In this post I will explain what a bunion is, how it can be prevented, and how to fix it without surgery!
What is a Bunion?
A bunion is a condition of the foot. It happens when the big toe is pushed towards the other toes. When this happens, the spot where the big toe connects to the rest of the foot moves away from the foot. This results in a sharp angle for the toe portion of the foot. It looks a lot like the ball of your foot is sticking out (towards the other foot if you are standing on both feet).
Bunions can vary in size (amount of angle at the ball of the foot), severity, and amount of pain of discomfort. When you have a small bunion, that is a sign of things down the road if you don't take steps to correct the positioning of your feet.
As the bunion gets bigger (and it doesn't have to) it will become more painful and harder to put weight through the ball of your foot.
What about this causes pain in your foot?
As the tip of the big toe is moving toward the other toes it hinges at the ball of the foot. This causes a pinching of the bones together on the inside part of the big toe and a spreading of the bones at the outside of the big toe.
The portion that is pinching can present with symptoms such as arthritis, pain, bone-on-bone, inflammation, grinding, crunching, etc..
The portion that is separating will put stress on the ligaments that hold the bones together. Although it doesn't seem like much at first, ligaments are not designed to be stretched and pulled on. Ligaments are for support of the joint.
These two issues combine to increase pain at the ball of the foot. It may even appear red in color.
Preventing and/or Reversing Bunions
Bunions can be easily prevented or prevented from getting worse by doing just a few things. Trying these things may even reverse your bunions.
Wear wide, soft shoes
Ice the area (ice pack or ice massage)
Ibuprofen (use over-the-counter and follow directions on the package)
Use bunion pads
Lose weight
Worst Case Scenario
In the worst case scenario, you may require surgery. At BodyFix we try to help everyone avoid surgery, or at least stave it off for as long as possible. Before surgery is even considered we recommend a trial course of non-invasive treatment for a minimum of 1 month to see if things get better.
Usually before your doctor will do surgery, they will try cortisone injections to try and get the pain levels to decrease. They may also recommend you try our above steps to try and calm the big toe area down.
Our treatment for bunions involves opening up the joint and trying to restore joint integrity to the big toe and ball of the foot. We enjoy helping you return to your full activity level without having to go in for surgery or injections!
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