Treating Bunions Without Surgery
Have you noticed that your big toe is starting to point outward towards your other toes? Is this causing pain or difficulty with walking, running, exercising, or simply getting around? This is a very common issue with people who have either worn high heels for a long period of time or who wear shoes with narrow toe boxes.
How can physical therapy help bunions?
Hallux valgus is a term that is used to describe your big toe facing outward rather than straight forward. It’s an issue that can be fixed surgically, but physical therapy can also help! Physical therapy for this issue consists of several manual interventions to improve the overall mobility of the big toe, exercises to strengthen the foot intrinsics (tiny muscles in between the bones of your foot), interventions to improve the mobility of the ankle while walking, and recommendations for proper footwear.
Why are most shoes a major issue for your feet?
Many, if not ALL, of the shoes on the market today are much too tight and have toe boxes that are much too narrow for the average person’s foot. Narrow toe boxes have been at the forefront of fashion for a very long time, because a slim, narrow shoe is much more aesthetically pleasing than a big, boxy toe. However, regularly wearing narrow shoes is one of the worst things you can do to the structure of your foot, because our feet were designed to have a natural “splay,” or spreading, of the toes. From the heel forward, our foot should widen all the way out to the toes!
If you’ve got issues with bunions that are affecting your ability to live life like you want to, give Empower Physical Therapy a call today!
