Bunions can be extremely painful and limiting to one’s activities.  It is hard to find shoes, especially comfortable shoes.  Bunions continue to grow and become difficult to manage.  I have seen large and small bunions that are painful.  Most bunions end up requiring surgical repair.

I see a lot of patients that have been deciding whether or not to fix their bunion.  I ask all my patients the same things, is it painful, does it interfere with life and is it getting bigger?  These seem to be all good reasons to fix your bunion.  Fixing your bunion has never been easier.  The Lapiplasty is one of my most favorite procedures as it provides reproducible results and long lasting correction.  Most patients can begin to weight bear at 2 weeks and return to activities much sooner than previous procedures. 

If you have a bunion and have been contemplating having it fixed I can help.  I have an onsite surgical suite making it more convenient and saving both time and money.  Make an appointment today at 425-391-8666 or fill out a contact form online and we'll reach out to you. 

Sincerely,

Dr Brandon Nelson

American College of Foot & Ankle Surgeons

Dr Timothy Young, a Board Certified Foot Surgeon on: Should I Get Bunion Surgery? Part 3

Second Opinions: Obtaining a additional opinion is often recommended before making a decision about any surgery. Seeking the advice of another board certified foot surgeon can help validate the initial recommendation and provide additional insights. It also allows you to compare treatment approaches, potential outcomes, and associated risks.

Conclusion: Deciding whether or not to have bunion correction surgery is a choice that should be based on a combination of factors, including the extent of your symptoms, how fast the bunion is progressing, the impact on your daily life, and the potential risks and benefits. It's crucial to consult with a board certified foot surgeon who can evaluate your specific case and provide professional advice tailored to your needs. Remember, bunion surgery should be considered after conservative treatments. By carefully weighing the pros and cons and seeking expert opinions, you can make an informed decision regarding bunion corrective surgery that aligns with your personal needs and goals.

If you are experiencing foot or ankle pain, give us a call at 425-391-8666 or make an appointment online today. 

Dr Timothy Young, A Board Certified Foot Surgeon On: Should I Get Bunion Surgery? Part 2

Severity and Symptoms: The severity of your bunion and the related symptoms play a significant role in the decision-making process. If your bunion causes persistent pain, limits your ability to exercise or comfortably walk, or if it interferes with your daily life, surgery may be a viable option.  Also if the bunion condition is progressing. Consulting with a qualified foot surgeon can help assess the severity of your bunion and provide guidance on the best course of action.

Benefits and Risks: Like any surgery, a bunion surgical procedure carries both risks and benefits. Risks can include infection, stiffness of the joint, nerve damage, recurrence of the bunion, or dissatisfaction with the cosmetic outcome. Conversely, the benefits can be significant, such as pain relief, improved foot function, and the ability to wear a wider range of footwear comfortably. Understanding and reviewing the potential risks and benefits with your foot surgeon is crucial in making an informed decision.

Lifestyle Considerations: Another important factor to consider is your lifestyle. Bunion surgery usually requires a period of recovery, during which you will need to limit your activities and wear special footwear or a boot. If you have an active lifestyle or have demanding work requirements, you should consider timing and how the recovery period could affect your daily activities. It's important to discuss these considerations with your surgeon to determine the most appropriate timing for the foot surgery.

If you are experiencing foot or ankle pain, please give us a call at 425-391-8666 or make an appointment online today. 

Dr Timothy Young, a Board Certified Foot Surgeon on: Should I Get Bunion Surgery? Part 1

Bunions, are a common foot deformity, they can cause pain and discomfort, affecting your daily activities, exercise and overall quality of life. If you're suffering from a bunion, you may have considered the option of bunion correction surgery. However, deciding whether or not to proceed with surgery is a choice that requires careful consideration. In this blog post, I will explore the factors you should take into account when deciding whether to get bunion surgery.

Understanding Bunions: Before considering the decision-making process, it's important to understand what bunions are. A bunion is a bony bump at the base of the great toe, and the deformity also causes the great toe to deviate outward. This condition often leads to pain, inflammation, and challenges in finding comfortable footwear. Bunions can be caused by various factors, including genetics, footwear choices, and certain medical conditions.  In most cases, you inherit a foot structure that is prone to developing the bunion.

