Your formerly stylish pumps are stretching to accommodate the bump and area barely wearable. You never thought it would happen, but the idea of walking through a shopping mall sounds more like torture than fun. Chances are, you have a bunion. The bone in the joint at the base of the big toe is enlarging and causing discomfort by rubbing against your shoes. By the end of the day, there s a deep, aching pain in that joint and all you want to do is sit down and take your shoes off.
Bunions are often hereditary and develop from a weakness in the foot s bone structure.
All the bones and ligaments which make up the foot s arches and joints are very mobile and flexible. When the move out of alignment due to faulty foot function, the big toe joint is overloaded, causing it to unlock and dislocate. This doesn t happen all at once. Bunions develop gradually but continuously, and can cause pain at various levels of enlargement. With bunions, the best defense is a good offense.