[pct-l] bunions?

[bjensen4@juno.com (Birgitte Jensen)]

charliethorpe@worldnet.att.net wrote:
.> I seem to have developed a problem with the way that the
>joint works where my big toe joins with my right foot. [snip] A
podiatrist at my HMO >(non-hiker) diagnosed it as a "congenital foot
defect" and said that it isn't all that >uncommon in the general foot
population out in the real world.
[snip]
>I am not at all convinced that the problem is congenital.  Why would a
>problem that I was born with only start to show up at age 54 and after I
>had backpacked 6-7 thousand miles?

   Hi Charlie!
    Much as I hate to support an HMO doc <G/ wince>, the guy is correct,
sorta. Your post describes a classic bunion, a  deformity which 1) tends
to run-in-families ("congenital" isn't the correct medical word, since
one is only born with the _tendency_ to acquire bunions, not the bunion
itself, but I let that pass - whaddya expect from an HMO? <g> (I have no
medical insurance, BTW, so I envy you nonetheless.)
    Bunions (which are actually dislocations of the joint (which explains
the pain across the ball of the foot and the bump),  usually show up in
mid-life, after subjecting the foot to contant  pressure. The most
well-known cause is wearing pointy-toe shoes and/or high-heels, which is
why more women than men get bunions. Hard hiking (and/or hiking with
boots that don't give the foot plenty of room even after 12 hours on the
trail, or the twists/and turns and toe-slams of rough up/down terrain can
approximate a lifetime of stilletto-heel-itis: et voila - a bunion. I'm
not suggesting your boots don't/didn't fit well at all; many (even most)
of us have feet not-exactly identical sizes - not enough to join one of
those clubs where folks have to exchange shoes, thank goodness, but
enough so that, in hard hiking, one foot ends up wearing a boot that is
slightly too loose or (conversely) too snug in places. The pressure,
which might not even be noticeable (and is not the friction-type that
leads to blisters), is the bunion-catalist.
    There's not alot that can be done about a bunion once you have one,
except surgery (like your doc says, which is isn't always completely
successful, and keeps you off your feet for a long time - only for severe
cases, IMHO), or wearing special shoes/placing an orthotic in the
roomy-enough shoes you already have to keep pressure off the bunion.
Obviously, it's not a great idea to do any kind of hard hiking or other
activity that created the bunion in the first place - without first
solving the boot or shoe pressure problem (easier said than
done,sometimes, but...). It's a very-common "affliction", and except for
wearing shoes that accommodate the bump (and there are those moleskin
bunion cushions in the drugstore/supermarket that help), most people
don't have to "do anything" about it.
    It's possible to backpack "6-7000 miles" without developing Foot
Trouble. Ditto living to the ripe "old" age of 54. But the two of them
together is hard on anybody's feet <g>.
     Wish I could help.        bj
    

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