I just read more than 50% of American women and 25% of American men have bunions. What the ****? What is the reason?

[liam183]

It's modern shoes. Get a pair of toe spacers and only wear wide toe box zero drop shoes

 

[I'm.No.One]

FWIW: according to my acupuncturist, it’s “normal” if your second toe from the big toe is longer than your big toe. I think it changes how a person walks and this leads to bunions. Bunions are a very common occurrence that are not necessarily painful or impede movement.

I have painless bunions and my second toe is longer than my big toe on both feet

. Does anyone else have this combination? I’ve always wanted to confirm if this actually could be the cause.

My second toe is crazy longer than my first, I've walked more miles in horrible shoes than the average human walks in there life (not being sarcastic there) & I don't have bunions.

 

[GTW]

The price of toe socks has come away down since first introduced. Perhaps not a solution to bunions but good overall for your feet and toes.

 

[Nicole W.]

My second toe is crazy longer than my first, I've walked more miles in horrible shoes than the average human walks in there life (not being sarcastic there) & I don't have bunions.

I’ve been looking into this phenomenon a little further and, apparently, the longer second toe is called Morton’s toe. Apparently, Morton’s toe strongly correlates with the incidence of bunions. But there is always the exception to the rule: in your case, you do not have bunions and in mine, I have them but they are not painful.

 

[carlz]

My feet were headed to bunion-shaped until I had a kid and was barefoot 90% of the time. My feet have spread out a ton and my big toe is going back to where it should be.

 

[Lizb]

It's modern shoes. Get a pair of toe spacers and only wear wide toe box zero drop shoes

Yes I agree. The way weight/force is applied to parts of the foot because of the way you walk and stand are also significant. But of course the shoes contribute to that.

 

[Parrot]

Walk barefoot as much as possible. I do and when I first saw my chiropractor he was surprised at the gaps between my toes and said '...you must walk barefoot a lot. It is very good for your feet - we spend far too much time locked up in ill fitting shoes.'

 

[Jib]

Is there a cheaper option that's good, or do you really pay $60 for these things?

Not sure if there is a cheaper option, but I still have mine many, many years after buying them and they're still working fine. More than worth the investment for me. I also use any 'barefoot' shoe I can find, usually used on eBay or on clearance, e.g. Lem's and Xero Shoes. Brand new they're very expensive but used pairs that are like new pop up online all the time

 

[Lejeboca]

Incidence of thyroid disease in patients with forefoot deformity - PubMed

The current study suggests a significant association between forefoot pathology and thyroid dysfunction, especially hallux valgus and lesser toe deformities. Increased understanding of these correlations may offer an important opportunity in population health management, both in diagnosis and...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Thanks for the find, LLight ! Super interesting.

From this study, tt does look like thyroid is a unifying governor (correlator) for the forefoot deformities, from both collagen-formation and neurological muscle strength around the metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joints that are deformed in forefoot casing bunions and other problems.
From the discussion section in page 3:
Given the diverse factors that may contribute to forefoot disorders, several potential etiologies may explain the relationship between thyroid disease and forefoot deformities. Primary hypothyroidism has been associated with neurologic abnormalities, such as carpal tunnel syndrome [13,21]. It is possible that neurologic involvement in the foot may play a role in disrupting the balance of the intrinsic and extrinsic muscles stabilizing the MTP joint. As previously discussed, thyroid disease has been implicated in idiopathic tendinopathies due to the role of thyroxine in collagen synthesis and matrix metabolism and the presence of thyroid hormone receptors on tenocytes [17,22].

Limitations of this study were that the sample was rather small and that thyroid disease was self-assesses.

FWIW, anecdotally, my mom has horrible forefoot: Bunions, hallux valgus, and lesser toe deformity and her TSH was like 10 before docs started to give her thyroxine, which does not seem like correcting this and other hypo problems but her TSH dropped to 4.

