HALLUX LIMITUS – PART 6 – cheilectomy surgery hiking update

It’s been a little over 3 years since I had my cheilectomy surgery for hallux limitus. You can read about the surgery experience here. Here’s a little update on how well hiking has been going since the cheilectomy surgery. It’s fair to say in the last 3 years my hiking has picked up substantially with some major hikes have been completed:

• In 2021 – about 6 months after the surgery I completed the John Muir Trail. This was the first major test after surgery and went very well. The 240-mile thru hike went well with no major issues or pain. The whole reason to have the surgery was to reduce the amount of foot pain. This was a major success so quickly after the surgery.
• In 2022 – Keenan and I completed about 100 miles of the Tahoe Rim Trail – we actually pushed this to be about 20. miles a day – which was a little above a comfortable level. My foot held up much better than my calves did!
• Each year I continue to hike extensively around Mount Hood – both day hikes and overnight trips. All of these have been very successful and I haven’t noticed any pain rom my toe at all.

Overall I have been very happy with the results of the surgery. I continue to hike in Altra Lone Peaks. I did try to change for a while to a rocker shoe (HOKA Speedgoats) but found them much less comfortable. There really has been no pain at all. If there is a cold morning it does feel like the joint takes a while to ‘warm-up’ – but it’s much more of a stiffness rather than any kind of pain.

I’m pretty happy with the range of motion that I have now. It’s not as good as my right toe – but is probably within the 90% range.

When I had the surgery. the surgeon said it was likely that this would last about ten years and then I would likely need to have a fusion. I think a lot of the damage to the cartilage was a result of jamming my toe at the front a ski boots for many years. I’ve cut back much of my downhill skiing in favor of cross country skiing. Hopefully this will help mitigate the continued degradation of the joint. In the mean time hopefully joint replacement technology should improve.

Overall I’m very happy with the results of the surgery and have no complaints – as they say – your milage may vary.