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Bunion Or Hallux Abducto Valgus affects 1 in 3 Australians before the age of 65, it is then reported that after this age it jumps up to 70 %. That is epidemic proportions!. Make sure you read on because the chances are this is relevant to you or someone you know.

 

  • If you don’t do something about your bunion then it will potentially lead to painful osteoarthritis of the joint, which will limit your treatment options to expensive and sometimes not so successful surgery. Not to mention will limit activity and footwear options.

 

Most people wait until a bunion hurts before they do something about it the problem with this is that you only feel the last 10 % of the condition. The problem is that by the time you feel it the condition has already progressed to degenerative change within the joint. The difficulty with this is that you can’t reverse degenerative change. Sure we can still help but we can’t completely remove all of your pain. Just yesterday I had a review with a patient who was in the initial stages of treatment for a bunion with osteoarthritis and we were discussing the fact that we can’t completely get rid of the pain.

 

Not to mention that the bony growth that is associated with a bunion will usually continue to grow. Now I’m the first to admit that we can’t remove the bony growth, that a surgical job but we can keep the joint functional, and address the underlying cause of the bunion long term.

 

  • Heels don’t cause bunions!

That’s right bunions are caused by the way you stand and walk as a result of misalignment in your feet. Yes this misalignment is the cause of your bunion but the great news is that we can fix the misalignment and positively influence the function of your foot and in turn correct the alignment of a bunion. Don’t get me wrong heels can definitely accelerate the bunion and deviation of your big toe but you still need the underlying causes to facilitate this. Believe me there’s plenty of men out there who have or are getting a bunion.

 

  • Surgery isn’t your only option!

A lot of people don’t realise that that you don’t just have to wait until the bunion gets so bad that you need surgery. We at Sydney Foot Solutions have been successfully treating bunions for 15 years and have seen thousands of bunions. Now I am the first to recognise that we can’t get rid if your lump and have never claimed to. However we can address the underlying causes and usually correct the alignment of the big toe. Of course we need to do an assessment and the level of treatment depends on the severity of the bunion, one thing is for sure though that you want to treat it earlier than later. The outcomes are better and it means less treatments. However if you take action now you can correct the underlying cause, avoid surgery and keep the joint pain free and the joint functional.

 

If you put off treatment and your only option is surgery! In fact studies show that 33% of patients that have bunion surgery are disappointed with their results.

(2009 FERRARI et al, Interventions for treating hallux valgus (abductovalgus) and bunions Cochrane Library)

 

So If you think you might have a bunion at any stage or have bunions in your family it would be in your best interest to get it assessed ASAP. It will serve you well long term.