Hi docs,
I am experiencing some pain in the MTP joint of the right big toe and am looking for some progressively loadable strengthening exercises. Are there any apart from calf raises I may check out?
I am in my thirties with no other medical problems, have an active lifestyle and am not overweight.
All the best
Walter
We don’t have much information here about the nature of this pain; whether it’s related to an acute traumatic injury (e.g., so-called “turf toe”), acute and non-traumatic (in which case I’d wonder about the possibility of gout), or more chronic (e.g., MTP osteoarthritis, potentially related to prior injury).
So, I wouldn’t typically default to the assumption that pain means an area needs “strengthening”, as this may not be the case. But if you did want to exercise the area, calf raises (up onto the toes), lunges, jumping (e.g. jump rope) are all options.
Thanks for the quick reply and the caveat! The pain occurred first about half a year ago during jogging (and during a general increase in overall training load). I replaced jogging with other conditioning modalities (since I don’t enjoy it anyway) but the pain in my joint remains mostly while walking around with shoes (during barefooted training I have no issues). I had no traumatic injury and my GP checked the urea in my blood and said my values are within normal range and this should rule out the possibility of gout.
From what I read in your ‘Pain in Training’ article my experience seemed consistent with tendinopathy