I have been doing a ton of research and have put off doing anything about my painful toe for years beacuse I wasn't willing to do the fustion surgury and the other options just didn't seem like good ones. I was excited to hear about Cartiva. I have been reading alot about it. I have a consult appointment with an orthopedic surgeon at Yale in Ct this coming week. He was the only one I could find that has done this surgery before. I'm hoping if all goes well I will have the surgury summer or fall. I'm hoping I'm a good candidate. I will let you know how it goes. Good Luck to you I hope your recovery goes well.
I am 9 and a half weeks and doing much better. I get around all day in an athletic sneaker. Mild swelling in late afternoon, at which time i take off the sneaker, massgae a little and relax and it feels better. I have good range of motion in the toe. I am not better yet. It is a slow recovery. I think a marked improvement happens at 3 months. How are you healing?
Hi Kathie. I am doing much better. I have very mild pain when walking and swelling later in the day after being up and around for several hours. When I am up I am running around all day. I think it is surgical recovery pain in the soft tissues and tendons. I have very good range of motion. I mainly wear a sneaker. I have worn a sandal a few times but my foot swells up pretty quickly if not in a sneaker or birkenstock. Im not fully recovered yet but I can see the light. How are you doing?
That's great Rosalyn! Glad to hear this worked for you!
Could I ask a few questions?
How much improvment in RoM did you get?
Did you get physio to do? When did you start?
Did you find the toe stiff after the surgery? If so, when did this start to noticably improve? While I had more than just the Cartiva, I did have the Cartiva and find my toe quite stiff - it's been 3 weeks since the surgery. I was in a case for the first 17 days and only started the physio for the toe 4 days ago.
Hi Krista. I have a big improvement in ROM since my surgery. My doc had me start moving my toe up at the joint around 2 weeks after surgery. I remember it hurting a lot and having a pulling feeling. At 5 weeks I started down also which is at full ROM already. I can lift it up more than halfway almost straight up. I am thrilled with range of motion. I had to work at it constantly from the 2 week mark and it kept getting better and better. Although if I lift up my heels to stand on my toes AND weightbear I cant do it because it hurts under the toe, almost a weak feeling. But I can lft up my heel and not put weight on it completely fine. Maybe like a 4" heel height. I know I'm not better yet because it still hurts and feels sore and I get swelling after being on it in a sneaker. I don't get swelling in a Birkenstock or a hard soled flip flop. My doc said no physical therapy other than moving the joint up and down. I have gone to physio because my friend is a physical therapist. I don't think it can hurt. I have gone maybe 10 times since the 5 week mark. I am not going to go anymore and listen to my doc and give it time.
My toe was mildly stiff after surgery but it loosened up when I started wearing a sneaker. The birkenstock babies the foot and limits movement in the toe so I started wearing a sneaker more to get the toe moving. I started wearing the sneaker at 3 weeks.
I am 10 weeks tomorrow. Sometimes I feel a slight throbbing or sore feeling. I have a pulling under the toe when I walk in a sneaker. I am fine walking barefoot which my doc said I can do.
I developed arthritis from a failed osteotomy done 6 years ago and it was bone on bone. This surgery saved my mobility and I am excited to continue to improve.I dont have the arthritis pain anymore which is a miracle to me. It is a hard and slow recovery. Not as easy as i thought it would be. Please let me know how you are doing.
So glad to find this group. I saw a Cartiva story on the news and am flying to Duke next month for a surgery consult (I live in Arkansas). I'm approved for Cartiva and appreciate all the updates on recovery. I'm trying to plan it for a time that might fit with my work schedule. No driving for a couple of months? I'm going to drive my husband crazy! But this is very helpful, with regard to setting expectations. I am very very hopeful about getting ROM back in this toe.
Hi! I am interested in this new procedure and noticed that you previously had a cheilectomy. I had a cheilectomy about 6 1/2 years ago. My toe is starting to act up again. I heard about the Cartiva and started researching it. I read that it couldn't be done if a cheilectomy was already done. Did your doctor say anything about that to you? Could you tell me the name of your doctor and his location? Are you feeling better?
I did have a Cheilectomy in Dec 2015. My doctor did dicuss this and due to it partially, had to do some of the repair work mentioned in my earlier posts. My Cheilectomy shaved off arthritic bone from the side of the metatarsal head so there wasn't as much left as my doctor would like, so a bone graft was done there to support it.
So even having done a the cheilctomy so recently, it seems that a Cartiva is possible.
My doctor (and I) live in Canada, so let me know if you're still interested.
Make sure you read the study that was recently published (July 2016) that compares Cartiva to MTP fusion.
