in my future, and that I would probably only be a candidate for fusion because of the extensive arthritis and lack of cartilage.

He said I should get insoles (Footchair brand) and wear Hokas or similar rocker-bottom rigid shoes. These recommendations were very helpful. 

I waited. I was also going through menopause, and joint pain was not just in my feet. I think, like many of us, I kind of got used to it.

In the past year or two, it got a lot worse. The bone spur on my right foot made most shoes unwearable, even the comfortable ones, except for sneakers. 

Eventually I realized that I was taking myself out of certain activities - bigger hikes my family was going on, for example - so I went to a podiatrist again (new insurance, so new doc.) He essentially said the same thing the first one did. Now there was no cartilage at all in the right big toe, and it was greatly reduced in the left. He gave me some steroid shots in both feet. The first round helped for a couple months; the second time I did it, they didn't help at all.

I scheduled surgery. He said he would only do a fusion plus bone spur removal -- none of the other options were for me. Once I got on this forum, I learned more about what some of the other surgery options are, but I felt good moving forward with the fusion. The surgeon reassured me and convinced me by saying that this is a surgery that elite athletes have and then return to their sport.

Planning for surgery

I had time to prep, so I did a few things that I might recommend if they are possible for you.

Strength

First, I worked out a good amount in the months before the surgery to gain strength and flexibility. (Pilates, weights.) I wanted to have as much muscle as I could. As I write this, I can tell I've already lost a lot of it but I’m looking forward to working on it again.
It has been helpful to be able to get up from a sitting position on one leg. And the time that the shower stool tipped over, I was able to steady myself without too much of a catastrophe. 

Stuff to get around

Get a knee scooter! I found it much easier than crutches. However, try it out in your house before surgery. I have one with regular (not all-terrain) wheels and even little floor transitions can be squirrely. Once you know where those spots are, you’ll be fine. Also practice a 3-point turn in reverse. You probably don’t realize how many times you change direction when you’re doing regular things in your house, but for me, getting a glass of water from the kitchen requires several direction changes in a not very large space. 

The basket in the front of the scooter is helpful for my phone, water, etc.

I used the knee scooter on some “historic” (uneven) city streets yesterday and it was fine but slow.

Also get crutches because they are helpful in certain spaces. If you’re using crutches, you might want a pouch that attaches to the handle or a cross body bag/backpack for your phone and stuff you’d normally just carry.

Stuff to sit around/sleep

I got a molded foam leg elevation pillow that I thought was probably overkill but has been really helpful.

I also have a thing that’s like a giant sock that I put over my boot at night. Since that boot is essentially a shoe going out in the world, I wanted a clean cover for it in my bed.

Ice packs. I was icing behind my knee for the first 5 days or so.

Depending on your surgeon’s protocol about a cast or boot, you might want some very wide-leg pants. Mine said to treat the walking boot like a cast that could not come off and to leave it in place until my first post-op appointment at 8 days. (More on that experience later.) I followed the rules, which meant that clothes need to be put on over the boot. I had some wide-leg sweatpants and I got some very stretchy cheap wide leg “lounge pants’. Shorts are much easier, though, I found.

Stuff so you can take a shower

I highly recommend a cast cover for the shower. Originally I bought one that said it would fit over the walking boot, and it technically did but was incredibly hard to get on. So I got another one that was super wide  and it was way easier to manage. 

A shower stool. I mostly stand and put my knee on it, rather than sitting down. We brought one of the dining chairs into the bathroom. I sit there to put on my cast cover and usually just move myself from chair to shower stool. This way I can avoid using the crutches to get into the shower. (The number of times the crutches have crashed to the floor after I carefully placed them up against something…)

Then when I get out, back to the dining chair to take the cast cover off and get dressed. 

Other stuff

I also got a weight bench and some dumbbells and resistance bands so I could work out at home. Since I can’t drive for six weeks I won’t be going to the gym.

I took a lot of arnica montana along with ibuprofen and acetaminophen. It is supposed to help with bruising and swelling.

Figure out your laptop cord, phone charger, bookmark, etc so it’s easy to manage without getting up and down.

I struggled with asking for help. “Can you get me some water?” “Can you get me a pillow?” did not bring me joy to say, but I highly recommend that if you have help available to you, you take it.

How It’s Going

Day 1: Felt fine after surgery. Went home pretty quickly. As directed by my surgeon, took the first percocet as soon as I started to feel any tingling in my foot and then kept up with the schedule for a couple days.

Days 2-4: I thought I would be scootering around, doing my normal things but just without weight-bearing. I was wrong. Any extended amount of time with my foot not elevated was not good. So basically, I could sit at the table for dinner and I could get up to get myself water or go to the bathroom, but otherwise: leg elevated on the couch. For example, I went to my daughter’s soccer game on Day 3 and I thought I'd feel fine sitting and watching...but I was so tired afterward and my foot was very swollen.

I switched to just tylenol and advil around day 3.

Days 5-7: These were the hardest. I probably got a little too active and my foot swelled a lot. I had bandages from the surgery still: lots of gauze covered by an ace bandage. The bandages felt like they were cutting off all of my circulation. This pressure was the primary source of discomfort in these days. I got up in the middle of the night and cut the gauze a little bit because the pressure was so intense. (Eyebrow scissors FTW; IYKYK.)

I went back to work on Day 7: from home. It was fine although meetings felt a little silly from the couch instead of sitting at a desk. I did do a little bit of work at the end of the previous week, but I was officially off until the week after my surgery.

