# Bunion Surgery



## chillmolly (Apr 30, 2007)

I had bunion surgery two weeks ago. (Both on the big toe and little toe). I was told that if I didn't get this surgery now, it would be difficult to get a good repair later.

Long story short, I now find myself with four "fractures" in my foot, held together with pins. Due to having the little toe done, I am not allowed to weight bear at all for four more weeks. Of course, it is on my right foot, so officially I'm not allowed to drive.

I was allowed into the pool to swim beginning yesterday, but because of the weight bearing restriction, I'm not even allowed to ride my bike on the trainer.

This is really sucking. I feel like I should be 59 and having this surgery, not 39. 

Thanks. I really needed to vent. 

Marcia


----------



## mjw (Feb 26, 2007)

Four weeks will fly.

And your feet will be all the better for it.

You'll be back on the bike in no time. 

Take care of yourself so you heal well!


----------



## cstem (Jan 13, 2006)

Any updates?

I go in for a similar surgery (Bunion exacerbated from bone break years ago) and am getting bone sectioned then pinned. Told it will be 6 week recomvery but should be on my feet with must a boot cast in a couple of days.

Just wondering if there were any complications or rehad needed?


----------



## chillmolly (Apr 30, 2007)

Ironically, I'm coming up on my two year mark since having the surgery, but I'm at home this week taking care of my husband, who had HIS bunion done on Monday!

Long story short, I had a really good recovery from my surgery. No complications, and my foot is now fine. I did go to therapy a couple times, just so they could monitor me and my progress (as a disclaimer, I'm a physical therapist). Essentially, because you are an active person, there isn't a lot to do for therapy, because you'll end up moving around and taking care of it anyway. You just have to make sure you get your motion back in the joint.

It sounds like you'll also be able to put weight on your foot soon after surgery. Because I also had the little toe done, I had to be non weight bearing for 6 weeks. That sucked.

Swimming is great. It gets the foot moving, it's safe, and the compression in the water makes it feel better. Spinning on the bike took some time. The biggest delay was getting back to running. Your foot will be "fat" for a good 6 months. A normal shoe feels tight and weird for a long time. As I recall, I think I started "jogging" at around 8 weeks, and did a 10K running race at about 20 weeks. I was back to "normal" in 7-8 months for racing triathlons. For biking, I was "normal" in about 3 months or so.

Hope that helps! If my husbands recovery differs much from mine, I'll re-post. He only had to have his big toe done, so he's already putting some weight on the foot 4 days post op.

Marcia


----------



## xcguy (Apr 18, 2004)

Are bunions caused by certain activity? Are they genetic? How does one know he has a bunion that needs excising? What do they do, grow roots down into the bone?

Bunions...something I've never thought about. Now...one more thing to worry about.


----------



## cstem (Jan 13, 2006)

I am no bunion expert but this is what I was told.
Some people are more susceptible to them than others due to thier anatomy. I have long naroow feet and spending six years in combat boots and many more in cycling shoes probably did not help! What usually happens is the big toe joint, where it connects with the metatarsal on the foot, for some reason too small of shoe or in my case from untreated pronation of the foot and a bad break not set when I was younger were the reasons I was given for me.

I have no real bone growth on the outside of the joint, but my big toe goes all the way under the two smaller ones near it. I also have lots of arthritis in that joint so I was experiencing lots of pain especially after activity.

There are some good websites out there that talk about bunions. I will say that I recieved orthotics to try to correct the problem first, but I was too far gone and must go for the knife.


----------



## cstem (Jan 13, 2006)

Marcia, thanks for the update and I wish your hubby well. I am waiting until February to get mine done so I guess I will train myself to near burnout before hand since I will have a really long recovery day (weeks)! I'll keep you posted when I get it done by posting here.


----------



## chillmolly (Apr 30, 2007)

They can form from activity and/or from genetics.

The way I'm built, there is too much mobility at the big toe joint (and at my thumbs, which led me to having surgery there as well) coupled with over pronation in the forefoot. Running accelerated the degeneration of the joint. In response to the stress, the body adds bone to the area to try and support it - leading to the bump on the foot that you can see. Part of the problem is that you have two small bones sitting at that joint as well. Left untreated, arthritis developes between those small bones and the bigger bones of your foot, leading to the area totally fusing. 

My husband doesn't have the overpronation issues that I do, but apparently was just "lucky" in having that genetic component. It depends on how your individual foot is built, how long certain bones are, etc. Running makes them come on sooner, but things like wearing high heels will cause them as well. The original poster must have screwed up his foot biomechanics from the original injury, leading to the bunion formation.

We both had the surgery done now (in our early 40's) because in fixing it early, it can be totally corrected with minimal complications. If we waited until we were 50 or 60, the joint would have been totally fused from arthritis. Surgery would be much more complex with a dubious outcome. The surgery has more to do with correcting alignment in that area than just removing the bump on the bone. In essence, the doctor cuts out a piece of bone and pins it back together. They also cut off the extra boney bump, but that in some ways is more cosmetic, and helps your foot fit in a shoe better.

To answer the question how do I know if I have a problem... Speaking of my experience I've had issues with that foot for 20+ years. It started with a black toenail that wouldn't get better, which I've since learned had to do with the faulty mechanics and too much pressure in that area. Years passed on, and I was put into orthotics to correct the pronation problem, but I always had a mild discomfort. A few years ago I was at Boulder Sports Med getting new orthotics when the PT told me the area looked suspicious and to see a podiatrist. My actual bump wasn't that big, but on X-ray I had a fair amount of arthritis in that joint. That led to a pretty quick progression to surgery. My husband just seemed to form a bump on his foot, over that past two years or so. It got worse, started to hurt, and blistered. X-ray showed the joint problem. There is a podiatrist in Boulder who is "the man" for the younger athletes in the area. He makes the surgery as easy as possible to endure. 

I hope that answers your questions. It is hard to explain over a forum without typing in 8 million words.

By the way, since you're hanging out in "rider down" I assume you're still having issues? I'm still having some pain from the broken ribs, but am back to doing what I want to do. 

Marcia


----------

