The Bunion - Will it Go Away?
The Bunion and Our Feet
We covered the basics about bunions in our last blog post. So if you haven’t read it, I would start from there. For starters, the bunion has several connections with the rest of the foot and is also the last joint of the body. Hah! You've never thought about it like that, have you?
Anyhow, the toe joint is mainly controlled by four muscle groups that hold it in place (or out of place, unfortunately). The flexor and extensor muscles move the toe up and down, while the abductor and adductor muscle groups move the toe inward and outward. Haha, I’m sure you’re trying to pull your toe out. And yes, you should be able to do so. If not, don’t worry! In our toe yoga blog, which is yet to come, you will find out how to do that.
How Does the Bunion Get Formed?
The percentage of pull, or lack of it, happening from these four muscle groups will affect the orientation of the big toe, and hence the bunion gets formed. To add insult to injury, the toe joint is directly affected by the position of the ankle joint complex. So if you have a more pronated foot (flatter foot), the bunion angle will be more exaggerated.
Here’s an activity you can do to test this concept out if you have a bunion:
Place a piece of paper under your foot, and trace it (might be a fun family activity).
After that, grab another pen colour, and before you trace, rotate your knee outward.
You’ll feel that the foot arch kind of increases in height.
Trace again, and you will see that the line of the bunion in relation to the foot is now more straight.
Tools that Can Help Bunions
Okay Sherlock, now what? Let’s start with some tools which can help:
Toe Spacers are a great invention that start spreading and pushing against the tight abductor. And since it’s a passive tool (you put it in and just go on with your day), it will help without any effort from your end.
The next tools that really have an impact are the Toe Bands. These were specifically made for the foot/toes and will add a pull or push during specific movements. They will also release tightness and strengthen the muscles around the joint.
Last but definitely not least is the shoe. Refrain from wearing tight-toe boxes and make sure that the shoe and your foot are kinda similar in shape. The concept of barefoot shoes is that they complement the shape of the foot so that you are certain that the shoe is not limiting the width of the forefoot.
