If you have pain under the big toe joint, it could be an injury called sesamoiditis. Sesamoid bones are like a pair of tiny little kneecaps under the big toe joint. They are about the size of kidney beans. If irritated enough, sesamoid can develop stress fractures.
Any inflammation of the sesamoid bones is called sesamoiditis.
But pain in the sesamoid area can also result from inflammation of the tendon sheath that goes around the flexor tendon. The flexor tendon sheath is just a tube around the tendon that actually helps the tendon glide as your big toe moves up and down.
The flexor tendon sheath is very close to the sesamoids. Sometimes it is hard for a runner to tell the two conditions apart.
There’s a big difference between the two conditions and a big difference between the way that you would treat them.
What’s the difference between flexor hallucis longus tenosynovitis and sesamoiditis?
Well, that’s what we’re talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast.
View Details »This episode comes from a question from one of the Doc on the Run YouTube channel viewers who wanted to know about “bilateral bipartite sesamoid bones” and what that really means.
I get these kind of questions all the time, when somebody really wants to know what a term means, and what the implications are for them as a runner. Usually the runner is trying to figure out how to keep running while the sesamoid heals.
Sometimes the concern is a sesamoid stress fracture or a condition like sesamoiditis where you start to get pain under the big toe joint.
If you see a doctor, they look at your x-rays, they may tell you, “Oh, you have bilateral bipartite sesamoids.”
Today on the Doc On The Run Podcast, we’re talking about bilateral bipartite sesamoid bones in a runner.
A runner with pain under the big toe joint said she was told she had a problem with the sesamoid bones in her foot.
The doctor said maybe it was sesamoiditis, or a sesamoid stress reaction or possibly even a sesamoid stress fracture.
Her question was, “What exactly are the semisolid bones in the foot?”
Today on the Doc On The Run Podcast, we’re talking about these weird little things called the sesamoid bones in the foot.
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Raynaud’s Phenomenon is an interesting condition in which spasms of small blood vessels cause changes in the skin color of the hands and feet. Raynaud’s phenomenon can also cause pain in the feet. Foot pain is also very common in runners.
Raynauds is one of those conditions that isn’t typically diagnosed with a blood test or and x-ray. The diagnosis is typically made “clinically” meaning the doctor hears your story, listens to your history and decides you probably have the condition, because nothing else fits.
The question is whether or not a runner who gets an MRI because of foot pain, might have something show up on the MRI images that can indicate Raynaud’s is contributing to the runner’s trouble.
Today on the Doc On The Run Podcast, we’re talking about wether or not you can see see Raynaud’s Phenomenon on an MRI in a runner.
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