The bunion ranks along with corns and calluses as major causes of foot misery. We say misery because discomfort is too mild a word.

A bunion is the progressive movement of the great toe toward the second toe with a resulting "bump of bone" on the side or top of the big toe joint.

Heredity and faulty foot function are the most common cause of bunions. The longer the bunion exists, the more the great toe moves over and the larger the bump becomes. A bunion can be very painful and unattractive, and ultimately cause the great toe joint to become arthritic, or even dislocated.

The crooked great toe will crowd the lesser toes in a shoe. This can cause the patient to walk improperly and lead to arch, leg, or back pain.

Three primary ways exist to treat bunions:

1. Oral or injectable anti-inflammatory medication to relieve acute symptoms.
2. Orthotic devices to bio-mechanically reduce the forces causing the bunion to develop. This often can eliminate pain in a mild to moderate deformity.
3.  Surgical correction of the mal-alignment.

Some people believe that a bunion correction requires cumbersome casts, extensive hospital stays and lengthy loss of time from work and daily routines. Not true. Most patients suffering from bunion deformities have surgery performed on an outpatient basis, thus allowing early ambulation and return to normal activities.

Many ways exist to treat a bunion deformity. No one need suffer the pain and annoying deformity of this condition.

Is one of these treatment methods right for you? We make it easy for you to find out. Here's how....