Hi everyone,
Wondering if anyone has any advice for an injury I'm currently dealing with.
I had pain in my big toe for a few months that eventually required a visit to a podiatrist and a cortisone injection followed by time off climbing. The podiatrist has suggested it is capsulititis in the PIP joint of the big toe (i.e. the knuckle joint). This is a different problem to Hallux Limitus/Rigidus which is appears to be common for climbers in the joint between the big toe and the rest of the foot. My PIP joint had lost some mobility when I stopped climbing but I've been gently mobilising it since I stopped and it now has full mobility (actually now better than my other big toe which is a bit 'crunchy' at that joint).
After about 3 months off I'm now looking to go back to climbing so I'm looking for advice for anyone who may have had this problem.
The pain is mostly gone although I still get some occasionally, I have hopefully worked out how to control it when walking. I've found stiffer shoes help with this (e.g. doing my summer hillwalking in my rigid winter boots).
My plan is to take it easy and start with short (~10mins) sessions and try to follow the advice I've dug up for climbing with Hallux Rigidus (e.g. buy a stiffer, flatter pair of climbing shoes).
I'm also wondering if it might be worth having a scan of some sort as I still occasionally have a bit of pain in the joint even after 3 months off climbing.
Any opinions welcome as I've not been able to find any specific information on this problem yet!
Cheers
Duncan
