Identifying, Treating, and Managing Bunions
If you live in or around Mount Eliza on the Mornington Peninsula, enjoying the natural beauty of the coast should not be hampered by foot pain. However, hallux valgus—more commonly known as a bunion—is a common and often painful condition affecting the forefoot.
As experts in foot health, our goal is to provide you with some tips to identify, manage, and prevent bunions so you can stay active and comfortable.
Identifying Bunions: Symptoms and Causes
A bunion is fundamentally a painful bony bump that develops on the inside of the foot at the big toe joint.
What Symptoms Should You Look Out For?
While the visible bump on the medial aspect of the forefoot is the primary sign, bunions can cause a range of other debilitating symptoms:
- Pain and Tenderness: Chronic or intermittent soreness and pain around the big toe joint. Pain is often localised over the bony prominence due to irritation from footwear.
- Inflammation and Redness: The enlarged joint can become inflamed and appear red or swollen.
- Restricted Movement: Stiffness or limited motion in the big toe, which can lead to difficulty walking or gait impairment.
- Skin Changes: Hardened skin (calluses or corns) often forms on the bottom of the foot or where the first and second toes rub against each other due to crowding.
- Progression: Bunions start small but typically worsen over time. Severe cases can force the second toe out of alignment, resulting in secondary issues like hammertoe deformities.
Treating Bunions: DIY Care
Treatment always begins with non-surgical options focused on managing symptoms and reducing pain, as conservative methods cannot structurally reverse the deformity itself. Consult Step Ahead Podiatry for an assessment and we can get you onto the path of management and if possible, recovery.
DIY Treatment Strategy | Description |
|---|---|
| Footwear Modification | Crucial first step. Switch to supportive shoes with a wide, open toe box, broad insteps, and soft soles to reduce irritation and compression. Avoid heels higher than a couple of inches, as they increase forefoot pressure. |
| Padding and Spacers | Use protective silicone pads over the bony bump or toe spacers between the toes to cushion the painful area and reduce pressure. |
| Orthotics and Splinting | Over-the-counter or custom-made shoe inserts can redistribute pressure and provide support. Night splints may help relieve pain, though they have not been shown to permanently fix bunions. |
| Medication and Ice | Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like ibuprofen can help relieve pain and reduce swelling. Applying ice to the inflamed area is also effective for reducing local inflammation. |
| Active Muscle Strengthening | Physical therapy and specific exercises (like the Toe-Spread-Out exercise) that activates the muscle that is responsible for pulling your big toe away from your other toes. Research suggests this exercise, especially when combined with supportive devices, may potentially influence the degree of the toe’s misalignment |
What Causes Bunions?
The precise cause of a bunion (HV) is multifactorial and often complex. Risk factors generally fall into intrinsic, such as genetic or anatomical and extrinsic, such as lifestyle or environmental factors. Such categories are:
- Footwear: Tight, narrow-toed, or high-heeled shoes (especially those over a couple of inches) are widely identified as initiating or aggravating factors because they force the toes into an unnatural position and increase pressure on the forefoot.
- Genetics and Anatomy: A strong genetic component exists; approximately 70% of people who develop bunions have a family history. Structural issues like flat feet (pes planus), joint hypermobility of the first ray, and specific metatarsal (long bones located in the middle of your foot) lengths can predispose individuals to developing bunions.
- Sex and Age: Bunions are significantly more common in women than men, with ratios reported as high as 15:1. Prevalence increases with age, affecting an estimated 23% of adults aged 18–65 and up to 35.7% of those older than 65.
- Associated Conditions: Inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, gouty arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and connective tissue disorders like Marfan syndrome are linked to HV formation.
Men Versus Women
Interestingly, the risk factors appear to differ between men and women, suggesting different pathways to the condition. In older women, HV is associated with lower BMI and the habitual use of high heels during younger adulthood. Conversely, in older men, HV is positively associated with higher BMI and the presence of pes planus (flat feet).
Other Bunion Types
While HV is the most common, bunions can form elsewhere. Mainly from the result of a complication with one of the metatarsal bones, which are the long bones in the middle of the feet:
- Bunionette (Tailor’s Bunion): A bony prominence on the outside of the foot near the base of the little toe (lateral fifth metatarsal head). This deformity can result from lateral bowing of the fifth metatarsal or increased angular deviation between the fourth and fifth metatarsals.
- Dorsal Bunion (Hallux Flexus): A less common deformity where the first metatarsal head is prominent on the top of the foot (dorsiflexed). This is frequently seen as a complication of Hallux Rigidus (degenerative osteoarthritis of the first MTP joint) or following congenital clubfoot correction.
Ready to Address Your Foot Pain in Mount Eliza?
If bunion pain is limiting your lifestyle on the Mornington Peninsula, book an appointment at our Mount Eliza clinic. We specialise in providing tailored non-operative and surgical strategies to help you achieve long-term comfort and mobility.