Conservative Treatments: When considering bunion surgery, you want to explore conservative treatments first. Non-surgical approaches may include changing shoes, using prescription orthotic inserts, applying ice or heat, taking over-the-counter pain relievers, and doing exercises to improve foot strength and flexibility. These methods can provide relief for mild to moderate bunions, and surgery should be considered when conservative measures do not provide relief.

If you are experiencing foot or ankle pain, give us a call at 425-391-8666 or make an appointment online today. 

The front of your foot or the area where your toes begin is called the forefoot.  This area consists of your toe bones, your phalanges and your metatarsals, the long foot bones.   This area is where you push off when ambulating and provides stability for forward propulsion.  This is a complex anatomical area and more than a few pathologies can exist in this location but I will discuss a few of the most common.  These include neuromas, capsulitis and stress fractures.

Neuromas are an entrapped nerve that can cause burning and tingling.  These usually occur in the 3^rd interspace.  Most patients have a sensation that is electrical and is worse in shoes and relieved by taking off their shoes and rubbing the forefoot.  These seem to be more common in women than men and especially around the 4^th-6^th decade of life.   Neuromas have some great treatment options available one of most successful is dehydrated alcohol injections.  The success rate with these injections approaches 89%.

Capsulitis is a term we use to describe inflammation of a joint.  This most commonly occurs in the metatarsophalangeal joint of the foot.  We tend to see this in a patient with a bunion or high arched foot.  The main cause seems to be a biomechanical imbalance.  It is important to get an x-ray with capsulitis as arthritis can have a similar presentation. 

Stress fractures usually present with swelling.  They often occur as one begins a new training program and can cause pain for weeks.  Typically these will be relieved with rest and exacerbated by activity.  Most will heal with a change in activities and calcium supplementation.  However again an x-ray is warranted to rule out other pathologies and to monitor healing.   

If you are having forefoot pain I can help.  Schedule an appointment with Dr Brandon Nelson, give us a call at 425-391-8666 or make an appointment online. 

Sincerely,

Dr Brandon Nelson

Board Certified Physician & Surgeon

The number one cause of heel pain is Plantar Fasciitis.  Plantar Fasciitis is an inflammation of a band of tissue on the bottom of one’s foot.  The most common reason is overuse.  Overuse can come in many forms, people that work on their feet, or avid exercisers and even just long term wear and tear on your feet.  It is important to know that your fascia is the main supporting network of one’s feet and is under chronic mechanical load.

It is important in the process of trying to cure plantar fasciitis to identify any outlying reasons for fasciitis.  These outliers can be systemic causes, training errors or general overuse injuries.  I think an x-ray is always warranted as well as an overall skeletal exam.   The earlier one sees a foot and ankle physician the faster we can get you on the road to recovery.

Once an exam has been performed the next stop is how do we fix the underlying causes and cure the fascia long term.  There are many options you can read about but the mainstay is reducing mechanical burdens and inflammation.  I have a protocol I have used for more than 10 years and on 1000’s of patients.  The majority of my patients are 50-70% better within the first week of seeing me.

Then there are the patients that have chronic fasciitis or long term fasciitis.  The workup for these patients should be a little different and more extensive.  Once plantar fasciitis has been identified as the root problem more advanced modalities will usually cure the fasciitis.  The focus of these modalities is usually to stimulate one’s own biology to actively heal the underlying inflammation.  These are some of the most cutting edge techniques and technologies available and our office has the 2 most effective modalities to fix your heel pain. 

If you have heel pain, schedule an appointment with me, Dr. Nelson and I will get you fixed and ready to enjoy your summer! Give us a call at 425-391-8666 or make an appointment online. 

Sincerely,

Dr Brandon Nelson

Board Certified Physician & Surgeon 

A bunion is a common foot condition I see at my clinic.  It is amazing the different sizes and shapes of bunions I have seen during my career.  There are a couple of things I have noted during this time.  One is that the bunion gets bigger.  It does not grow but the bone continues to move out of alignment.  Secondly it is easier to fix earlier in the process especially when the other toes are not involved.  Lastly, the most important aspect is proper procedure selection.  This leads me to my discussion today.  The Lapiplasty has really revolutionized bunion surgery.

