Do you have a bunion? You may be surprised if you do to know that many people have bunions and never know it as they do not have any symptoms. However, for those that do you would know that the symptoms can be severe pain associated with walking and wearing certain shoes, but that subsides when you rest your feet. The reason for the pain is because the bunion makes a swollen spot with redness and local tenderness at the bottom of your big toe due to how your toe is positioned in regards to the others on your foot. Therefore, when you experience this pain, or notice the swelling you will want to find a way to get bunions treatment.
Bunions
• A bunion occurs when your joints around the balls of your feet become enlargement and repositioned.
• Women get bunions more often then men
• Some bunions will present with symptoms while others do not
• Treatment for your bunions may include resting your foot, using different shoes, support for your feet, medications, and surgery.
Bunion Diagnosis
When you go and see your doctor he or she will be able to diagnose it most likely from the symptoms noted above. Furthermore they will check over the exact anatomy of your foot by ordering radiographs (x-ray films) of your foot in order to see if the joints have been compromised as well as to see if here are any other conditions contributing to your bunion. These other conditions could be arthritis or gout and the radiographs are the best way to figure out how to get your toes all aligned again.
Bunions Treatment
You will find that depending on the severity of your bunion your doctor will prescribe any number of the various treatments associated with bunions. For some it may be just resting their feet by keeping off of them as much as possible as well as wearing shoes that have more room around the sides and tips. An example of a good walking shoe would be the type with higher heels as they tend to pull your big toe outward.
Furthermore, your doctor will most likely prescribe an anti-inflammatory medication like aspirin, naproxen, or ibuprofen as these not only ease the inflammation but also relieve pain. Or you may be told to put a cold pack on it periodically as well. But yet another bunions treatment may be stretching exercises as a way to bring down tension on the inside portion of y our joint under the bunion. Furthermore, doctors may prescribe you to wear a bunion splint at night to give you more relief.
However, there will be times that mild treatments will do no good and your doctor will need to step up the treatment program. For instance, some that have too much inflammation in the joints around the bunion will be given an injection of cortisone. And in some cases the bunion can cause the skin to break and infection to set in so antibiotics may be required. What’s more, for those that take well to these more invasive procedures it will be important for the patient to keep from irritating the bunion by wearing appropriate shoes, and taking care of their feet. On the other hand, for those people that bunions treatment above does not help then surgery may be their only option.
Surgery in these cases can most always correct the deformity that has caused the bunion and relieve the constant pain associated with it. And what usually happens is the surgeon will remove the growth as well as break the toe in order to realign it. Furthermore, while surgery is not a 100% guarantee to fix, there are ways to make sure that the surgery has more chances of working. This could mean making sure you wear the right footwear before and after surgery as well as restrict your movement to allow for the toe to rest.