Bunions, Onions & Coffin Shaped Dungeons – Part 1

(from WatkinsFootCenter.com)

BUNIONS – There is nothing remotely cool or hip about bunions.  Not part of anything hip I want to be associated with. But paradoxically things very hip and fashionable are a major cause of the B word. Things hip and cool that started back in school.  We’ll get to this obfuscated paradox  – the popular causes of way unpopular bunions in just a minute.

To understand the word Bunion we need to understand a couple important things about feet; peel back the (B-onion) layers as it were. I’ll make the bold statement – feet are more important than hands. I like to break things down with simple, “stick with you”analogies.

Feet carry the hands (and the rest of us). If the hands (really the entire body) can’t get to the food or run from the mugger or the raging fire, then the hands just don’t matter. (I can’t wait to go further with this in another installment but I should move on). Feet are exponentially more complex,  functionally and design wise, than hands.  My analogy – Hands are like feet that stopped fully functioning as feet.

The supporting examples – I know a beautiful young lady that has neither of her hands. She has been without them since early on in life. She graduated from high school and worked as a secretary in a new car dealership while going to college part time.  Dressing herself, fixing her hair, driving to work, typing on the keyboard – all with her toes. Folks this isn’t that unusual – Gritty guys left with no hands roll their own squares and blunts with their toes.  Then there are Primates. If you were given a close up photograph of a primate holding a Banana, you’d have to think more than a minute to figure out if it was a hand or foot holding that Banana. “Hello Mr. Simian what do you call what is holding the banana, a hand or a foot?” Need I say more?

Our feet have all the possibilities of our hands, PLUS major major responsibilities our hands could never handle. Walking, running, and climbing are enough on their own.  Now ADD to that supporting and balancing the entire weight of our body, whether standing or going for the gold and you begin to appreciate the complexity and importance of our feet.

The analogy – Try all that standing on your hands ( while carrying the grocery bags with your feet) Now, new respect for your feet ? Its time! Like all moving parts of our body, the feet and toes are made of bones, joints, muscles  (the big 3 for simplicities sake).

Now understand  99% of everyone (including you) is born with perfect feet or the doctor would say, “Whoa- we’ve got a problem down here”. More supporting evidence – barefoot cultures have the least foot problems per capita than all other societies.

Bunions are swelling and inflammation around a toe joint caused by excessive pressure on that joint.  And something causes this pressure. Stay tuned for part two!

Frederic Ferri -Inventor of YogaToes

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