Anyone have any experience (good ones!) of dealing with pain in a big toe joint. I believe the medical condition is Halux rigidus. Anything i can put in my shoe? Can do myself in the way of daily treatment?
i suspect that the 'stop dancing' treatment would help enormously, but i wouldn't be able to stick to it.

I recently started using orthotics (prescribed by a podiatrist). Besides arch support that helps blance the pressure on my foot, they have a pad behind the ball of the foot that helps take some of the pressure off the toe joints. You lose a little bit of "feeling the floor," but I find they acutally help my dancing because I feel more balanced and secure on my feet. Don't ignore the problem. I did for too long and now have a bigger problem with the joint of the second toe, which I injured by unconsciously transferring weight from the painful big toe to the second toe before I got the orthotics. Good luck!

Hi Ellen
Many thanks for replying. I think i'm doing this 'subconscious' protection of my big toes already. I use orthotic arch supports (not for competitive dancing though)but am intrigued by this pad behind the ball of the foot. Are there commercial products? And do you mean 'in front of' the ball of the foot (i.e. just under the toes)?