Table of Contents
Introduction of big toe joint pain
The big toe is the first finger of the leg. It is the first metatarsophalangeal joint that connects the big toe to the first metatarsal bone of the foot. The joints of the foot are too small and soft. But the joints are much crucial for the excellent functioning of the foot. The weight of the whole body stands on the foot. The toes and the forefoot, along with the main joint that connects with the forefoot, taking the entire weight of our body. Therefore, it is quite essential to keep healthy toes and forefeet. Sometimes the toes fell into injuries for many reasons. The big toe joint pain is one of the commons between them.
People may experience toe joint pain for many common problems. Arthritis, injuries, ingrown toenail, gout, turf toe, sesamoids, fracture(for any cause), bunions. The pain may also occur for many other reasons like- Raynaud’s disease, Morton’s neuroma, and nail infections.
The joint pain of the big toe is curable for many causes. However, toe pains are easily curable using over-the-counter remedies. The pain occurs most of the time because of the underlying medical conditions. The fracture and gout occur because of an accident. If there is a pain in your toes, it can limit your body’s movement by affecting your walking or running. The leading cause of walking or running forward is the bend of up or down of the toes.
Causes of big toe joint pain
Pain in your toe can make you miserable. It can even affect your movement. Therefore, now we will know about the symptoms and causes of pain in the big toe.
At first in our list comes Arthritis. This is a widespread pain for people aged over fifty. Hallux rigidus is the nearly common cause of arthritis disease. It affects almost one person among the 40 people over the age of 50. The symptoms of this disease are-
- Swelling.
- Bump on the top of the joint.
- Affect movement with the big toe.
Secondly, there come ingrown nails. It is a common cause and discomfort for many people. This results from not cutting nails in time and after the nail grow up and goes inside the skin in a curving way. The symptoms of ingrown nails are-
- A challenging, swollen, or tender toe
- Soreness.
- Skin darkening where the nail penetrates.
- Pus oozing from the area.
Thirdly, gout is on our list. Gout is a disease where uric acid forms up in every joint of the patient. According to (ACFAS), this pain mainly occurs in the joint of the big toe. It is one of the common diseases for patients who do have a high number of uric acid. The symptoms of this disease are-
- Inflammation that causes skin darkening, swelling, or warmth at the joint.
- Intense pain wakes up in the joint when he wakes up in the morning.
- Shiny skin over the affected person.
Remedies for the cause of big toe joint pain
The treatment or remedy of the disease for the big toe joint pain are-
Gout
Inflammation associated gout typically clears in three to ten days. The typical treatments may include
- Drinking plenty of fluids
- Elevating the foot
- Resting from standing, walking, or other activities.
- Take proper medicine to treat inflammation and pain.
- Alcohol, bacon, and stay away from other purines high food.
Ingrown nail
For this disease, treatment first starts in a non-surgical way, but the doctor may persist with a non-grown toenail. The remedies and treatment are-
- Wear comfortable and breathable footwear.
- You have to soak the foot in warm water three to four times a day.
- Keep your foot dry and remove sweaty socks out of your foot. If a surgical option is needed, partial removal of the nail will be done.
- Sometimes the nail is entirely removed.
Arthritis
Arthritis occurs because of hallux rigidus. There are two ways to treat this disease surgical and non-surgical.
- Icing or heating should be done.
- You have to use pain relievers
- One has to make platelet-rich plasma injection in the joint.
Why does toe hurt all of a sudden
The toe can develop into the disease at any time knowingly or unknowingly. But the toe pain is the worst, and it will limit your movement and affect your walking all of a sudden. However, the reasons behind toe hurt all of a sudden might because of an ingrown toenail, gout, bunions, and more other injuries. Ingrown toenails are the most common among them. This might occur because of the cutting of the nail too short or keep the curves intact not cutting. The curves later penetrate the skin, and it started to give you complications in walking. The symptom of this disease is a hard, swollen, or tender toe. Soreness of the toe and even skin darkening also occurs.
Gout is another worst disease for a toe that occur unknowingly because of the increment of the uric acid in the body. Uric acid comes out of the body through urine, but when the acid can’t come out with urine, it starts to go into the joint of the body, which causes pain in the joint. The symptom of this disease will get higher all of a sudden in the middle of the night or after waking up from sleep. Drinking plenty of fluids and eating less food, which includes higher uric acid, has to avoid by the patient.
