Are You Born with Bunions or Do They Develop Over Time?

Foot deformity as a term brings about some unpleasant ideas about your feet, but they range from mild to severe, and you’d be surprised at how many people have one and don’t realize it. They can happen at different points in your life for various reasons, including flat feet, high arches, hammertoes, claw toes, splay feet, pronated feet, and bunions.

Bunions are pretty common, experienced by millions of adults, including 35% of women over 65, and can be managed on your own or require medical attention depending on the symptoms involved. But how young do they start forming? Is it possible to develop bunions at birth? Let’s try to answer these questions by getting facts about the foot problem, its causes and symptoms, and seeing what congenital factors play a role.

If you live in the Fort Worth or Weatherford, Texas, area and you have bunions or other foot deformities, Drs. Gary Driver, Glen Beede, Gregory Jaryga, and Trinity Foot & Ankle Specialists staff can help.

Bunion facts

Also referred to as hallux valgus, a bunion is a growth that forms on the base of your big toe (the metatarsophalangeal, or MTP joint). The bump forms inside the joint and causes your big toe to move inward, facing toward the remaining toes. They affect around ⅓ of Americans and are more common in women, people with a family history of the condition, and those with a history of foot injuries. The condition may be harmless but can also lead to other problems, such as bursitis, hammertoes, and osteoarthritis.

Causes and symptoms

The problems leading to bunions tend to develop during early adulthood (as young as 18), and since our feet widen and spread as we age, the issues can get worse over time. Here are the factors that typically lead to bunions:

• Shoes: if you wear tight or high-heeled shoes, they increase the risk of developing bunions by slowly forcing the joint out of place

• Leg length: if your legs aren’t the same length, the longer leg has a greater chance of forming this deformity

• Structure and foot mechanics: the way you walk, standing for long periods of time, and problems with the structure of your feet can lead to bunions

• Arthritis: issues with joint inflammation, such as in rheumatoid arthritis, can affect your risk of this issue

• Heredity: if your parents or other members of your family have this, it makes it more likely for you to develop

In addition to the position of your big toe changing due to bunions, other signs are common, like swelling, redness, tenderness to the touch, constant or intermittent pain, corns, calluses, and limited movement in the joint.

Congenital factors in getting them

There are different types of bunions, such as those that affect kids and teens (called adolescent or juvenile bunions) and bunionettes, which form on the opposite side of your foot and affect the small toe. Congenital bunions are another type that forms as a result of genetic conditions, like cerebral palsy or other neuromuscular conditions, and can appear at birth.

Bunions can happen over time, but several things can increase your risk of getting them, and in some cases, they do develop as early as birth. If you need help with any type of bunion, make an appointment with Drs. Driver, Beede, Jaryga, and their medical team at Trinity Foot & Ankle Specialists today.