Bunions are small bumps on toes that can create a lot of pain and discomfort for many. 

Surgery is one solution, but there's an older method that's now being challenged by a newer one. 

The minimal bunionectomy helped get one woman back on her feet.

Megan Christopher stays on the move as a mom of three teenage daughters; however, she was stopped in her tracks by painful bunions.

"I think, for me, at least, at night, when I finally took my shoes off and would be sitting down, my foot would just throb," Christopher said.

After a painful open bunionectomy a few years ago, she investigated a new procedure called a minimally-invasive bunionectomy.

"Now, we use tools that allow us to do these small keyhole incisions, to do that same sort of precise cut. Patients, for the first two months, will have much less pain and swelling with the minimally-invasive techniques than with the traditional invasive open bunion surgery," Mercy Medical Center Surgeon Rebecca Cerrato said. "How people get bunions, there are many causes. Probably, most people come in and there are multiple causes, even for that person. It's not just bad shoe wear or high heels. Probably the most common cause is genetics."

Patients who undergo a minimally-invasive bunionectomy can usually get into a normal shoe within six weeks and progress to biking and walking.

Christopher's added bonus was not having to look at her distorted feet.

"Yeah, I'm back... I can get in shoes, and sometimes I'm walking in my closet, and I'll stop, and I'm like, 'oh my gosh, those are my feet. They look so good, they look so normal!'"

The smaller minimally-invasive incisions are performed with specialized instruments to realign the foot and remove pressure.

Doctors caution that not all bunions can be treated by this new surgery and that the bunions may come back, but are usually not as painful.