Difference between gout and Arthritis
Gout is a type of disease that creates huge pain in the joint because of uric acid. It is a type of arthritis disease but not Arthritis. People or patients sometimes misunderstood gout as Arthritis. The difference between them is in their symptoms and cause.
At first, come to Arthritis, hallux rigidus is the most common cause of Arthritis. The symptoms of Arthritis are swelling near the joint of the big toe, a painful bump on the top of the joint, trouble moving with the big toe. This disease mainly causes big toe joint pain.
Now let us discuss gout. Gout is the condition that causes the increase of uric acid. Uric acid forms in the body because of the remaining food parts. The symptoms are inflammation that causes skin darkening, swelling, or warmth of the joint. You will feel intense pain in the joint after waking from sleep in the morning. The skin over the joint will become shiny. Therefore, the disease is not the same; although some symptoms look to be the same, their cause and treatment are different.
What is Morton’s toe?
Morton’s toe is the condition of a foot where one’s first toe or metatarsal is smaller than the second metatarsal. This type of foot is brachymetatarsia in biological word. The distal metatarsal depends on the relative length with others compared to proximal. Normal feet have a smooth curve of joints, but Morton’s toe curve bends a little than the normal one. These bends occur because the first metatarsal behind the big toe is smaller than the second metatarsal. Morton’s toe causes constant pressure on the second toe’s top ball and may cause callus in the second metatarsal. It also may lead to overpronation.
This type of structure of the feet or the human body is Asymptomatic anatomical variations, which does not need any treatment. The highest treatment for this might be to put a flexible pad under the feet and may involve in exercises for this.
FAQs
What is the common cause of big toe joint pain?
Firstly, there comes Arthritis. It is the most common disease for joint pain. Hallux rigidus is the common cause of big toe joint pain. One of the symptoms of this disease is swelling near the joint of the big toe and a painful bump on top of the joint.
Secondly on our list is an ingrown toenail. It is one of the common causes of pain and discomfort in moving in the big toe. This disease occurs because of cutting the nail deeply and not cutting the sides, which next penetrates inside the skin. One of the symptoms is a hard and swollen toe.
Thirdly there comes gout. Gout occurs for the patient with uric acid. The patient can’t even know about the cause of the pain in this disease. One of its symptoms is inflammation that causes skin darkening, swelling, and warmth in the place of the joint.
Therefore, these were some reasons for the joint pain of the big toe.
Are you suffering from pain in the big toe?
People may feel pain in the big toe because of some ordinary reasons. Nowadays, people are feeling pains in many joints, especially in the toes and in the fingers too. The reasons behind big toe joint pain are different in different diseases. In Arthritis, it is because of Hallux rigidus. For ingrown nail toe, the reason is cutting their toenail too shortly. Again in gout, the reason is the increase of uric acid.
What is the most common big toe disease?
The most common problem that is involving the big toe is the formations of bunions. These are the structural deformities of the bones that connect the foot with the big toe. In that joint, a large, knobby bump is joint with the common foot condition. This type of deformity is Hallux valgus. The usual result of this foot is widening of the foot, and the joint becomes red and irritating. To treat this, you should wear flat, stretchable shoes with a wide position that allows extra space around the big toe.
Which pain is easily treatable by me?
The disease that is curable in-home or by you is an ingrown toenail. An ingrown toenail is a disease where one cuts his toenail too deeply, and then it causes blood to come out and intense pain and keeps the corner of the nails intact, which later penetrates inside the skin. While cutting the nail, keep more conscious and cut the toenails perfectly, which will keep you away from the disease ingrown nail.
Endnote of big toe joint pain
The big toe is the first toe of the forefeet. As the first toe of the feet, it has to face many injuries and diseases. It is a part of our body, so if this falls into an injury or disease, the pain will be unavoidable. However, pain big toe joint pain can be of many types. Pain in the big toe can occur because of trauma, a chronic condition, or pressure that has build-up from overtime. Most of the time, the joint pain of the big toe is treatable in the house without taking any surgical treatment. But, for some injuries, you have to take a doctor’s help and go through surgical treatment.
As the toe is a part of our body, we have to take care of it. If you lack care for your body parts, it will more or less sometimes take you in custody, which means it will make you suffer through a disease. Therefore, take care of every part of the body rather; it will keep you healthy.
