Toe bunion pain/ hallux limitus and toe strengthening exercise advice

 I injured my left toe 6 months ago after taking a small whipper and smacking my foot. Immediately after I had pain and reduced ROM to my big toe for weeks. I did a work up with an excellent running specialty ortho, xray found bunions, bone spur at the great toe joint on both feet, and the left toe joints distal to the bunion were slightly more compressed showing less cartilage than the right side.

 I have large toe bunions in both toes from past injuries, and tight rock shoes/ boots ( I wear size US15). I am 6'4" and have always struggled to prevent poor mobility/flexibility, especially in my feet. I run with shoes that allow toe splay and I use CorrectToes toe spacers.

 I recently started doing exercises to strengthen and correct toe immobility/bunion pain that is worse after long days in rock shoes on my feet. The more I do daily exercises to strengthen immobile toes the more the pain is reduced. I wear firm shoes and have seen people on MP recommend carbon inserts to prevent mobility, but I think I need to increase mobility and strength so I can get back to not worrying about pain while dorsiflexing my foot on slab and cracks.

 Looking for advice on exercises, stretches, youtube videos etc that have helped others with bunions and hallux limitus pain. 

Thanks!

Hi Spencer!

I'm sorry to hear that your feet have been bothering you but it sounds like you're already on the right track with things that are helpful. I'm a physical therapist and I'm a huge advocate for toe spacers and shoes that have a wide toe box. Those are often so helpful when people have the same problem that you have. I'm going to include a video from The Climbing Doctor Instagram page to help with exercises for foot mobility and strength. For pain with dorsiflexion, I'm going to include my go-to mobility exercise as well. Another exercise that can be helpful to reduce inflammation, improve mobility and reduce pain is gentle distraction to the big toe. This just means grabbing the toe and giving a gentle pull away from the foot. Your angle of pull should be straight out as if you're trying to make your toe longer. Give a pull, hold for 2-3 seconds then relax and try again. 30 seconds to a minute should be perfect for this. As for your imaging results, those findings are very common in people with and without pain so there is a lot of hope that you can still achieve your goals with pain relief! If you find that you need additional help, it would be beneficial to find a physical therapist in your area.

Foot Mobility/Strength Video

Dorsiflexion Mobility

Don't hesitate to reach out with any questions!

There’s a small muscle you can try to strengthen by attempting to move your big toe away from the rest of your toes in isolation. A PT who is a mega runner taught me to try to do this regularly and it can allegedly stop the progression of the bunion by discouraging the extraneous bone growth when you work to activate and engage the muscles that help with alignment.

I personally had to “help” my big toe/muscle at first as my brain didn’t seem to have a connection to move the muscle alone; after a few days I could. You’re essentially trying to splay your toes but mostly the great toe. Try to hold the position for 10-15 seconds. It may cramp up at first too. Here’s a video with a similar exercise but seems to be more of a passive stretch (rather than active lateral movement).