Overview
Bunions involve boney prominences and repositioning of the joints at the base of the big toes. Bunions most commonly affect the inner foot at the base of the big toe but also can affect the outside of the foot at the base of the little toe, referred to as a bunionette or tailor's bunion. Bunions most commonly affect women. Bunions may or may not cause symptoms. Treatment of bunions can include rest, icing, alteration offootwear, foot supports (orthotics), medications, steroid injections, and or surgery.
Causes
Bunions, Corns, and Calluses are all related in that they can each be caused by tight and/or poor fitting footwear. Each can also be caused by the following, footwear that is too narrow and/or too small. Constrictive toe boxes (toe area). Tapered toe boxes can cause bunions and cause them to worsen to the point of needing surgery.
Symptoms
With an advanced bunion, the big toe joint can be significantly deformed. The big toe can crowd the other toes and may lie over or under the second toe. The larger the bunion gets, the more it hurts to walk. Wearing any type of shoe can be painful. Symptoms of bunions tend to increase over time as the condition worsens. Typical symptoms include deformity of the big toe joint. Growth of a bony lump (exostosis) at the side of the big toe joint. Pain, redness and tissue swelling (bursitis) over the big toe joint, with thickening of overlying skin. Pain when walking (particularly during the "push off" phase). Overlapping of the big toe above or below the second toe in severe cases.
Diagnosis
Although bunions are usually obvious from the pain and unusual shape of the toe, further investigation is often advisable. Your doctor will usually send you for X-rays to determine the extent of the deformity. Blood tests may be advised to see if some type of arthritis could be causing the pain. Based on this evaluation, your doctor can determine whether you need orthopaedic shoes, medication, surgery or other treatment.
Non Surgical Treatment
Long-term treatment of bunions must be directed towards re-balancing the foot, so that we no longer walk with our weight forced on to the inner border of the foot. This is accomplished by controlling and reducing pronation with the use of a high quality arch support or custom made orthotics. These devices comfortably re-balance the feet and overcome pronation. This reduces the abnormal weight forces on the big toe and its metatarsal head, allowing the feet to function normally. As a result, the deformity should not worsen, and the pain should gradually subside. If the foot is not re-balanced, the deformity and pain will become worse.
Surgical Treatment
If the bunion symptoms does not respond to the conservative measures or if the bunion has progressed past a threshold where these measures are not effective, bunion surgery may be necessary to correct alignment and remove the bunion. A large range of types of surgical procedures for bunions are available and the choice will depend on things like what bone or bones are involved, the angular relationship between the different bones, the amount of damage to the joint and the presence of deformities other than the bunion.
Bunions involve boney prominences and repositioning of the joints at the base of the big toes. Bunions most commonly affect the inner foot at the base of the big toe but also can affect the outside of the foot at the base of the little toe, referred to as a bunionette or tailor's bunion. Bunions most commonly affect women. Bunions may or may not cause symptoms. Treatment of bunions can include rest, icing, alteration offootwear, foot supports (orthotics), medications, steroid injections, and or surgery.
Causes
Bunions, Corns, and Calluses are all related in that they can each be caused by tight and/or poor fitting footwear. Each can also be caused by the following, footwear that is too narrow and/or too small. Constrictive toe boxes (toe area). Tapered toe boxes can cause bunions and cause them to worsen to the point of needing surgery.
Symptoms
With an advanced bunion, the big toe joint can be significantly deformed. The big toe can crowd the other toes and may lie over or under the second toe. The larger the bunion gets, the more it hurts to walk. Wearing any type of shoe can be painful. Symptoms of bunions tend to increase over time as the condition worsens. Typical symptoms include deformity of the big toe joint. Growth of a bony lump (exostosis) at the side of the big toe joint. Pain, redness and tissue swelling (bursitis) over the big toe joint, with thickening of overlying skin. Pain when walking (particularly during the "push off" phase). Overlapping of the big toe above or below the second toe in severe cases.
Diagnosis
Although bunions are usually obvious from the pain and unusual shape of the toe, further investigation is often advisable. Your doctor will usually send you for X-rays to determine the extent of the deformity. Blood tests may be advised to see if some type of arthritis could be causing the pain. Based on this evaluation, your doctor can determine whether you need orthopaedic shoes, medication, surgery or other treatment.
Non Surgical Treatment
Long-term treatment of bunions must be directed towards re-balancing the foot, so that we no longer walk with our weight forced on to the inner border of the foot. This is accomplished by controlling and reducing pronation with the use of a high quality arch support or custom made orthotics. These devices comfortably re-balance the feet and overcome pronation. This reduces the abnormal weight forces on the big toe and its metatarsal head, allowing the feet to function normally. As a result, the deformity should not worsen, and the pain should gradually subside. If the foot is not re-balanced, the deformity and pain will become worse.
Surgical Treatment
If the bunion symptoms does not respond to the conservative measures or if the bunion has progressed past a threshold where these measures are not effective, bunion surgery may be necessary to correct alignment and remove the bunion. A large range of types of surgical procedures for bunions are available and the choice will depend on things like what bone or bones are involved, the angular relationship between the different bones, the amount of damage to the joint and the presence of deformities other than the bunion.