Big Toe Joint Fusion

AprilBaker

Hello. My surgeon is telling me that I must be totally non weight bearing, my entire foot, for 6-8 weeks after Big Toe Joint Fusion. I was wondering how others have dealt with not being able to even put weight on their heal after Big Toe Joint Fusion for such a long period of time. Many thanks for your advice and guidance.

HelenS

Hi @AprilBaker

Thank you for posting here on the online community you are very welcome

You are seeking advice on weight bearing after toe surgery. I have added some links below that you hopefully will find useful, I'm sure some of our members will be able to offer useful advice.

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/treatments/surgery/foot-and-ankle-surgery/

https://www.versusarthritis.org/about-arthritis/conditions/osteoarthritis-oa-of-the-foot-and-ankle/

Please do take a look round our other discussions Living with Arthritis is one of our most popular.

Do keep in touch and let us know how you get on

Take care

@HelenS Moderator

Rina

Hi, I had both big toes fused along with removal of the metatarsal heads of the other toes about five years ago. I had the right foot done in February and the left in July so it seemed like I was unable to walk for a very long time. For the first six weeks I had to be totally non weight bearing but I was told to get up every hour and move around for 5 minutes - I was given some NHS sandals that prevented my toes from bearing any weight ( they looked like very large geisha shoes!) You could ask about those perhaps.

I spent my days sitting in different comfortable chairs in the house at different times of the day; looking out of the window; reading a lot of books and scrolling through my tablet. I did find that my shoulders and neck became very stiff the first time round so I started to do some seated exercises to keep myself a bit flexible.

I have to say, it was totally worth it - five years on and I am virtually pain free when I walk ( about two miles a day) plus I can wear extra wide shoes instead of extra extra wide!

Good luck!

Rina

FusedAndAbused

Hi April,

I just had a big toe fusion about 10 days ago and can speak to your weight-bearing concern. What my doctor told me is that there should be no weight bearing directly on the forefront of the affected foot. In other words, you can still walk, but it must be on your heel or sole (flat-footed, toes slightly flexed up). BTW-There are a lot of durable medical equipment options available on Amazon. Crutches, knee scooters, post-surgical boots, etc. One item that interested me (just not to the extent of purchasing it) is a knee crutch (ie iWALK 3.0, etc). You just want to be careful not to stress the joint before the bone gets a chance to heal. Best to you!

Airwave!

I have had the right toe joint fused about 26 years ago, the screw is still in place. I still have the occasional feeling of pain but it has lessened over time. Lots of rest and my big desire was for lots of tea so I needed to move since during the day I was on my own. Just be careful and pay attention to the advice you have. I was off work for six months.

One of the biggest problems is that your weight goes onto the smaller toes and mine all have OA and since I have widespread OA the pain included all my weight bearing joints upwards. Eventually you get used to not changing shoes etc, insoles do help, I got large pads of inflamed tissue which were painful. I had a replacement joint on the left but then found I have Osteoporosis and the bone didn’t grow around the replacement ceramic joint which was removed after a year.

The biggest help has been the NHS supplied insoles which took time but things did improve, the consultant gave up on me 20 years ago. I always buy sturdy trainer type shoes (Pavers work for me, not cheap but they last), a size bigger to cope with the 15 degree rise of the big toe (so you can roll forwards).

It’s a grin, honest!