I was listening to a lecture today and they were discussing the fact that there are over 150 different types of bunion surgery.  Most of these techniques are no longer utilized.  But this is important because it illustrates how difficult it can be to get long term corrections.  This is why I am a fan of the Lapiplasty procedure.  The Lapiplasty corrects the bunion at its apex.  It helps to realign the bone in all 3 cardinals planes that the body moves in.  It has helped surgeons to provide the best correction for the patient and speed recovery.  I find this procedure has incredible outcomes and my patients are happy with their results. 

If you are suffering from a bunion I can help.  I have seen how painful and debilitating these can be.  Make an appointment online or give us a call at 425-391-8666

Sincerely,

Dr Brandon Nelson

American College of Foot & Ankle Surgeons

I have seen many types of bunion surgery after operating and practicing now for 15 years.  Surgical techniques change and fixation changes and surgery in general tends to improve.  What I mean by improvement is outcomes get better with new research and recovery can shorten with new ideas or medical devices.  The days of not walking on your surgical foot are behind us.  The majority of patients I see and operate on are walking when the can tolerate the swelling and discomfort.  This is different from the bunion surgeries of the past.

Historically a lot of the bunions we fixed required a long period of non-weight bearing or even an overnight stay in the hospital.  This has really changed with newer techniques and the average surgery for a bunion now is about 2 hours.  The other dramatic difference is the majority of patients can walk on their feet after surgery.  The longest I typically instruct patients to be off their feet now is about 2 weeks.  The big factor in this change is the Lapiplasty procedure and its newer fixation methods. 

The Lapiplasty is based on the Lapidus bunionectomy.  This is a procedure we have utilized for years with great success.   However, newer instruments and fixation have advanced healing and outcomes.  I truly love utilizing the lapiplasty to fix bunions and have seen incredible results.  If you are suffering from bunion pain I can help!  Give me a call at 425-391-8666 or make an appointment online today. 

Sincerely,

Dr. Brandon Nelson

American College of Foot & Ankle Surgeons

Bunions can be extremely painful.  They can make everyday activities uncomfortable.  These can be things like running or hiking or climbing or even just trying to wear shoes.  The pain is often described as a dull ache or even a burning type sensation.  Plenty of patients relate other things like trying to wear a shoe again after being in a sandal all summer or a sudden sharp pain on the bottom of their foot.  The symptoms and problems associated with a bunion can be diverse and understanding the pathology can be helpful.

A bunion is not a growth on the side of the foot.  Quite a few patients come into the office believing that they have a bony growth that is causing the bunion.  However this is a common misconception. The bunion is caused by a change in position of the 1^st metatarsal bone.  This bone begins to deviate towards the other foot and as it changes position the big toe drifts towards your 5^th digit or pinky toe.  This deviation gets worse with time.  There are factors that influence the bunion.  Primarily it is genetics.  Your bunion develops because one has a family history of bunions.  There are factors that will increase the speed at which it occurs like high heel shoes for example.  Eventually it becomes big enough or painful enough to have it fixed.

Fixing a bunion is my specialty.  I really enjoy helping patients to get back to the activities they love.  Bunion surgery can be relatively straightforward and provide excellent results.  The vast majority of bunions can be fixed in 1-2 hours as an outpatient procedure.  The surgical recovery depends on the procedure selected and the fixation utilized to repair the bunion.  If you are suffering from bunion pain I can help!  Give me a call at 425-391-8666 or make an appointment online today.

Sincerely,

Dr. Brandon Nelson

American College of Foot & Ankle Surgeons

Bunions come in all shapes and sizes.  I have seen very large ones that are not painful and very small ones that are painful.  It is amazing how it can really be all over the spectrum and size and pain do not always coordinate.  The most important first step regardless of pain is to have them evaluated. 

The evaluation should be done by a bunion expert.  I have spent years and time with 1000s of patients evaluating bunions.  I can now say some do very well with conservative care and some require surgery.  I always recommend x-rays and looking at the rest of the foot to see if it is affected.  Sometimes as the bunion gets bigger the smaller toes begin to curl and hammer.  It is paramount to appreciate the rest of the foot and its function as well.      

The treatment for bunions is not all the same.  The treatment depends on individual foot structures, bone quality and lifestyle or activity levels.  If you are suffering from bunion pain, I can help.  I have seen how painful and debilitating it can be.  Make an appointment online or give us a call at 425-391-8666 today. 

Sincerely,

Dr Brandon Nelson

American College of Foot & Ankle Surgeons