Bunions: What Causes Them?
Bunions are bony protrusions that can appear on the joint of your big toe over time. They are painful to experience and come along with redness and swelling in the region, making everyday tasks much harder to perform. So what causes bunions? In this blog, we answer with the main 5 causes of bunions.
Top 5 Causes Of Bunions
1. Rheumatoid arthritis
The development of bunions occurs in the MCP joint of the big toe, where the bones start misaligning and causing pain. You are more prone to developing a condition of bunions if you suffer from rheumatoid arthritis.
Rheumatoid arthritis is an inflammatory disease that causes your body to attack multiple joints at once, amongst which are MCP. Hence, the weakened joints become the leading cause of bunions development.
2. Foot injuries
There are many physical activities people do throughout their lives, many of which come with a risk of stressing or injuring the feet. If you cause an injury in your feet that has caused stress in your bones or joints, it can be an invitation to bunion development.
Foot injuries are one of the major causes of bunions as they put pressure on the joints of the toe, encouraging misalignment in them. These injuries can be as small as missing your foot on the stairs to major accidents.
3. Ill-fitting footwear
Statistically speaking, women are the larger demographic that is affected by bunions. Precisely, females aged 14-31 represent the larger ratio and the reason is ill-fitting footwear. Wearing high heels for longer durations repeatedly can cause stress on the feet.
Similarly, shoes that are not the correct size or have any manufacturing fault can not only put stress on your feet but also your spine. It is recommended to avoid shoes that have a pointed shape that forces your toes to be in an unnatural position.
4. Genetic conditions
The anatomy of the feet plays a great role when it comes to foot conditions, such as hammertoe and bunions. Your foot structure and shape are determined by the DNA strings in your body that carry genetic information.
It has been studied that pronated feet and overlapping toes are most likely to develop bunions. Similarly, flat feet are a cause of bunions. Supinated feet on the other hand are genetically better when combating the chances of such foot diseases.
5. Polio
Polio can contribute to the formation of bunions in an individual. Polio is a life-threatening disease, spread by the poliovirus, that severely affects the movement and coordination of the body. It weakens limbs and bones alike, hence making the MCP joints much more susceptible to bunion formations. Bunions are just one of the many side effects of polio.
Bunions can make everyday experiences very painful to endure and can require surgical procedures to correct in some cases.
Walking, driving, and wearing shoes can become rather hurting acts you can experience with bunions. But there are many other alternatives on how to treat and prevent the formation of bunions, depending on a doctor’s recommendation.
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