Tag Archives: foot

Why do children get bunions?

Bunions tend to be not typical in kids, but they will be an issue should the footwear is not fitted correctly. Bunions are an growth along the side of the big toe joint in the foot. Poor fitting footwear is certainly not the reason for bunions as inherited factors have an important part plus some of children who never use shoes still get them, but shoes are obviously essential in their progression. For that reason, it's so vital that you have the footwear and their fitting proper. Any kind of footwear that is too small in the ball of the foot is likely to increase the likelihood of having a bunion deformity. As young children grow, the fitting of the footwear must be checked out over a very regular basis.

When a child does appear to have a bunion (or technically a hallux valgus), there are a number of treatment options available. Bunion correctors are a brace that can be used at night that can help and try to correct the angle with the big toe. A research project has shown these braces do help fix bunions in children and will go quite a distance to maintain the joint mobile and prevent or hold off the need for surgery. They can be clearly worth a go. Certainly, there are some exercises that you can do for bunions that can help. Exercises are generally almost certainly going to be a lot more of a help in kids than adults as the soft tissues and bones are certainly more malleable. They may be essential to help to keep the big toe joint mobile and flexible which is necessary to protect against any injury which include osteoarthritis in the long run.

Surgery is less commonly done on bunions in youngsters because the bunions usually do not be as painful and unless the reason behind the bunion is resolved there is a increased possibility of the bunion occurring again after the surgical procedure. If your kid does have a bunion deformity and you are worried about it, it is probably a good idea to seek advice from a podiatric doctor to have recommendations.

Getting rid of corns is easy

Corns are a frequent ailment of the foot which can be painful and hard to treat. Corns are due to a lot of pressure on an area of the skin. They are part of a natural mechanism that has gone awry. When there is a lot of pressure on the skin, that area of skin will thicken up to protect itself. If the pressure continues over a extended period of time, it becomes so thick that it is painful. This really is the same as the process which occurs when, for instance, cutting up wood. Doing this, you eventually produce a callus on your hand. The same principle happens on the foot with pressure from the surface or pressure on a toe from the shoe. When you quit cutting wood, the thicker skin on the hands subside. The issue in the foot is that you keep putting on footwear and you keep walking, so the pressure continues and the thicker skin forms into a corn and will become painful.

Getting rid of corns is relatively easy and a competent podiatrist can certainly take them out. That's the easy part. The difficult part is preventing them coming back. It's one thing to take them off, however if you don't take away that cause (the greater pressures on the area), then they will just come back eventually. Corns don't have roots that they re-grow from. They come back as the cause remains. Taking away a corn is much like managing the symptom. They are going to come back unless the reason is removed. This is where the ability of a podiatrist is needed to find out the correct cause. A full assessment is necessary of the function, footwear, foot shape and activities to sort out just what it is that produces the higher pressure. When that reason has been determined, then different interventions can be used to reduce that pressure. This might vary from simple footwear advice to foot orthotic to surgical procedures.