There is a pattern that shows up every autumn, and almost nobody connects it to the obvious cause. Feet that were fine all summer start aching in October. A bunion that had been quiet becomes sore. The ball of the foot starts burning on the walk to the station. An Achilles that had not been mentioned in months begins protesting on the stairs.
Nothing has changed about your feet. Everything has changed about what you are putting them in.
People describe this one in unusually consistent language. It feels like walking on a pebble. Or like my sock is bunched up under my toes. Or like a burning or electric sensation shooting into the toes. And frequently: I have to stop and take my shoe off. That cluster of descriptions points towards one particular diagnosis, though several other conditions can produce forefoot pain and they need telling apart, because the treatments differ considerably.
Almost everything people believe about bunions falls into one of two categories.
Things that are true but incomplete, and things that are widely repeated and not actually established. The second category is larger than you would expect, and it includes the two beliefs almost everyone holds about them. Here is an honest sort.
