Read up on the best bunion treatment options and what causes them in the first place.
What Is a Bunion?
“The bones of your big toe begin to shift and angle toward your second toe.
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Bunions aren’t just an aesthetic thing; they can also be uncomfortable and even super painful.
“You may experience pain, swelling, and redness around the affected joint,” says Ragland.
The big toe may even overlap or tuck under your other toes, resulting in corns or calluses.”
What Causes Bunions?
As mentioned, bunions are brought on by a pressure imbalance in the foot.
This joint then gets larger and protrudes from the inside of the forefoot, often becoming inflamed.
Contrary to popular belief, bunions arenotcaused by lifestyle factors like wearing certain shoes.
But some lifestyle factorscanmake existing bunions worse.
As with other physical features, your parents' foot shapes affect your own.
In addition to shoe choice, pregnancy can play a role.
When you become pregnant,your levels of a hormonecalled relaxin increase, according to Ragland.
And so that sideward lean of your big toe can become even more pronounced.
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If you’re on your feet a lot during your day-to-day activities, that can also exacerbate bunions.
“Exercising, and especially running and dancing, with bunions can be painful as well.”
Bunions also tend to progress more rapidly inpeople who have flat feetor who overpronate, says Cunha.
Since exercising with bunions can be painful, you want to choose your sneakers wisely.
For more severe cases, often a surgeon will alsoremove part of the bonebefore the realignment.
Unfortunately, bunions can return even after you’ve had surgery.
And when in doubt?
