About the bunion condition

1. What can I do to help prevent my bunion from becoming worse?

•         Wear as little high heels and pointed shoes as  possible.
•         Use bunion-specific foot orthoses for best protection.
•         Try silicon toe spreader or night splint but their effectiveness is not known.
•         Physiotherapist instructed foot and toe exercises.

2. If I have a family history of bunion condition, what is the chance of me developing it?

 
Genes play a strong role in majority bunion patients. You may have inherited bunion genes but their effects are random and there is no statistics yet of their expression among family members. Female hormones (estrogen) can also compound the risk greatly and tilt the gender-balance to 9 times more common among female than male.


 
3. When may I need to start considering surgical treatment?
   
Usually when conservative measures fail to control bunion related pain in the foot, leg or low back and the pain begins to interfere with daily activities. To prevent the development of arthritis of the affected big toe joint, surgery should be considered for severe bunion deformity in a relatively young and active person.







Reference information: www.bunioncenter.com

It is not intended as medical advice to any specific person. If you have any need for personal advice or have any questions regarding your health, please consult your Orthopedist for diagnosis and treatment.

The Center for Dr. Wu's Bunion Surgery

 

 

 The Center for Dr. Wu's Bunion Surgery is dedicated exclusively to the treatment, research and education of the bunion condition and to the development of non-bone-breaking bunion surgery.

 

Foot is more for function than for show. The ultimate goal of bunion surgery should always be function restoration so that foot can return to normal activities and shoes without restrictions and recurrence. Foot function can only be meaningfully assessed by computerized function scan study. To demonstrate objectively and ensure that Dr. Wu’s non-bone-breaking bunion surgery can restore normal function of bunion feet, our center has been conducting force function study of every foot with F-Scan® by TekScan before and after surgery since 2005. Bunion surgery to us is not only for cosmetic correction but even more importantly for function improvement.

 

To ensure consistent x-ray assessment of each foot for before and after surgery comparison and for research purpose, the center is also equipped with state-of-the-art foot-specific competerized digital x-ray machine.

Our center has its own foot-lab to provide custom-made foot orthotics and also a wide range size of ready-made orthotics specifically designed for protecting bunion feet.

 

 

 

Reference information: www.bunioncenter.com

It is not intended as medical advice to any specific person. If you have any need for personal advice or have any questions regarding your health, please consult your Orthopedist for diagnosis and treatment.

Foot for Thought (2)

 

Since females are known to dominate bunion condition over males by the ration of 9:1 and if high heels are not at fault then what is responsible for the gender-related propensity?

To understand the reason, it is necessary to recognize that the bunion condition is caused by over-flexibility of ligaments. What makes female more flexible and even to the point of dislocating their pubic symphysis during pregnancies are female hormones, not high heels.

? A Question to Ponder

Q: If high heels play only a small role in bunion debacles, can they still be worn after surgery with impunity?

A: Unfortunately, the answer may not be quite so simple.
According to websites of American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons and the British Orthopaedic Association, both advise that patients will have some shoe and activity restrictions after current surgical techniques.
However, not all bunion surgeries are created equal and it is self-explanation by simple x-ray illustration below to compare traditional ‘bone-breaking’ procedures (>95% of all bunion surgeries done around the world) and the minimal-traumatic ‘non-bone-breaking’ syndesmosis procedure which carries no activity or shoe restrictions after surgery.

BY Dr. Daniel WU
Specialist in Orthopaedics 

Reference: Pulse - Medical News

It is not intended as medical advice to any specific person. If you have any need for personal advice or have any questions regarding your health, please consult your Orthopedist for diagnosis and treatment.

Foot for Thought (1)

 

Everyone would probably agree that feet are mainly functional rather than ornamental. Despite the extreme strains put on our feet in vross-country running and ballet dancing, these common activities are neither medically inadvisable nor proven damaging to our feet.

 

But, why are the devilishly beautiful high-heel shoes always painted as evil instruments for feet? Admittedly, they can be uncomfortable, tiring, bad for knees and back but do they really cause bunion deformities?

After having seen a great number of bunion feet (both women’s and men’s) that are not caused by wearing high-heel shoes, in cooperation with the HK Baptist University, a 2008 survey of over one thousand Chinese women was finally conducted to explore the prevalence and common causes of bunion deformity in Hong Kong.

