Pain in the joint of my big toe and right foot has been appearing for some years now. It has never been so severe as it is now, so I visited a doctor. An X-ray was taken that showed no swelling or presence of arthritis. A shoe insole was given after cutting a part of it out below the big toe. Two weeks after this the pain just shot up one day and then went down by itself. No prominent exercise or other stress was applied to trigger the pain. MRI was prescribed in the next visit to the doctor. Cost of MRI is about $1600 which will put a total burden of about $800 on me. Looking at this huge cost, I am forced to think of alternatives. Any help in this regard will be highly appreciated.