Different Ways to Deal with Bunions

A bunion refers to the bony bump at the base part of the big toe. It usually forms when a person wears ill-fitting footwear frequently. When the shoe is too tight at the toe part. It squeezes the toes too close together and pulls them out of their normal place. The big toe gets pulled inwards which forces the joint to stick out, causing a painful bunion. There are several stages of bunions, depending on their severity. Mild bunions are easy to treat, however, severe ones may need surgery to bring back the natural shape of the foot and cure the pain. If you’re suffering from this foot condition, here are some ways how to deal with it.

Wearing Wide-Toed Shoes

Since bunions are formed especially when the person wears tight-toed footwear, the simplest remedy to this is to wear wide-toed footwear instead. Wide toe footwear has a lot of room for your toes so it doesn’t squeeze the toes into unnatural positions. If you have a bunion, it is best to avoid pointy or narrow-toed shoes and opt for specially designed shoes for bunions with a wide toe and great arch support.

Look for Footwear with Good Arch Support

The toes are one of the points in your feet that get a lot of pressure when you’re moving around. Aside from wearing the right footwear that is designed for feet with bunions. It is also important to look for footwear that has good arch support. This helps move the pressure away from the painful toe area. To add more arch support to your shoes. Invest in quality custom orthotic shoe inserts to reduce the pain of bunion while wearing footwear.

Wear a Toe Separator

During the early stages of the bunion, you could help prevent the first two toes from sticking to each other by wearing a toe separator. This helps prevent the bunion from developing further and getting fixed in a painful position. You could wear this inside footwear to prevent your toes from getting pulled close to each other. However, you’ll need to wear wider footwear to accommodate the additional space needed in the toe part.

Use a Bunion Splint

Bunion splints provide better alignment features compared to toe separators. It helps pull the big toe gently back to its natural position while pushing back the toe joint into the feet so it doesn’t protrude and cause pain.

Unlike toe separators, bunion splints can’t be worn inside shoes or any footwear. The best time to wear them is at night when you’re going to bed. It helps relieve bunion pain, especially after a whole day of wearing shoes. However, it doesn’t straighten the toes permanently.

Bunions are really painful making it uncomfortable to wear shoes and any footwear. Try out those tips mentioned above to alleviate bunion pain and stop its progress. For a permanent bunion fix, you could always opt for surgery to fix the bunion and bring your feet back to their normal state.