Abstract
1. Clinically, hallux rigidus is a painful condition of the joints of the great toe associated with loss of dorsiflexion of the first phalanx.
2. Pathologically, the morbid changes are those of a traumatic synovitis followed by an early development of osteoarthritis, the initial lesions of which are erosions of the cartilage at the centre and near the dorsal margin of the base of the proximal phalanx. There is no fundamental pathological difference between the adult and adolescent varieties of hallux ngidus. Both represent stages in the developmental cycle of osteoarthritis in the proximal joint of the great toe.
3. The radiographic density and apparent fragmentation of the phalangeal epiphysis do not represent an abnormality of the bone and have no significance in the etiology of hallux rigidus.
4. The cause of hallux rigidus is an abnormal gait developed either to protect an injured or inflamed metatarso-phalangeal joint from the pressure of weight-bearing, or to stabilise a hypermobile first metatarsal. The effects of this gait are to transfer most of the pressure from the flexor brevis tendon and the two sesamoids to the base of the first phalanx. Excessive pressure on this joint predisposes to osteoarthritis.
5. Evidence of this abnormal gait is found in the peculiarities of wear seen in old shoes.
6. There is a high correlation between unilateral hallux rigidus and the patient's footedness.
