The Bunion Blog
Love my MBT shoes!
October 10th, 2011
Last summer, as I switched to custom made insoles again, I also decided to get a couple of MBT shoes (there was a shop that sold these kind of shoes located conveniently next to my podiatrist's practice). And I must admit, after using them for about 4 months now, I really, really like them!
The first day, I only had them on for half an hour or so and I felt quite unstable and walking on them made me very tired in my ankles. But only after a week or so I was completely used to them and already had them on for the whole day. They completely take the pressure off the balls of my feet, and therefore I almost don't feel the bones at the base of my second and third toes anymore. The size is wide enough, so I don't feel my bunions either (however bunion pain wasn't the problem for me anymore).
They say you have to be very careful when walking the stairs with these kind of shoes, but that doesn't really cause a problem for me (and I live in a house with lots of stairs). There's only one thing I cannot do with these shoes, and that is driving a car.
Changing to custom made orthotics again
October 10th, 2011
It's been a couple of months now since I changed my posture control insoles for custom made orthotics again. Why? Not because of my bunions really, but more because of the bones on the base of my second and third toes. They started to hurt more and more when I walked long distances.
Also, there was a new podiatrist in town, and people were speaking well of his knowledge and skills. So I decided to give custom made orthotics a try again.
So far (after a couple of months), I'm quite happy with them, especially when used in combination with the MBT shoes I bought at the same time. When I put them in my regular shoes, they're still ok, but after a while the little bones in my feet still start getting painful.
EFT
February 15th, 2008
The other day Anke Szillat mentioned EFT to me (thanks, Anke!). EFT? I had never heard about it before but soon found out that these three letters stand for 'Emotional Freedom Techniques' and that it is a technique that can be applied to all sorts of ailments.
Can EFT be used to cure bunions as well? Though the EFT website presents a lot of case studies in which EFT was succesfully used, I couldn't find a case study involving bunions (yet). The technique however has been applied with succes to people suffering from such a wide variety of conditions, that I think it would be interesting to try it on bunions as well.
Read more about EFT on this special web page I dedicated to the subject.
Marigold side effects
February 8th, 2008
For a couple of weeks now, I'm at stage II of the marigold treatment, which means I'm applying marigold tincture and oil to my bunions and the rest of my feet once or twice a day. That way, I'm hoping to maintain the improvement my feet have achieved thanks to the treatment.
By rubbing my feet with marigold oil yesterday, all of a sudden I noticed that the skin of my feet was changing. My feet have always been quite callous as a result of too much pressure on certain parts. Of course I'm always trying to keep things under control, having a pedicure once every two months and making sure I take good care of my feet myself, but still...
Now it seems like my feet are gradually softening and 'throwing of' their callosities. Nice surprise! I had a look at the marigold brochures I had received together with my home treatment, and indeed, there I found that marigold could also be beneficial in the treatment of callosities, corns, and even fungal infections. Looks like we have a cure-all for foot problems here :)
Are you a pronator or a supinator?
February 1st, 2008
Last week I had my husband take a few pictures of my feet, to be able to assess the way I position them. The result? No doubt about it: I'm a supinator. A supinator is someone who's rolling his or her ankles outwards – as opposed to a pronator, who's rolling his or her ankles inwards.
But why should you know whether you're a pronator or supinator? For example when you plan to buy prefabricated orthopedic insoles. Orthopedic insoles are meant to correct faulty foot mechanics, so if you're choosing them yourself you have to know at least what they're supposed to do, to be able to choose the right ones. If you have your insoles custom made however, you won't need this information, as your podiatrist will tell you what correction you need.
Read more about this topic on this web page.
Bunion diet
January 25th, 2008
Are you on a diet this month, like I am myself? Every year when the Christmas holidays are over, and everything's back to normal, I'm trying to shed a few pounds. Not by following a fancy diet, just by eating healthy and avoiding sugars and fats as much as possible.
But this year, there's an additional reason why I want to loose some weight: it's good for my feet too when I'm lean and mean! By keeping my weight under control, I'm also keeping my bunion problem under control.
You wonder how that's possible? Well, the more you weigh, the more your feet have to carry, and the more pressure you put on your joints – including the first metatarsal joint (at the base of your big toe). And it's overpressure of those joints that is one of the reasons of bunion development. In fact it's so obvious that it's strange it never occured to me before. One reason the more to watch my food intake this year!
Bunion pictures
January 19th, 2008
Because often pictures tell a lot more than words, I uploaded some pictures of my feet to the site. This way you can see for yourself if there's an improvement since I started this experiment six months ago.
Also, I updated the page about the experiment results. I make it a point to rewrite this page every two months or so, to keep you informed about the effects of the combination of bunion treatments I'm trying. Last time I did this was in November 2007, so it was about time!
Exercising your feet by spreading your toes
January 10th, 2008
I really do believe in the benefits of spreading your toes as much as possible. Like you do when you're wearing flipflops/yoga sandals or yoga toes. I so strong believe that spreading my toes is good for my feet, that I'm even wearing yoga toes in bed! At first I couldn't wear them for more than an hour or so before they started to irritate me. But now I'm half way through the night before I take them off. I hope this means my joints are becoming more flexible...
However, by wearing yoga toes and flipflops you're only exercising your feet passively. You should also exercise your toes actively, by separating your big toe from your second toe, and also by putting your first two toes together and pulling them away from the other three toes. That way you'll strengthen the muscles in your feet and toes and it'll help to relax them.
I think she's right. I do the elastic band exercise a lot (# 4 on the exercise page), but I have to agree that's a quite passive one. There are a couple of active exercises on my exercise page as well, but when I come to think of it, my favorite exercises are the passive ones. I guess it's time to make some adjustments to my exercise routine...
Marigold Bunion Therapy
January 3rd, 2008
A happy and healthy 2008 to all of you! This year, I hope to continue my bunion experiment and write about anything I come across that looks interesting or promising for the treatment of bunions and hallux valgus.
Like the marigold therapy for instance. I had heard about this therapy before, but didn't want to write about it before I could tell you a bit more about it. In the meantime I've finished stage I of the treatment and am now at stage II (which takes a couple of months to complete).
Last week I added a page about the marigold therapy to the site. Here you can read my observations about this bunion treatment. As always, feel free to post your comments by clicking on the link below.