Got big toe pain? Think it’s gout? Think again!   Things are not always what they appear to be. 

This gent came in with first metatarsophalangeal pain which had begun a few months previous. His uric acid levels were borderline high (6) so he was diagnosed with gout.  It should be noted his other inflammatory markers (SED rate and CRP) were low. Medication did not make the symptoms better, rest was the only thing that helped. 

The backstory is a few months ago he was running in the snow and “punched through"the snow, hitting the bottom of his foot on the ground. Pain developed over the next few days and then subsided. The pain would come on whenever he try to run or walk along distances and he noticed a difficult time extending his big toe.

 Examination revealed some redness mild swelling over the 1st metatarsophalangeal joint (see pictures above) and hallux dorsiflexion of 10°.   If we raised the base of the first metatarsal and pushed down on the head of the 1st, he was able to dorsiflex the 1st MTP approximately 50°. He had point tenderness over the medial sesamoid. We shot the x-rays you see above. The films revealed a fracture of the medial sesamoid with some resorption of the bone.

The  sesamoid fracture caused the head of the 1st metatarsal to descend on one side, and remain higher on the other, altering the axis of rotation of the joint and restricting extension. We have talked about the importance of the axis of this joint in may other posts (see here and here).

 He was given exercises to assist in descending the first ray (EHB, toe waving, tripod standing).  He will be reevaluated in a week and if not significantly improved we will consider a wedge under the medial sesamoid. 

A pretty straight forward case of “you need to be looking in the right place to make the diagnosis”. Take the time to examine folks and get a good history.

Some times there is not an easy answer.

A patient came in with intermittent pain in his feet, bilateral and symmetrical of approximately 1 months duration.  It is bothering him in the arches and the ends of the toes. He can akin it to no singular precipitaIng event. The discomfort is sharp at times, and he can sometimes get cramping. He has been taking good care of his feet, washing his feet as of late. There are no alleviating factors; lots of activity can sometimes cause more pain but not consistently.  It seems to happen in all different types of shoes, so shod or unshod makes no difference. He is unable to reproduce the pain or discomfort.

The feet were normal in appearance. Arches were normal to slightly cavus. He had a mild, uncompensated forefoot varus. No global redness. Mild redness noted at medial and lateral nail beds of the great toe. He had a loss of long axis extension of the metatarsophalangeal arIculaIons and talonavicular arIculaIons bi-­‐lat. No tenderness to palpation of the dorsal or plantar surfaces of the feet are noted. No difference in neurological integrity with respect to sensaIon, motor strength or deep tendon reflex on either side. Nail bed filling was normal. Feet were cool
and moist to touch.  He did have weakness of the short extensors of the great toes, somewhat of the long extensors of the remainder of the digits. Ankle dorsiflexion is 10 degrees on each side.

Gait was tandem with a slight crossover. 

Hmm. Pretty boring, eh?

This is what we thought the differential should include:

1.   Early Gouty arthropathy.  This would be rare in a bilateral situation but possible.
2.   Athlete’s foot. This usually presents with more redness or this could be a variant.
3.   Lack of arch support during the day and his feet are fatiguing.
4.   Lumbar spinal canal stenosis; note that he has no change with squatting or sitting, so this is unlikely.


This is what we recommended:

 He is going to try either TinacIn or Lotrimin on his feet for 2 weeks, twice per day applicaIons, changing his socks between, making his feet wet and moist before application. Will switch to a boot that breathes batter and is more supporIve for work (he is a mason), to see if this works well. Foot strengthening exercises for the muscular deficiencies were prescribed. If this does not alleviate the discomfort, we will consider running labs and imaging looking at the possibility of gouty arthropathy and/or stenosis.

The Gait Guys. Showing that we don’t always have all the answers, but have a pretty good idea of how to get them.