Shoes Do Not Cause Bunions
Stop blaming yourself for wearing those high heeled shoes or
ill-fitting shoes when you were young. The cause of bunions has
more to do with the foot structure you inherited and less to do
with the type of shoes you wear. The more movement your foot
goes through with each step you take, the more your body wants
to stabilize itself and stop that movement. The body stabilizes
itself by having the first metatarsal splay out. This gives you
a wider base of support which in fact gives more stability. That
is how and why bunions develop. Wearing an arch support to help
your body decrease the excessive motion helps slow down the
bunion formation, but it doesn’t stop its development.
A bunion develops over time as the first metatarsal shifts out
of alignment. As a result, the big toe then leans toward the
second toe. This causes a “bump” to form, making it difficult to
find shoes that fit comfortably. Bunion formation is progressive
and gets worse over time. If left untreated, the deformity can
become so severe that the second toe sits on top of the big toe,
which makes wearing closed shoes almost impossible.
When bunions become painful, the only way to treat it
effectively is through surgical correction. Bunion surgery
usually involves cutting the first metatarsal and putting it
back into alignment. The cut in the bone is treated the same way
a fracture is treated; requiring a 4-6 week period of healing.
Simply shaving the “bump” off does not put the first metatarsal
back into alignment, the big toe will continue to lean in the
wrong direction and the bunion recurs. Minimal incision bunion
surgery is performed through a little stab incision. A high
speed burr is then used to cut the bone, but since the vital
structures like the nerves and arteries are not visualized and
moved out of the way, they can be destroyed in the process. This
is not a recommended procedure by the American Board of
Podiatric Surgery.
There are many different types of bunion surgeries, each one
described as a different type of cut in the bone. The severity
of the bunion dictates the type of cut that is needed to achieve
the best outcome. A visit to a podiatrist, board certified in
foot surgery, is the first step to take. X-Rays of your feet
need to be taken with the person in a standing position. This
way the doctor can see how much splay there is between the first
metatarsal and the rest of the foot. The more splay, the worse
the bunion is and the more aggressive the procedure needs to be.
Bunion surgery should not be thought of as cosmetic and not be
taken lightly. When performed by the right surgeon, the
experience should be easy and the healing process is more of an
inconvenience in mobilization for a limited period of time.
Usually, getting back into sneakers occurs at 5 weeks after
surgery and resuming normal activities follows shortly after.
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Shoes Do Not Cause Bunions
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