The findings were 36.5% of surveyed had varying degrees of bunion deformity which was in line with international incidences of 33-50%. Within our bunion sub-group, 88% gave a positive family history and 83% denied much taste for high-heels. Further analysis revealed 74% of bunions were linked to family history alone and only 3% to high heels. In other words, family history could be 25 times as important as high heels in association to bunion development. (“Does Wearing High Heeled Shoes Cause Hallux Valgus? A survey on Chinese Females”, a scientific paper based on our findings has been accepted for publication in Foot and Ankle Online Journal.)

 

BY Dr. Daniel WU
Specialist in Orthopaedics

Reference: Pulse - Medical News

It is not intended as medical advice to any specific person. If you have any need for personal advice or have any questions regarding your health, please consult your Orthopedist for diagnosis and treatment.

拇趾外翻治療-拇趾外翻手術,拇趾外翻矯正

治療的真實情形

a. 對減輕拇趾外翻的痛楚而言，最實際和有效的方法是穿著較舒適及寬鬆的鞋子。
b. 不幸地，到目前為止，暫時未有經證實的方式能阻止拇趾外翻持續惡化的問題。
c. 拇趾外翻問題必須以手術才能矯正。

非手術治療方法

暫時未證據顯示非手術的方法能有效地修正及穩固鬆弛和偏離的第一蹠骨，較為實際的非手術方法是以較平、寛鬆和舒適的鞋子來減輕拇趾外翻的痛楚；消炎 止痛藥能幫助舒緩痛楚，但效果只是暫時。物理治療有機會防止或恢復部份拇趾功能，但不能矯正問題。一些拇趾拉直的工具(如拇趾分離膠或拇趾外翻足托)或可 處理輕微的病症，但會讓嚴重患者更感不適，並且效果未經證實。特別設計的拇趾外翻專用鞋墊能減輕足繭和蹠骨痛楚，或能阻延第一蹠骨繼續偏移開去。

拇趾分離膠	拇趾外翻專用鞋墊

手術治療

一直以來，已發展超過150種不同的拇趾外翻手術方式，全球現今流行的方法亦有20種多種。眾多不同的方式可能是由於直到目前為止，仍未有一種最理想的手術方式被醫生一致公認。

拇趾外翻治療的目標

拇趾外翻的最終目標應該是幫助拇趾恢復正常功能、解除患者痛楚及處理因拇趾外翻而引發的連串問題。

傳統拇趾外翻手術: 截骨移位術

相信所有外科醫生都明白拇趾外翻主要是源於正常的第一蹠骨偏移而引起。要矯正這問題，最常見的方法是採用多種不同的截骨移位術。而選擇方式要視乎不同的嚴重程度及醫生的建議而作決定。


 

參考資料: www.bunioncenter.com/

以上所提供的資訊僅作為教育及參考用途，如果你有任何醫療問題，

應向自己的骨科醫生查詢，而不應單倚賴以上提供的資料。

嚴重拇趾外翻案例- 拇趾外翻手術, 拇趾外翻矯正

嚴重拇趾外翻案例 A

嚴重拇趾外翻情況 (#1200)：一直以來，當面對不同程度的拇趾外翻問題，需要以不同的截骨手術方式來處理，吳醫生韌帶聯合術由輕微至嚴重個案均可矯正及回復患者功能。

手術前

48嵗，女士，患嚴重拇趾外翻

手術後

手術後一年半，前足收窄

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嚴重拇趾外翻案例 B

手術前	手術後

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嚴重拇趾外翻案例 C

手術前	手術後

嚴重拇趾外翻案例 D

手術前	手術後

嚴重拇趾外翻案例 E

手術前	手術後

參考資料: www.bunioncenter.com/

以上所提供的資訊僅作為教育及參考用途，如果你有任何醫療問題，

應向自己的骨科醫生查詢，而不應單倚賴以上提供的資料。

中度拇趾外翻案例- 拇趾外翻手術,拇趾外翻治療

中度拇趾外翻情況 (#1108)：普遍認為，以中度拇趾外翻來說，截骨手術 (Chevron) 比非截骨手術 (McBride)更為有效。但吳醫生的韌帶聯合術不單能在非截骨的情形下改善外觀，還能更有效地恢復拇趾功能，這結果是根據超過三百個拇趾外翻的病例；並於手術前後進行足部的功能掃瞄測試而來。

