The Bunion Blog Archives – September-October 2007
Numbness Disappearing
October 26th, 2007
I've had four acupuncture sessions by now, and I noticed a slight improvement this week! No, not in my bunions yet – they still seem to be the same size more or less. And neither in the alignment of my big toes – they're still leaning towards my second toes. But I did get back some feeling into my big toes!
Certain parts of my big toes have been numb for ages: especially the upper/outer sides. I almost cannot remember how it felt like to have something brush against the side of your toes. So it was kind of funny to experience this feeling again. I know, it's just a slight improvement, but for me it proves that something's changing for the better!
The Rule of Six
October 19th, 2007
How do you keep motivated? Motivated to continue exercising your feet, to take a daily footbath, to keep to a healthy diet?
The other day, I learned a great way to stay motivated. It was my acupuncturist who mentioned it to me. I call it the ‘Rule of Six’.
What is this ‘Rule of Six’ about? Well, nothing more than that you allow yourself a break every now and then. A daily footbath is still a daily footbath when taken six days a week instead of seven. Your diet is still healthy when you cannot resist a big chocolate chip cookie at times. And you really still have a chance to reduce the size of your bunions if you have to skip your bunion exercises every Tuesday.
Do you see what I mean? Don't be too harsh on yourself; give yourself a break from time to time and it'll be much more easier for you to follow the guidelines you've set for yourself.
An Unconventional Bunion Treatment
October 11th, 2007
Are you ready to try a really unconventional bunion treatment? As for me, I'm willing to try almost everything, including a treatment Dewey from New Orleans developed. He claims it helped him to get rid of his bunions. And when it worked for him, why shouldn't it work for others as well?
Because Dewey has no proof that his treatment works for people other than himself, he's looking for people that are willing to give his bunion therapy a try. All you have to do is give him a call, and he'll send the first ten people the device he developed to attack your bunions for free, as well instructions on how to use it.
So why don't you join me, and give this most uncommon bunion treatment a fair try!
My First Acupuncture Treatment
October 5th, 2007
Yesterday, I had my first acupuncture treatment. I was curious to know what the acupuncturist's opinion would be about treating bunions this way and of course I was a bit nervous about the treatment itself.
Well, I shouldn't have been. I was warned that inserting the needles could hurt a bit, but fortunately it didn't. Each time a needle was inserted I had to breathe in and I really didn't feel more that just a faint tingle most of the time.
At one point though a needle was inserted that sent a strong 'electrical current' towards the top of my left toe. That one needle did hurt, and my acupuncturist immediately removed it and inserted it slightly to the side, telling me she'd try again the following week.
After I had lain down for about 20-30 minutes with needles all over my feet, they were taken out again. How did I feel? Well, a bit shaky to be honest, with sweaty palms, and once I was home again, I realized I felt very tired. As if I had worked for a long, long time and finally got a rest. I have no idea if this is normal – it's just the way I reacted to this treatment.
Of course I asked my acupuncturist what she thought of acupuncture as a bunion treatment. (I had hoped she could tell me that she had successfully treated people with bunions before!) But no, she hadn't – though she had previously treated people for the pain their bunions caused them. So I'll have to find out for myself if this works!
Step Forward Insoles
September 28nd, 2007
This week, I received an email from someone called Harlene, who told me about her experiences with Step Forward Insoles. She wrote she'd had bunions for years, caused by her dancing and by wearing shoes that were too tight. At a health expo, she was introduced to Step Forward Insoles, and decided they were worth a try. By now, she has been wearing them consistently for 1 month, and says that her toes indeed seem to be straightening out.
Now, I'd never heard about Step Forward Insoles before, so I immediately did a Google search for them. (The link will take you to their corparate website, if you'd like to check things out for yourself.) I found out that their insoles try to do the same thing as the Posture Control Insoles I'm wearing at the moment: correcting wrong foot mechanics.
And honestly, I was impressed by the testimonials published there (not just quotes, but complete letters, converted to pdf) from happy customers – though I couldn't find a testimonial from someone who'd suffered from bunions (yet).
Nevertheless, I'd sure give them a try if I weren't already wearing Posture Control Insoles. I don't want to switch insoles every couple of weeks, but want to keep wearing the same ones for at least six months to see what they do for my feet (and until now, I must say I'm very happy with mine). However, they don't last a lifetime, so I'll consider trying the Step Forward Insoles when they need to be replaced.
