Treating bunions without bunion correctors

The short answer here is yes definitely. There are a number of ways to effectively treat a bunion without bunion correctors. In fact, bunion correctors aren’t really all that effective at correcting bunion correctors they were never really intended for that purpose there role is really just to facilitate the recovery after surgery.

The name is a little bit deceiving really in fact several studies show that they don’t correct a bunion at all. However, this myth has spread like wildfire given that they are so widely available online and through advertising on social media platforms.

The reason they don’t work is that a bunion is caused by the way you stand and the way that you walk unless you address these issues the forces of you walking will always push the big toe out of alignment thus further increasing the deviation that causes a bunion.

The two ways that are considered an effective way to treat a bunion are surgery and a conservative management approach called foot mobilisation. We’ll explore both below.

Bunion Surgery

So, bunion surgery is widely used should only be considered in cases with significant pain in the bunion or in very advanced bunions. Many people come to see us for their bunion assessment and have been advised that they should hold off bunion surgery until it is absolutely necessary.

One surgeon in our area has the classic line ‘Come back and see me when you can’t walk’. In other words, he only operates when there is very significant pain from a bunion.

So, with the bunion surgery they remove the bunion and break the bones around the bunion so they can reset them. Whilst this can be very successful the recovery is significant as you can imagine. Usually anywhere between 2- 6 weeks off your feet and anywhere from 6-12 months before there’s no swelling.

There are also concerns around the function of the big toe as the surgeon will put a pin through the joint to hold it in place. We often have people who are disappointed with the fact that they cannot move their big toe like they would.

Foot mobilisation therapy – An effective conservative management approach to avoid the need for surgery!

So, the other main conservative therapy is foot mobilisation therapy. This is hands on technique combined with exercise therapy that improves the alignment and the function of the big toe/bunion area, and the foot and ankle. It treats the underlying function of the foot and ankle which affects the bunion and contributes to the bunion in the first place.

The big benefit is that it unlike the bunion correctors works to treat the underlying cause of the bunion. It also improves the overall function of the foot and ankle which is a huge factor in a bunion, not to mention a silver lining is that it helps a whole range of other things.

The key is to try to treat the underlying cause of the bunion asap so that you can avoid the need for surgery. Even if you don’t have pain it’s important to get on top of a bunion so that you can avoid surgery.