How To Fix & Prevent Bunions Without Surgery!

Will Harlow, the over-50s specialist physio, shows us how:

Healthy feet from the inside

First, what a bunion is: a bunion is a deformity of the first metatarsophalangeal joint where your big toe drifts inwards towards your other toes, creating a bony lump on the side of your foot that can become painful, stiff, arthritic, and irritated by shoes.

As for what causes bunions: genetics can increase your risk, but tight footwear and poor foot and leg mechanics are the main modifiable causes. So, with this in mind, do wear shoes with a wide toe box and a soft upper material, so that your toes aren’t compressed together; narrow dress shoes and high heels can worsen bunions by forcing your toes inward, so be sparing in your use of those.

Massage can help, specifically:

• Massage between your toes: massage the gap between your big toe and second toe, to loosen the dorsal interossei muscles, which can otherwise contribute to your toe drifting inwards; press firmly into the soft tissue for about 5 minutes daily.
• Massage under the ball of your foot: massage the soft tissue beneath the ball of your foot, to loosen the adductor hallucis muscle, which pulls your big toe inwards; press deeply, but avoid excessive pressure directly on the bones for this one.

Strengthening exercises can also help:

• Big toe strengthening exercise: put a finger between your big toe and second toe, pull your big toe outwards, then try to hold it there using your foot muscles before letting it return slowly; this mobilizes the joint and strengthens the abductor hallucis muscle, which opposes the bunion position.
• Hip strengthening exercise: do clamshell exercises by lying on your side with your knees bent, keeping your heels together, and lifting your top knee without rolling your hips backwards; this strengthens your hip abductors and reduces inward collapse of your leg and foot.
• Arch strengthening exercise: do standing inversion exercises with a resistance band around your calves, by lifting your arches while keeping your feet on the ground; this strengthens your tibialis posterior muscle and helps prevent excessive foot pronation that stresses the bunion area.

For more on all of this plus visual demonstrations as appropriate, enjoy:

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Want to learn more?

You might also like:

The Foot Book – by Dr. Todd Brennan & Dr. Leslie Johnston

Take care!