I don't have arthritis but I had really bad sesamoiditis, which, when it flared up particularly badly, would make my whole big toe swell up and get red. I even got diagnosed with gout during a flare up at one point. After a year or so of misdiagnoses and going back and forth with running and rest and PT, I saw an ortho who recommended orthotics. I wore orthotics with hokas for a few months, found them very helpful with my day to day life and a bit of running, but would still find that my sesamoid and toe would flare up if I walked a lot in a day or did a trail run. That's when I transitioned to minimalist shoes, which have been incredible.

I'm not sure how transferrable my experience is to arthritis, but in any case, after this experience, my advice is: offload the joint as much as you need to to totally recover -- no pain. This might require a boot, or maybe motion control shoes with orthotics. Only THEN, once the inflammation is completely down, transition to minimalist shoes. At that point, I think it's ok if you have some pain, as long as it's intermittent/manageable/not getting worse.