Hallux or Great Toe

Hallux rigidius is a painful stiffness of the great toe where it joins the bone of the foot or the metatarsal bone.It is caused by a flat foot, which throws great weight and pressure on that joint instead of on the soft part of the great toe. A comfortable shoe and exercise for flat foot will relieve the condition

Hallux valgus is a turning of the great toe outward.Usually this deformity, which is caused by wearing narrow, pointed shoes, produces an inflammatory condition at the base of the great toe with bursitis.

This can be relieved by changing to a wide-toed shoe, warm baths nightly and by placing a gauze pad between the big toe and the next toe in order to push the toe back into the right line.

Hallux flexus or hammer toe is a contracture of the big toe joints caused by too short shoes. Get a good-sized shoe, massage and bathe your foot in hot baking soda solution, and apply a little splint made of a wooden tongue depressor held by adhesive plaster, as follows, cut a 2 inch length from the tongue depressor, cover it with a couple of turns of bandage and strap it to the bottom surface of the toe with adhesive plaster

see fallen arches