Just when you think you are out with the old and in with the new fashion of six inch chrome stilettos and the latest line of toe-pinching, sequenced booties, you might want to think twice. While you are squeezing your toes in the only size left in the store and walking out with them in fear of missing out on your opportunity to look fabulous in the newest trend, your credit card is not the only thing screaming on the way out the door.
Your feet know exactly what’s in store for them and won't stand for it (pardon the pun). So, unless you are a professional ballerina, I would suggest turning around and exchanging those pointy-toed satin pumps with the cute bow on the heel for something slightly more practical and listen up. Otherwise, you are headed toward bunion lane - and that is one road you don't want your feet walking down.
In blatant terms, a bunion is a type of bone enlargement that commonly grows on the joint where your big toe meets your foot. Nine out of 10 times it affects women due to the type of shoes they wear that pinch and squeeze their toes together causing them to deform from normal position.
Although most cases of bunions are from uncomfortable footwear, there are other risk factors for growing bunions, which include genetics, congenital abnormal foot formation, nerve condition, rheumatoid arthritis or injury to the foot.
Bunions can cause severe deformation to your joints, most commonly causing the end of the big toe to bend towards your other toes, crowding them. The bone at the base of the toe where it meets the foot deforms outward beyond where the bone should be positioned. In a worst case scenario, surgery may be your only option to restore the joint where a bunion formed.
Aside from bunions being painful and uncomfortable, they are fairly unattractive. For the longest time I was friends with a girl who always had weird-looking feet. The joint where the big toe and foot meet stuck out and her toes pointed inward. I didn’t understand it, but never dwelled on it. It was her feet, not mine, thankfully.
We were quite young, in our teen years at least. She was beautiful, popular and always wore the latest fashions and tallest shoes. She was the epitome of perfect and I envied her style. The only thing I didn’t envy on her was when she wore sandals in the summer that showed her feet. I was weirded out, so I don’t know how anyone else wasn’t. It wasn’t until now that I realized this whole time she had – and probably still has for that matter – bunions.
Now, in retrospect, I guess I am glad I could never afford the tallest, pointiest, and most “fabulous” shoes the fashion police swooned over because I am living bunion-free. Granted I squeezed in her shoes from time to time to wear on a date or a club in college, I never adopted the uncomfortable shoe policy, and neither should you.
Tune in Wednesday to see what type of shoes will prevent bunions and provide foot support for those who already have a bunion.