Big toe pain

My big toes are starting to hurt when ever I put pressure on them. The right one hurts a lot more than the left at this point. The left one just started hurting.

So I have started doing some research into "climber's toe". Found some links suggesting that climbing shoes might be either too loose or too tight. I think in my case shoes are too soft and loose. For example, if I try to boulder in my street shoes which are big and loose, the pain is far worse than having my tight pair of stiff climbing shoes on and standing on tiny nubbins.

Also, I'm not sure if this is basically the same as the more commonly known condition called "turf toe" and whether I can apply the same treatments, for example, taping, stiff inserts.

Any experience on this?

See a podiatrist. That's even better than an Internet diagnosis.

Look up Hallux Limitus and Hallux Rigidus.
Repeatedly jamming your toe in too tight a shoe can cause this over time.
It is just one of the many things that can happen with your big toe.
Ask me how I know...
You should go see a podiatrist to find out what it is and how to prevent doing more damage to it.
Good luck!

Whats your beer intake like? My toes hurt while climbing if I've been drinking too much beer or too little water - basically gout or some sort of inflammatory thing going on. Staying well-hydrated for a few days clears it up. Worth a shot.

Then, see a podiatrist.

Try this:

Buy a bag of marbles. Pour them out onto carpet. Place a dish next to the marbles. Pick each marble one by one with your toes, and place into dish. Repeat once a day.

Take good care of your feet.
Sounds like you have 'bunions'...
I developed what they call a neuroma. The nerve between the 3rd and 4th toes became inflamed and irritated, and eventually developed a cyst like mass that had to be surgically removed along with the chuck of inflamed nerve. The mass was the size of a big grape, and would squeeze around between the bones. Painful AF. About 12 stitches on the top of my foot and another 20 on the base after removal. Then a couple weeks on crutches and hobbling around. Usually it is something only experienced by older women who wear high heels their whole lives. It definitely put a damper on climbing and hiking.

Acupuncture might help, as would a podiatrist, or stiffer shoes. Extremely tight shoes probably won't help long term. Pain is usually a sign that something is wrong.

could be gout if you drink a lot of beer and regularly consume red meat. especially if the pain is right at the joint of the big toes...

+1 for the podiatrist.

But if that's not an option for you, be more specific in describing the pain. Where exactly does it hurt, what type of pain (sharp, dull, radiating, burning, etc), what kind of pressure causes the pain (when you squeeze the toe, when you stand, when you press your toe against anything...)?

I was diagnosed as sesamoiditis (which to me looks like it could be related to turf toe). The symptoms were dull pain directly under the ball of the foot when standing, walking, climbing, and burning / radiating pain along the bottom of the toe itself when climbing and walking.

Prescribed treatment: rest, ice, stiffer shoes to reduce toe flexing when walking, arch supports and stretching calves to reduce pressure on the ball of the foot, shoes with a slight heel lift to reduce toe flexion during the "toe off" phase of walking.

The treatment appears to be working after a couple of weeks. I'm not back to climbing yet.

Kent Richards wrote:+1 for the podiatrist...Prescribed treatment: rest, ice, stiffer shoes to reduce toe flexing when walking, arch supports and stretching calves to reduce pressure on the ball of the foot, shoes with a slight heel lift to reduce toe flexion during the "toe off" phase of walking.

Not trying to be a jerk, but basically the podiatrist didn't prescribe anything you couldn't have figured out yourself...the dirtbag side of me says why bother?

I've hurt my big toe before from kicking the wall in a fall & from transitioning too quickly from gym climbing to techy micro-edging outside. My wife have had it too. You case is likely overuse. Aside from the obvious, flat climbing shoes aren't necessarily the best when the big toe hurts: we've both had better luck w/ downturned, concave-soled (testarossa, etc) shoes that fills the space around the big toe joint and limits ROM of the joint.

Craig T wrote:Whats your beer intake like? My toes hurt while climbing if I've been drinking too much beer or too little water - basically gout or some sort of inflammatory thing going on. Staying well-hydrated for a few days clears it up. Worth a shot. Then, see a podiatrist.

A shot? Of...?

reboot wrote: Not trying to be a jerk, but basically the podiatrist didn't prescribe anything you couldn't have figured out yourself...the dirtbag side of me says why bother?

Because:

• I had already looked into it and tried various things on my own that weren't helping.
• I had good insurance and wanted imaging and the opinion of an experienced professional for faster resolution of the problem. The doctor and X-Ray cost me maybe $40 total.
• In case there was something more seriously wrong, such as a torn ligament, I wanted a doctor's input to escalate the treatment plan ASAP.

reboot wrote: Not trying to be a jerk, but basically the podiatrist didn't prescribe anything you couldn't have figured out yourself...the dirtbag side of me says why bother?

Why would someone see a doctor? Seriously?

reboot wrote: Not trying to be a jerk, but basically the podiatrist didn't prescribe anything you couldn't have figured out yourself...the dirtbag side of me says why bother? I've hurt my big toe before from kicking the wall in a fall & from transitioning too quickly from gym climbing to techy micro-edging outside. My wife have had it too. You case is likely overuse. Aside from the obvious, flat climbing shoes aren't necessarily the best when the big toe hurts: we've both had better luck w/ downturned, concave-soled (testarossa, etc) shoes that fills the space around the big toe joint and limits ROM of the joint.

I have insurance and pay good money for it so I might as well use it.

Thanks for the advice about the flat shoes. I think that's what's causing the problems is overuse with floppy shoes that I have relegated to gym duty. But of course, gym is where I climb the most these days.

Kent, the pain is a dull pain in the knuckles and down to the ball of the big toe.

It is a lot worse immediate after climbing or running, especially the kind of climbs where you are on your toes all the time.