Adductor Hallucis: The Adductor of The First Phalanx
The Adductor hallucis muscle a two-headed intrinsic foot muscle. The adductor hallucis primary function contract the big toe towards the second toe, flexion, and helps with the stability of the foot’s arch. The muscle does this by having two muscle heads (transverse and oblique heads) that form a V attaching in the inner portion of the big toe, which together pulls the big toe towards the second toe. When this muscle is weak or tight it can pull the big toe towards the midline over time this can create a bunion, deep arch pain, or big toe pain with walking.
Adductor Hallucis Pain
The adductor hallucis is a key support muscle of both the longitudinal arch and transverse arch of the foot. When dysfunctional, weak, or injured the following painful conditions can arise.
- Big toe pain
- Arch pain
- Morton’s Neuroma
- Tibial nerve entrapment
- Bunions
Treatment of Adductor Hallucis Pain
In order to eliminate stiffness pain or dysfunction of this muscle, it’s important to acknowledge that this muscle is an intrinsic muscle of the foot and works synergistically with all other muscles of the foot. Therefore, the entire mobility and stability of the feet need to be addressed.
To test if your adductor Hallucis is weak and tight simply test if you can pull your big toe away from the second toe. If this motion is limited, then this could be due to a tight adductor hallucis or a weak abductor hallucis (most likely both!)
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