I had bunion surgery about 2 months ago. it was extensive where they had to cut the bone and i was on crutches for over 7 weeks. my foot has some joint pain now. but i am not able to move my big to joint down at all. it is stiff as a board. does anyone know if this will go back to normal or not? my dr. doesn't seem to be very optomistic about it.

Originally posted by elisa:
I had bunion surgery about 2 months ago. it was extensive where they had to cut the bone and i was on crutches for over 7 weeks. my foot has some joint pain now. but i am not able to move my big to joint down at all. it is stiff as a board. does anyone know if this will go back to normal or not? my dr. doesn't seem to be very optomistic about it.

It depends why it won't bend down. (It's more important to bend up anyways). It is common for the soft tissue around a joint to contract after surgery, and you will lose motion. The toe can be very stiff initially and often 6 months later, sometime longer, the motion will be fine. But stretching exercises should be done. On the other hand, sometimes it won't bend because of a structural problem with the bone/joint. It it looks good on x-ray, then give it time, and stretch.

Originally posted by cragfoot:
It depends why it won't bend down. (It's more important to bend up anyways). It is common for the soft tissue around a joint to contract after surgery, and you will lose motion. The toe can be very stiff initially and often 6 months later, sometime longer, the motion will be fine. But stretching exercises should be done. On the other hand, sometimes it won't bend because of a structural problem with the bone/joint. It it looks good on x-ray, then give it time, and stretch.


Also my big tow isn't touching the floor. could this be from some minimal swelling or will it stay like that?