It has been one year since my bunionectomy. I have a stiff toe and pain on the bottom of my foot. The Doctor said that it's because of the scar tissue. I can't move my toe down at all and that is causing the pain on the bottom of my foot. He is going to go back in and release (I think that's the term he used) the scar tissue so the toe will move freely. He also said that the key will be to move it A LOT right after the surgery. I think I scar badly... my incision has a huge scar on it and I still have a bump on the side of my foot and I'm wondering if that's scar tissue as well. ( I did move it a lot after the first surgery! )
Has anyone had this problem?
:confused:

I have just started having pain on the top of my incision, where the big bump is for the big toe. I had a bunionectomy last July (toe cut & straightened w/screw; bunion removed). My son had an appt. w/my podiatrist this past week for his orthodic inserts, so I asked her about it. She took a look at it and wanted me to make an appt. to come back for x-rays......just to be sure the screw did not come loose. My foot hurts when I walk sometimes; or if I step the "wrong way". Sometimes when I drive, it is sore on the gas pedal. My big toe does not bend down very far either. I sure hope nothing is wrong!!!

before going and cutting into it again - and making more scar tissue - look into ART - "active release therapy". Basically it's manual therapy to break up scar tissue. Chiropractors do it - do a search and you will find someone near you who does it.
I had severe pain following triple arthrodesis and my doc wanted to remove my nerve and as a last resort sent me to an ART specialist - I have had 3 therapy appointments and my pain has gone down by 60%. Everything is moving more freely too. It turns out that I had extensive scar tissue gluing the tissues together. My insurance is paying for it too. After a year of suffering it's almost over for me !

Also, ultrasound in conjunction with ART can be helpful.

Please keep us posted !

about 2 1/2 months post-op, i was having a lot of stiffness in one of my big toes, altho the other was moving fairly well, all things considered. My OS sent me to physical therapy with iontophoresis...he said no one really knows why, but the ionto will break up developing scar tissue. my health insurance paid for the PT, paid for the ionto...and after the 8 PT visits my ins. approved, my range of motion is greatly improved, and i have a set of stretches/exercises that i continue to do, daily. you might want to discuss these options with your doctor, before you consider more surgery.
again, i had the same pre-op condition on both feet -- same degree of misalignment and 'bunion-ness'...same procedure, same doctor, i followed the same post-op rules, and post-op xrays showed the same degree of improvement...and one foot healed very differently than the other. Doc said 'it happens, we don't know why, we just respond'.

did your doctor not give you any exercises to do for your toe and ankle? mine is suggesting that i do stretches of some sort after the cast comes off and to start wiggling my big toe as soon as possible and keep it moving each day. it helps with the healing and stiffness factor. i did not have as much scar-tissue as you on my first operation on my right foot, but i am my skin is still numb on the top of the foot where the bone was cut and screwed into alignment and on the side where the bone was cut/shaved down. Good luck to you!!:)

Thanks for the replies, I haven't had a chance to check back in a couple days!

Ok Here's an update....
I got a second opinion and he says the same thing about the scar tissue release, removing the screws, and removing the scar on top of the foot. He also said that he would try to straighten the toe just a bit (It is still leaning against the other toes). The other Doc didn't mention this and when I asked didn't think it was possible without cutting the bone again (no way to that!).
The second opinion Dr. said he didn't have to. Jeez.. who to believe! If I do decide to do this, I will only be in the surgical shoe for 2 weeks.

Yes, I did do exercises for my toe but my toe had stiffened this much already a few days after. I pulled and pushed and stood on it like crazy but it just never moved. Boy did I hate doing that though!! I remember when the doc first moved it and I nearly died!! I asked about a PT and my doc said the therapist wouldn't do anything more than what I could do myself with the exercises. I just don't know.

snwtygr - I'm still going to look into that ART. Sounds like that would be better than the surgery. Thanks for the info!

roz5 - I hope yours is OK! I had x-rays, too, to check on the screws and the healing and it all looked just fine.

moondancer - glad to hear the info about your second foot. That's what I kind of thought. It varies from surgery to surgery. I have two friends who rave that they should have had bunion surgery sooner and one that said never again - not worth it!

Ok..... Just so people know it's not all bad (for those of you having it done now :) The pain that I have had in the bunion itself (that was before surgery) is gone! Just these other pains that now exist. It is a relief to not lay in bed and feel my bunion throbbing!!!!