Day 8: I went in for my first post-op appointment. Had x-rays to see how it was doing - fun to see the metal plate and 7 screws. The surgeon unwrapped my foot, which was a huge relief because of how tight the wrapping felt.

I was not prepared for how bruised it was. All of my toes were blue, the bottom of my foot was blue, and the whole outside top of my foot was red. The swelling was crazy. The incision was also gnarly looking with a little bit of fresh blood coming through. But! No infection and the x-ray was good. So I got rewrapped with less gauze (which helped because it created more space in the boot) and was sent on my way for another week of non-weight bearing life.
And even though that was my only activity for the morning, I did not make it to my kid’s soccer game that afternoon because I couldn’t imagine sitting in the car for 40 minutes each way plus the 90 minute game.

Days 9 - 12: Now that the boot had come off once, I was emboldened. So when I have been sitting on the couch (yes I’m still doing that a lot), I take it off. I put it on to sleep and if I am moving on the scooter. This has made a huge difference because the boot itself is so uncomfortable. It feels heavy and it often feels like there’s pressure on the incision. These days have been up and down. I did go to another soccer game (hooray for a ramp yp the stands!), went out for lunch, and worked – still from home. But I’m still basically keeping my foot elevated as much as possible because when I don’t, it gets really swollen and painful. 

I go back for my second x-ray and post-op check up in two days. If all is okay, I’ll be able to begin weight-bearing in the walking boot, which I’ll have for four more weeks. 

Questions I have for people farther along than I am:

• Did any of you expect to move to weight-bearing but then had to be NWB for longer?
• How long did you have stitches in?
• Did anyone have moisture/condensation in the air pouches in the aircast or on the inside of the cast itself? I do (yuck) I’m trying to figure out why it’s happening and if I can stop it. 
• How long was your foot bruised? Is it normal to be so bruised?
• My doctor said he thought I could ski by the new year. Surgery was Sept 21. Have any of you had success with that?

What Dance shoes best accommodate hallax limitus (big toe arthritis OAA osteoarthritis /Cartlidge is deterioration on my big toes ) and extra wide feet: Ballroom, Salsa, Bachata, line dancing, country swing, wcs, tango, all partner dancing ... also daily activity shoes for skirts dresses etc

I got diagnosed with hallax limitus and had to stop running and dancing and wearing heels and i still have pain standing but im so in love with dancing I started again wearing white mountain footbed sandles size 8 womens and orthofeet extra wide size 8 bc those are the only shoes that are wide enough and support my feet i even wear them indoors at home daily... However they stick and make me lose timing on turns etc... ive considered very fine breakers which are like fuegos but thinner lighter more bendy you can bend in half and also considering very fine making a custom open toe Latin boot or boots but all of them dont seem to have wide enough width... i somehow fit jn the white mountain footbed normal width sandles but they also mold to your foot and standard birekrnsocks are too narrow much like most shoes...i read that fuegos tend to be narrow and i heard very fine breakers look just like them but are wider--im on a ballroom team at school so we get wholesale very fine shoe prices so theyre like 50bucks instead of 100-200 bucks great as a broke student but squished feet are gonna aggravate my hallax limitus any help direction and sharing of your experiences in how yo keep active dancing and manage hallax limitus ideally anyway to reverse it if possible (i dont know the cause if it was gene based or an injury from running in size 9.5shoes i sized up in to get proper width for years but slid in --or wearing heels and pointed toes ballet flats pretty much exclusively until i became a runner than wore sneakers mentioned above while running) has anyone figured out daily wear shoes and accommodations and also especially for being able to dance with this condition because ive thought of buying very fine dance boots open toe lace ups and customizign with flat 0.5inch heel but even than is the sole supportive enough ... i dont know what to do i just bought a pair of dance socks to put over my orthofeet sneakers .. im a woman and love femmine stillettos and pointed toes ballet flats and lived in them only like very streamlined femine sexy shoes --took me a year to find shoes i like the orthofeet wander for daily use in leather and also knit and the white mountain footbed sandles in summer but when i go dancing and wear skirts etc --i mean even the very fine beaker high tops leather black i love the style but they may kill my feet maybe buy an orthotic but if narrow and i dunno the othofeet have rocker shock absorption and these great features but they stick the outer sole is really grippy bc theyre meant to prevent old people from falling lol and they work but hurt my knees when i try to spin in them --any and all tips suggestions any and everything info guidence tips experiences someone can offer id greatly appreciate as I want to dance comfortably bc i love it and all the time and to stay in shape without futher destroying my body--basic activity is rough i think i have Cartlidge deterioration all in my shoulders and neck and upper back too, and it's feeling like my knee since I started dancing again six months ago as well... also does anyone fit an orthotic in their dance shoes? The custom ones are so expensive and the carbon plate i put under my othofeet generic orthotics it comes with cuts into my second toe bc none of the carbon fiber plates mortons extentsion plates they sell on amazon which the orthotic places (2 of them) candidly told me theyd buy and just glue to the bottom of a custom orthotic are not foot shaped theyre awkward and curve and cut into my second toe feels like its doing neeve damage and my second toe is all bruised up if i wear them all day so i just dont wear them :(

Hi all! I am newly diagnosed with HR and am trying to do as much lifestyle change (shoes, PT) as I can before surgery. I’m 35 and I really, really don’t want to do a fusion yet.

I’ve found good sneakers for every day, but I live in Seattle and desperately need a good rain boot. Does anyone have a suggestion for a comfortable women’s waterproof or water resistant boot?

Thank you!