A bone spur is an abnormal overgrowth of bone that develops as a result of your body attempting to repair bone tissue in the wake of injury or natural degeneration. Bone spurs can develop in any area of you body, but they tend to be most common in joints, and a hotspot for spur formation is in the joints of your feet and ankles. When a bone spur develops on the joint in your big toe, you may find that moving the toe becomes difficult or even painful. In today’s blog, we share some tips for how you can treat these big toe bone spurs when they develop.
Causes Of Big Toe Bone Spurs
We touched on it a bit in the introduction, but a bone spur develops as your body tries to build new bone in response to injury or natural wear and tear. In response to injury or stress, the body attempts to regrow new bone tissue in an area, but if this process doesn’t go perfectly, small calcium deposits can form. These growths can then irritate nearby soft tissues or cartilage and lead to a variety of symptoms.
Because acute injury and repetitive stress are two of the most common causes the lead to bone spur formation, they tend to be more common in athletes or in individuals who put too much stress on their feet in a short period of time. Other factors that can contribute to an elevated bone spur risk include older age, heavier weight, wearing shoes that are overly tight (and in turn stressing the big toe joint) or having a genetic predisposition.
Not all bone spurs in the big toe cause obvious symptoms, but larger spurs tend to present with the following issues:
- Pain
- Discomfort
- Redness
- Swelling
- Inhibited range of motion
- Tenderness
- Difficulty walking normally
Treating Bone Spurs In The Big Toe
Treatment will be dictated by the severity of your symptoms and how well you respond to some less invasive treatments. For example, if your spur is not causing pain or symptoms are incredibly mild, all you may need to do is consider switching to more supportive shoes. If symptoms require more active interventions, you may be told to pursue a few different conservative techniques. The most common non-operative techniques include switching footwear, orthotic inserts, toe/bunion padding, heat/ice, weight management and physical therapy to maintain comfortable motion in the joint.
If those treatments don’t provide relief, more hands-on care may be recommended. In these instances, your doctor may push for a corticosteroid injection to provide targeted inflammation relief while you pursue some of the previously listed non-operative techniques. If that still doesn’t yield the intended results, a minimally invasive surgical procedure may be the last resort.
Surgery to address a bone spur in your big toe is called a cheilectomy. During the operation, the surgeon will make a small incision on the top of your toe in order to access the big toe joint. A small instrument called a burr is inserted to smooth out the bony prominence, and once the spur has been addressed, the tool is removed and the incision site is closed. Patients make a much quicker recovery with this type of procedure, but the open technique is also an option for patients who may not be an ideal fit for a minimally invasive operation.