 

[LLight]

FWIW, anecdotally, my mom has horrible forefoot: Bunions, hallux valgus, and lesser toe deformity and her TSH was like 10 before docs started to give her thyroxine, which does not seem like correcting this and other hypo problems but her TSH dropped to 4.

Yeah I think it correlates well, hallux valgus is prevalent in "old" women which are also often hypothyroid I believe.

The part you extracted of the discussion section is interesting indeed.

 

[ironfist]

Are you sure those toe aligners work? Here's a thread on Reddit saying they don't:


View: https://www.reddit.com/r/bunions/comments/vhmp3v/dont_want_surgery_so_ive_been_using_toe/

 

[SamYo123]

Are you sure those toe aligners work? Here's a thread on Reddit saying they don't:


View: https://www.reddit.com/r/bunions/comments/vhmp3v/dont_want_surgery_so_ive_been_using_toe/

Thats treating symptoms, you need to treat the system

 

[xeliex]

Are you sure those toe aligners work? Here's a thread on Reddit saying they don't:


View: https://www.reddit.com/r/bunions/comments/vhmp3v/dont_want_surgery_so_ive_been_using_toe/

Age restricted, I don't have an account and can't follow.

Those spacers are only part of the recovery. You can just wear them and expect a fix. The manufacturers recommend starting slow but wearing them while moving around and during exercise. Some people wear them in their sleep too. Toe and foot exercises are also very important. These spacers are just a tool that tries to teach the toes to realign or that it's ok to be in that splayed position. It's significant how many muscles modern footwear shutdown in the feet.

 

[Lollipop2]

Are you sure those toe aligners work? Here's a thread on Reddit saying they don't:


View: https://www.reddit.com/r/bunions/comments/vhmp3v/dont_want_surgery_so_ive_been_using_toe/

Notice the collapsed arches and collapsed inner ankle bones. All contributing factors as well…

 

[ironfist]

Earlier I found this site, but I don't endorse it, just sharing it.

They describe and review many toe correctors.

Toe Spacers: Game-changing Hack or Gimmick? - Bare Soled Girl

Toe spacers/spreaders/stretchers have recently become the item to have in the land of barefoot. They claim to realign feet by passively coaxing your feet back into their natural alignment with a full toe splay. I am here to investigate if they are game-changers for your feet or simply another...

baresoledgirl.com

 

[Giraffe]

FWIW: according to my acupuncturist, it’s “normal” if your second toe from the big toe is longer than your big toe. I think it changes how a person walks and this leads to bunions. Bunions are a very common occurrence that are not necessarily painful or impede movement.

I have painless bunions and my second toe is longer than my big toe on both feet

. Does anyone else have this combination? I’ve always wanted to confirm if this actually could be the cause.

I know this type of foot by the name "greek foot". I know only a few people that have that type, and most of them have a hallux valgus, but they are very tall people, too, and (at least) some of them tend to wear shoes that are too small for them because they hate their big shoes. The petite ones do not have the hallux valgus. This is just my observation.

 

[Nicole W.]

I know this type of foot by the name "greek foot". I know only a few people that have that type, and most of them have a hallux valgus, but they are very tall people, too, and (at least) some of them tend to wear shoes that are too small for them because they hate their big shoes. The petite ones do not have the hallux valgus. This is just my observation.

Interesting observation. I too know many tall women who have this foot feature, and they are always worried about their feet looking too big in their shoes.

 

[NikT]

Any flat wide toebox shoes that dont cost too much? Been using 'Asics Aaron' but they stopped production sadly.

 

[akgrrrl]

I know this type of foot by the name "greek foot". I know only a few people that have that type, and most of them have a hallux valgus, but they are very tall people, too, and (at least) some of them tend to wear shoes that are too small for them because they hate their big shoes. The petite ones do not have the hallux valgus. This is just my observation.

Yes. Here. Good observation. Plus, not being able to find wide or WW when I was a kid/teen

 

[ironfist]

Do any of the toe spreaders on ebay work as well as correct toes?