Hallux Rigidus | Sophia P. Davis, D.O.

My name's Dr. Sophia Davis I'm the foot and ankle surgeon at Orlando Orthopedic Center. And today I'm gonna talk a little bit about great toe arthritis. Great toe arthritis is also known as Hallux Rigidus. Some of the symptoms can be pain on the top of the toe. As well as some stiffness in the toe. As far as treatments for it, typically the non operative treatment for it would be, putting some rigid insert in your shoe, to prevent the motion across that joint. Which is really what's causing the pain. Additional surgeries are things like a cheilectomy. We also have a new implant called the Cartiva implant. That I had the fortunate experience of training with Dr. Judith Baumhauer. She was the pioneer in getting it FDA approved in the United States. That's another option. And with that implant you can treat extensive arthritis that will allow you to keep your motion.

An additional option if there is really little motion and the joint's pretty much destroyed, then we typically do a great toe fusion. And believe it or not, people are still pretty functional with great toe fusions and can go on to do things like play golf, hike, even marathon running. The advantage of having a Cartiva implant would be that you would get to keep your motion. Recovery time for both is pretty much about the same. Cartiva you would be able to walk on quicker, but you're still gonna have a very similar amount of recovery period as far as a swelling standpoint, as well as getting back to normal activities. The advantage again of a Cartiva is you get to keep your motion. And as far as the procedure itself, typically what we do is take out a core of bone in the center and then put the implant in. And then you have a new surface for the two bones to ride against.

The advantage of this as opposed to a different toe implant, would be, we've actually done several studies that show, if you have a Cartiva, and then need a fusion in the future, because it failed for whatever reason. That your outcomes are very similar between that and then if you had a great toe fusion in the first place. So people do very well with this procedure. And if it doesn't work there's always the bail out of fusion that does very well for patients.

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