Bunions are a painful foot ailment that can impact a person's ability to walk, run or even wear shoes comfortably.
There are 16 different procedures to treat and correct bunions.
It is hard for avid runner Lisa Morgan to be out of commission with her feet. This wife and mother of teen twins is a few months post-surgery for a bunion on her right foot and just a few weeks for her left.
But she says that small window of time is nothing compared to the pain she had before.
"It was a sharp pain that would wake me up at night and it was in the arch of my foot and side of my foot," she said.
The pain also spread into Lisa's big toe. That is the spot Foot and Ankle Specialist Tyson Green says is the source of bunions.
"When it shifts over and you get this widening approach right there, the big toe has no other choice but to go the opposite way to keep your balance," he said.
The big toe's shift causes problems for the second toe.
"The second toe could either lift up, it can underlap, it can hammer up," said Dr. Green.
Treatment in Lisa's case was a bunionectomy surgery, using a plate with locking screws for stability.
"We're actually fusing the joint in the back right here that holds this alignment in place and we don't have the chance of it coming back over and recurring," said Dr. Green.
If the deformity is not as severe, a 'tight rope' procedure can be done by weaving a suture through the first two toes.
"We are able to have a little bracket so that when we tie it down, it pulls that metatarsal bone back into place," said Dr. Green.
Lisa was apprehensive about having the surgery, but says now that both of her feet are on their way to being pain-free - she would tell others with painful bunions to do the same thing she did.
"Find out some information about it before you rule it out, because if you can get rid of the pain, then it's worth it," she said.
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