Ryan Sweeney's Pain in the Big Toe

Ryan Sweeney of the Red Sox has suffered an injury at the bottom of his big toe on his left foot. He has been placed on the injury list of the team. He had been pushing through his injury for as long as he could but he got to the point that the pain was so great that he couldn’t play anymore and the pain was too great at the plate. He reports that it was not initially affecting him on the field and he was still able to push through. As it progressed though, he reports he is happy to be on the injury list so that he can take some time healing and get back to his best.

The news reports that the injury is suspected to be in one of his sesamoid bones. A  sesamoid is an extra bone that is found in a muscle tendon. The body has some sesamoid bones that are permanent such as your knee cap and the two sesamoids underneath the base of your big toe. These bones can sometimes become injured in several different ways. One way is to actually break the sesamoid bone. This can  happen because of landing on your big toe to hard when planting it to run. Before the bone is fractured though, you can initially irritate the bone. This can be considered as a type of tendonitis because these tendons are inside one of your flexor tendons. So, when the sesamoids are injured and inflamed, the tendon will be as well.

Typically, the treatment of this condition will be noninvasive because you really just need to allow your sesamoid to heal. This means that there will be lots of sitting around and relaxing. There are a couple of options for your treatment. One option is to tape your toe preventing movement at your joint. This will allow your sesamoids to stay immobile and not become irritated. Another option is to place a pad underneath the joint to offset the pressure on the sesamoid. This will also allow your sesamoid to heal. In the instance of an actual fracture, the sesamoid will have to be evaluated to determine what kind of treatment is best.

If you or someone that you know has been experiencing a slow onset of pain at the inside of their big toe, it could be related to sesamoiditis. Our offices are located in Methuen, North Andover, Lowell and Bradford, Massachusetts areas and our office staff would be more than happy to help you schedule an appointment. Through a clinical work up, Dr. Wachtel will be able to determine what is going on with you and get you up on your feet again.