How to get treatment for bunions

This guide will explain what a bunion is and ways to go about treating it.

Have you seen a simple bump at the base of your big toe? It could be a bunion. A body protuberance at the base of the big toe causing it to move towards an angle is called a bunion. It can happen to anybody. Women are most affected by bunions.

Causes of Bunions

The type of shoes that you wear could be the root cause for bunions. Just remove your shoe and compare the size of your shoe and your toe. You are sure to find your shoes smaller than your toe. Isn't it? That is the main reason for bunions. Wearing tight shoes is the main cause of bunions. When you wear tight shoes your toe is squeezed. If your toe is in this condition for longer time it becomes so forming a bunion. So the duration of wearing such tight shoes plays an important factor in the formation of bunions.

Symptoms

• A bump on the base of big toe
• Swelling/reddish appearance

Bunion Treatment

Treatment for bunions can be done by changing your footwear if it is at the initial stage or through surgery for advanced stage.

Using adaptive footwear

The first and the foremost way to treat bunion is to change your footwear and wear a more appropriate one that matches the size of your foot. It is not necessary to go for some orthopedic shoes. Just buy one that has a bigger toe area so that you can wear it comfortable. By wearing such comfortable shoes bunion can be treated at the initial stage if the symptoms are found only when wearing shoes. If the symptoms are permanent then you can to go for a bunion surgery.

Bunion Surgery

If bunion could not be treated with the other treatments then surgery is the option for treating bunion. During a bunion surgery the toe bone is corrected for alignment. By tightening the ligaments on the outside the toe is made to look in the right direction thus correcting the bunion.

Sometimes, you will find some sportsmen - especially those participating in sports where there is high impact on the foot as it lands on the floor such as a fast bowler or a long jumper - make holes on their shoes where the big toe is to relieve stress.

It is therefore highly important that your feet are relaxed at all times in shoes/running shoes.

One way to do this is to possibly wear a size that's ½ a size bigger than your correct size and wear a slightly thicker but comfortable pair of socks, this should avoid it feeling too loose while you walk, but at the same time be really comfortable and avoid putting undue stress on the toes.

Complications and Risks of a Bunion Surgery

As with any other surgery there are also complications in a bunion surgery. It might take about 3 months to get healed after a surgery. There are chances for recurrence of the bunion after a certain period. Some other complications that might occur are insufficient correction made to the toe or overcorrection.

A nerve injury is also possible during surgery. If a nerve injury occurs, it might causes numbness in your toe. There are chances of infections occurring at the place of surgery. These complications can easily be surmounted by bunion laser surgery.