The Bunion Blog – Category ‘Bunion Splint’
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 left a comment 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.