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What is the difference between orthopedic surgery and podiatry for the condition of bunions?

Both are medical and surgical specialties, and its practitioners attended medical school and residency.
They often work side by side in hospitals and in the same group practices.

Podiatrists are foot and ankle doctors and surgeons.
Orthopedic surgeons are concerned with bones, muscles, ligaments and joints throughout the body.


Podiatrists go into their field knowing from day one that they will be physicians and surgeons of the foot and ankle.


So even though an orthopedic surgeon may have some experience or training in the foot and ankle, it does not compare in terms of commitment and depth of training in the foot and ankle that a podiatrist receives over many years of schooling, residency and fellowship.

Bunions are common in the case of ballet dancers, or with pronated feet, a genetic condition which causes one to walk on the inside of the foot.

There can be pain in the bump or bunion itself, or there can be pain in the big toe joint.

Bunions are treated with orthotics, wider shoes, and surgery if the condition affects one’s lifestyle.

There are over 100 surgeries for bunions. Podiatrists learn, perform, and are tested on them in the board certification process.

To be board certified, a podiatrist must take and pass a written test, perform a diversity of cases, then submit a portfolio of case studies to be accepted for oral board certification testing.

There is no such intense certification process for foot surgery cases for orthopedic surgeons. Orthopedists also do not make custom functional foot orthotics, devices for the feet that ensure proper biomechanics.

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