Hello again! Dr. Abdul Salam here and I practice at the One Care Medical Center, while arthritis is common and can affect any part of the body, literally any joint including the toes.
Arthritis wears out the protective joint cartilage thereby affecting the joints leading to severe pain as the bones directly come into contact with one another. This results in inflammatory processes leading to tissue swelling and severe discomfort.
Toe arthritis results when the disease process affects the toe joints particularly the big toe joint. Previous injuries, trauma can all result in osteoarthritis, however, gout and other forms of arthritis must also be under clinical suspicion.
As with all forms of arthritis, there are certain risk factors, and these include
-> Increased age
-> Excess body weight
-> As well as a family history of arthritis
Toe arthritis is also more common among women who were high heeled shoes for a large part of their lives.
Some symptoms include
All these symptoms as mentioned above can make walking exceedingly difficult. Gait problems may also result and you may stop exercising to ease the strain on your toes due to the pain. Thus if and when you notice constant pain in your toes, visiting your doctor is often the right thing to do.
