Combination of Hallux valgus and Metatarsalgia
Three groups should be distinguished:
- Your main complaint is the pain at the bottom of the forefoot (= metatarsalgia), and you experience little or none of the hallux valgus, no matter how important its deformity may be:
In case you haven’t started a treatment yet, apart from adjustment of footwear, the first choice is to wear insoles, which aim at redistributing the pressures at the bottom of the forefoot in a better way. We always provide full insoles, as they allow us to assess the depressurization after correction better.
Sometimes just wearing these insoles will eliminate the pain at the bottom of the foot, but due to the volume of the insoles in the shoes, the deviation of the big toe will have less space.
Because of this, the friction and the pain can unfortunately increase in that area. If, despite podiatric care, pedicures and wearing insoles, the pain remains remarkable, surgery may be considered. However, it is important to realise that the metatarsalgia cannot be treated independently of the deformaty of the big toe. In other words: if we want to solve the metatarsalgia, the big toe must absolutely be corrected as well. - Your main complaint is pain at the level of the hallux valgus, and you only have little problems with metatarsalgia. Still, you have pain, formation of callus and/or a hammer toe from time to time:
This situation may be a sign that the rest of the foot bears the consequences of the inefficient use of the big toe during walking. Because of its deviation, a hallux valgus will become relatively shorter in comparison with the other toes. Because of this, an increase in pressure will arise under the middle part of the forefoot, resulting in metatarsalgia.
Wearing an insole can be considered to distribute the pressure in a better way, but it will bring little comfort to the big toe. Sometimes, an early correction of the big toe by a surgical procedure can avoid a more serious operation later on. As it happens, if the big toe is exercising its function properly, it will also reduce pressure on the rest of the foot and the situation will normalize. Here, it can be sufficient to correct only the big toe. - Not only the hallux valgus, but also the metatarsalgia is bothering you:
In this situation, after failure of conservative treatment, a correction of the big toe as well as the rest of the forefoot always has to take place.