My foot is coming along and feeling better everyday. I'm walking in my boot mostly without crutches and no toe pain yet. The nerves act up and the TMT fusion are currently the only pain I have, and it's very minor As long as I do the prescribed physio and don't push it too far I'm very pleased. (Did this once and the tmt began react, but after a week it was fine again).
I am 27 years old, and am a week post-op from Cartiva implant/Chielectomy. When I went in for my check up with the doc yesterday, he almost seemed concerned at the loss of motion in my toe and said I need to immediately start walking on it and doing home exercises. The home exercises are excruciating to the point that I don't even think I can do them right because I can't get past the pain, and when I walk, I can't put full weight on my big toe because I'm still bandaged up and my gait is off. Any advice to help make the process a little more bearable? Feeling like I'm failing at it right now
Since I had a fusion of the tmt I was in a cast for 16 days, so my experience is different. I didn't start the toe exercises until the 18th day post-op.
It sounds like rosayln's experience might be more similar to your own.
I had my Cartiva operation done in the UK, 5 days ago. At the moment I only had my dressing changed by my doctor and he advised me to keep my leg lifted 90%+ of the time to reduce swelling. I will have stitches removed only next week. I am surprised your doctor advised advanced toe excercises and walking. I only do soft exercises on my pillow (such as moving my foot, lifting legs once an hour, a bit of walking) just to bring some nutrients to heal the wound. I also drink more of my protein shakes as it helps with wounds healing. I hope you are feeling better now than when you wrote this post. If I can recommend something don't do more than your body allows you to. Listen to your body as it heals at its own time. Take care of yourself.
I have hallux rigidus stage 2-3 and I'm also considering having this done. I never heard of it until today. My doctor said it a somewhat new procedure and the success rate has been hi. it's expensive though ($4,500 for the cartiva implant alone) and then the doctor and hospital fee which will run north of $15,000 total.
I'm encouraged to know there is an option other than fusion, but I need to hear more feedback from people who've had it done. I'd better start sving my money too!
It is expensive but the resutls are very promising. I had it done 8 weeks ago and am very pleased so far. I had HR stage 2-3 as well. At 6 weeks I accidentally stubbed my bad toe slightly getting out of the shower and it didn't hurt at all. That's a first for me in a couple years.
While it's still early I have a bit more RoM in my toe than before as I continue to do the exercises as prescribed, I'm sure things will improve a bit more over time. That being said, I was told not to expect much change in RoM. Being able to walk, run, etc without pain and not having to fuse that joint will be reward enough for me and worth every penny. I'm wearing a walking boot as I also had to have mid-foot fusion (everyone is different) but will be out of it starting in a couple weeks.
I'm in Canada, not sure where you are, but do your research and make sure to get an orthopedic surgeon with lots fo experience and that is a foot specialist.
If you contact Cartiva(or search the web) they will send you the recent study published July 2016 by Dr. Judy Baumhhauer in the US(New York state). If not, let me know I have it.
I've found that it's also been done since at least 2008 (if not earlier).
At worst it can still be reverted to a fusion if necessary.
Thank you for the information. I'd consider doing it in Canada if it's cheaper than the US. Sometimes hospitals can negotiate with customers paying cash because they get paid immediately instead of waiting to be paid by insurance companies. At least that's what I hope.
I am trying to find a surgeon to do the Cartiva Implant. I am from St. Louis and am interested in who did your surgery in Kansas City? I met with a dr in Columbia MO, Dr. Klieber but there appear to be issues with BJC hospitals. Any infor would be so helpful.
I'm considering having the Cartiva surgery at Centric Health Surgical Centre in Toronto, Canada. They can do it as soon as July, though I would need a consultation to confirm if my degree of hallux rigidus is suitable for a cartiva implant.
Has anyone had experience getting Cartiva done at Centric? The price is reasonable and they've been doing these surgeries for years.
How's your progress? Could you please indicate where and who in the UK did your procedure? Was it covered by the NHS? If not, how much does it cost? Thanks so much.
I feel absolutely fantastic. Thank you for asking. I had it done in London Independent Hospital in Stepney Green. The consultant is fantastic.
He removed the stitches last Monday i.e. after 10 days from the operation, the swelling is almost gone and today I went for quite a long walk. Obviously now I need to take it easy and I need few physiotherapy appointments. The whole process shall take about 5 weeks but I did not experience pain as other users described in the forum. Maybe moderate pain for a couple of days.
I will send you a private message with contact details as I am not sure if I shall make it public in a forum, even though I very happy with the outcome.
More updates to follow for those who are looking to have it done.