athlete with bunions; i want surgery (2025)

Join Date: Jun 2006

Posts: 1

i'm a 16 year old male 2 sport athlete in high school. I play football and did track this year both of which gave me moderate discomfort and/or pain in my bunions. I find that while watching my feet when I run, I tend to run on the outside of my foot because of the lack of flexibility in my big toe joint. This track season, I sprained my right ankle significantly by my foot bending inwards. I was wondering if this would lead to over pronation of my foot and contribute to the progression of the bunion in my right foot which is the more significant one at the moment. I find that also with normal walking, my big toe joints will crack with taking a step. I have also noticed that my left knee will pop from time to time and that my left hip flexor has been strained for awhile since track has ended and wont go away. During football, since I play tight end, i was often in a three point stance which put signifcant pressure on my forefoot and gave me significant pain also. During football last year, I noticed a very sharp, acute pain in my lower-right back with each stride on my right foot. I want to know if these problems can be traced to my bunions and when surgery should be considered. I am thinking about after my senior year of high school to have them fixed so that they are not a nusance in the future when I'm off at college. And I also want to know how much of an activity level I can return to after the operation. Could I return to playing basketball with the sort of jumping and sprinting involved? or would I have to resort to more light exercise such as jogging?

I am looking to see a podiatrist sometime this summer to have my feet evaluated.

thanks

Join Date: Mar 2006

Location: ny

Posts: 2,035

Join Date: Apr 2005

Location: Birmingham, AL

Posts: 21,117

Join Date: Mar 2005

Posts: 112

I was in sports when I was younger. I first saw podiatrist at age 11. By 16, I was recommended surgery, but I didn't do it because of sports and the time I would be out from them. As I got older, I always had an excuse that it wasn't a good time to do surgery. Finally, at age 32, it caught up with me and I could not work a day without major pain and the result was surgery. It was way more difficult to incorporate surgery into my adult life because I live alone, have a job, and support myself. So, getting time off from work and arranging for people to help me out was tough.

If I had to do it all over again, I would have done it in my teen years and taken the time off from sports to recover. The time to recover is actually short compared to the lifetime benefits from fixing the problem.

I beat myself up now wishing that I did this earlier. Recovery time is easier when you are younger too. Good Luck

Last edited by kpoe; 06-08-2006 at 04:59 PM.

Join Date: Apr 2006

Location: Branson, MO, USA

Posts: 463