Often times I am asked by patients what is this bump on the side of my foot? I tell them it is a bunion. The misconception is that a bunion is a bump. A bunion is actually a mal-position of your bone it is called the first metatarsal, which is right here. A bunion is actually right here which is a bump but it is not due so much of the overgrowth of the bone but the mal-position of the bone going out like that.

Why is that caused? People say poor fitting shoes, tight shoes, high heels. All that aggravates it, but generally doesn’t cause it. It is from the mal-position and functioning of your foot. What we do with that is very simple. This is why if you look at your grandmother’s feet and your mother’s feet that is what your feet are going to look like. The key here is prevention.

The vast majority of patients do not need surgery. They need sometimes to wear different shoes or you can spot stretch it over the area of the bunion, or have a bunion pad. Some need surgery and the misconception about the surgery is that it is very painful and I am off my feet for weeks and weeks. A lot of misconceptions there and this is not the time to speak of that. But the key here is trying to treat it conservatively. There is a cause of something and there is a symptom. If you buy a car and the tires keeps wearing. You don’t keep buying new tires .You get a new tire and you get balancing fix - alignment of your tires. Same thing with your foot. By simple getting a custom made functional orthotic device, sometimes an over the counter device which we have in our office which is called Powerstep. We can control the problem of why it is there. It is not going to take your bunion away. We want to reduce the progression of it.

I have been in practice for over twenty one years and I have seen thousands of bunions. The key is it is like anything else. It is not going to go away on its own. The longer you wait to treat it the worst it is going to get. It is a reality and we are here to help you. There is a lot of different ways to do which we can review with you. You can send us an email anytime which is right on our website. We are here to be your expert. Thank you