What are the symptoms of Bunion?
Symptoms of the Bunion may range from painless deformed bony bump at the base of big toe to extreme tenderness. Following are the commonly encountered symptoms from a Hallux Valgus deformity (Bunion).
What causes Bunion?
The exact cause of the Bunion is not known, however, there are many conditions and factors leading to the Hallux Valgus deformity. It is known to run in the families and women are more often observed to be inflicted by the disease condition. People with propensity for more flexible joints, like Marfan’s syndrome or simply children, have been thought to suffer with the disease more frequently.
Certain acquired arthritic conditions, particularly rheumatoid, psoriasis and gout has been found to be culprit for the deformity.
Mal-fitting of the shoes has long been known to be one of the reasons, although not a major one.
Whatever may be the reason, pathologic mechanism leading the Bunion deformity can be explained by the gait analysis. An imbalance of the body weight or postural instability during the toe-off phase of the gait overloads the relevant big toe. A consistent pattern of similar burden on the foot is compensated by the rotation of the big toe which leads to the resultant deformity.
Due to the abovementioned mechanics suggesting a weight bearing deformity, the use of night splints and silicone gel would not be of sufficient help. This condition can be helped by customized foot orthotics especially by the use of wide toe box shoes.