True, the Step Forward Insoles are not cheap (they're currently selling at about $300.00 USD), but they seem to last quite a long time (over ten years).
If you decide to buy them (or are already wearing them), please leave a comment to let us know what you think of them.
Bunion Night Splint, Toe Separator or Exercises for Bunions?
September 22nd, 2007
This week, I came across an interesting research. It was carried out in 2002 at the School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation of Hacettepe University in Ankara, Turkey. The results were published in a Turkish journal, the Journal of Arthroplasty & Arthrosopic Surgery. Fortunately it contained an abstract in English, otherwise I wouldn't be able to tell you about it!
The goal of the study was to find out which of the following bunion treatments was the most effective in reducing pain and a flexible hallux valgus deformity: bunion night splints, a toe separator, or mobilisation exercises? (Actually, 'hallux valgus' is not the same as a bunion, though they often come together; 'hallux valgus' refers to the condition that your big toe is leaning towards your second toe.)
To get an answer to this question, forty-five people with hallux valgus were randomly divided over three groups. The first group received a toe separator, the second a bunion splint to be worn at night and the third group had to do mobilisation exercises.
Prior to these bunion treatments, as well as after three months, patients were assessed for pain and the clinical manifestation of their hallux valgus deformity. The results? I quote from the journal:
"Statictical analysis of the data revealed
that while a hallux separator was ineffective in
reducing pain and deformity, a hallux valgus night
splint did not effect the deformity but could
alleviate pain. Mobilisation exercises were effective
in decreasing pain and in correcting a flexible
deformity to some extent." (Source)
This definitely helps me to keep motivated and continue my daily exercise routine!
Bunion Splint Marketing?
September 15th, 2007
Lately I have been contacted a few times by a couple of people who all wanted to turn my attention to just one thing: some bunion splint.
The first one to contact me was an aspiring writer, who said he was working on a story which involved bunions, and would love to ask me some questions about what it's like to have bunions. However, in his next email he didn't ask a single question, just told me he discovered this bunion splint.
The next person was a woman who commented on one of my blog entries. The first thing she mentions, are the same bunion splints.
And finally, I received an email from a woman telling me again about those great bunion splints.
Now I don't know if this is some sort of marketing campaign or just a coincidence, but three messages about the same bunion splint in two weeks time make me think. The more so because I don't receive a lot of emails (yet). And the people who do send me an email, usually don't just tell me about some kind of product they discovered that could help in treating their bunions.
However, that doesn't mean that the product itself is worthless. In this case, it's a bunion splint that can be used as a night splint as well as a day splint. Of course, this could be useful. As for myself, I'm not going to purchase it though. I'm already using a bunion night splint which suits me fine, and a day splint just takes up too much space in my shoes.
But if you do decide to purchase them, please be so kind to tell the rest of us what you think of them.
A Cornish Walking Holiday
September 3rd, 2007
We've just spent a couple of fantastic walking days in Cornwall. The weather hasn't been very good this summer in this part of the world, but I think we've been very lucky: lots of sun and not a single drop of rain for the past ten days!
Almost ten years ago, we walked part of the South West Coast Path, one of the longest long distance foot paths in England. As we enjoyed it very much at the time, we decided to come back this year and explore another stretch of the beautiful Cornish coastline.
To be honest, I was a bit apprehensive before we started, because the past ten years the bunions on my feet gradually grew worse and walking long distances became increasingly more difficult. I've been trying to cope by decreasing the weight of my backpack (mostly by staying in B&B's instead of camping). Also, I bought a set of walking poles, which take some weight off your feet, especially when you're going downhill.
But now that I've started this bunion experiment, I've discovered more items that could help me covering 11 to 12 miles (18 to 20 km) by foot each day: my posture control insoles, Epsom salts, yoga toes and zeng ghu shui lotion (see the page about bunion care products for more information). Luckily these items don't weigh very much; they merely take up some extra space. The only thing I decided to leave at home was the tiger warmer – I was afraid its smoke would trigger the fire alarms in the B&B's where we were staying!
Looking back, I'm glad I brought all these items. Although my bunions surely did look red after a long day of walking, this redness quickly subsided after a foot bath with Epsom salts (I used a foldable beach bag with a plastic liner) and putting the yoga toes on afterwards also felt really good.
And last but not least: I don't know if it's because of the posture control insoles I'd put in my walking shoes, but I never had to stop walking because of pain under my right foot, something which has happened a couple of times before. So I hope I'm on the right track!