手術前

57嵗，女士，患中度拇趾外翻

手術後

手術後一年半，前足收窄

中度拇趾外翻情況 (#1412):

手術前


手術後

參考資料: www.bunioncenter.com/

以上所提供的資訊僅作為教育及參考用途，如果你有任何醫療問題，

應向自己的骨科醫生查詢，而不應單倚賴以上提供的資料。

教育短片: 拇趾外翻 (下)

一般人對拇趾外翻最常見的誤解是認為它是骨增生所引起，故對正常趾骨作出修改都可能影­響手術的效果。實際上拇趾外翻通常只有輕微的骨增生問題，亦甚小機會涉及骨骼變形。在­一般典型的拇趾外翻個案中，拇囊腫塊是源於正常的第一蹠骨(連接拇趾骨後面的一條骨)­傾斜而使其頂端向外突出而造成 (如圖1)。這傾斜的正常蹠骨使皮膚經常與鞋子磨擦並引起發炎或拇囊腫脹的情況，亦被­稱為拇囊炎(如圖2) ，腫脹的情形會使拇囊腫更為明顯及脹大。亦因疼痛的關係，經常被誤以為是痛風症或骨增­生的問題。

參考資料: www.bunioncenter.com/

以上所提供的資訊僅作為教育及參考用途，如果你有任何醫療問題，

應向自己的骨科醫生查詢，而不應單倚賴以上提供的資料。

        

教育短片: 拇趾外翻 (上)

一般人對拇趾外翻最常見的誤解是認為它是骨增生所引起，故對正常趾骨作出修改都可能影­響手術的效果。實際上拇趾外翻通常只有輕微的骨增生問題，亦甚小機會涉及骨骼變形。在­一般典型的拇趾外翻個案中，拇囊腫塊是源於正常的第一蹠骨(連接拇趾骨後面的一條骨)­傾斜而使其頂端向外突出而造成 (如圖1)。這傾斜的正常蹠骨使皮膚經常與鞋子磨擦並引起發炎或拇囊腫脹的情況，亦被­稱為拇囊炎(如圖2) ，腫脹的情形會使拇囊腫更為明顯及脹大。亦因疼痛的關係，經常被誤以為是痛風症或骨增­生的問題。


參考資料: www.bunioncenter.com/

以上所提供的資訊僅作為教育及參考用途，如果你有任何醫療問題，

應向自己的骨科醫生查詢，而不應單倚賴以上提供的資料。

The Leaning Tower of Pisa Analogy

The problem of bunion condition is very much similar to the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa because both of them suffer the same problem of instability and leaning deformity. Bunion deformity is caused by the leaning of first metatarsal which is the long bone behind the big toe. The structures of both the Tower of Pisa and the first metatarsal bone are normal and unchanged from the day they were created. They lean simply because their supporting structures, namely the foundation of the Tower and ligaments of the bone, have failed them. If the Tower were ever broken and shifted to make it look straighter, many would be concerned by the fact that the Tower will be irrevocably damaged and may even still continue to lean because its weak foundation problem has never been addressed. Similarly, breaking of the normal first metatarsal bone may compromise its form and function but its leaning deformity may also recur since its failed supporting ligament problem would not have been addressed either.

Reference: www.bunioncenter.com/

It is not intended as medical advice to any specific person. If you have any need for personal advice or have any questions regarding your health, please consult your Orthopedist for diagnosis and treatment.

A fresh concept and a non-bone-breaking alternative

the syndesmosis procedure, to the popular bone-breaking surgeries

“Syndesmosis” is a normal anatomical structure in human body to connect and stabilize two parallel long bones. Syndesmosis procedure was designed to reproduce this connecting structure. The syndesmosis concept has been evolved from the understanding that the true cause of bunion deformity lies in the malfunctioning of the ligaments rather than any real bone deformities. If bones are normal, then no bones should ever need to be broken unless absolutely necessary. The non-bone-breaking syndesmosis procedure aims to re-align and then also re-stabilize the displaced but normal bones of the bunion foot. It can do so by tying the displaced and loose first metatarsal bone to the adjacent second metatarsal bone and then also by creating a syndesmosis fibrous bridge to connect and stabilize it to the second metatarsal bone also to prevent deformity recurrence.

Reference: www.bunioncenter.com/

It is not intended as medical advice to any specific person. If you have any need for personal advice or have any questions regarding your health, please consult your Orthopedist for diagnosis and treatment.