Bunions are bony deformities of your foot. Also known as hallux valgus, it’s when the joint of your big toe deforms, causing your big toe to point outwards.

Definitive treatment would be surgery. Fortunately, there are numerous non-surgical options that you can opt for non-severe cases. Also, with the advent of shoes with small toe boxes for the aesthetic appeal, you might even consider these nonoperative options to prevent future toe pain.

What causes bunions?

Before talking about what you can wear to relieve your bunion pain, let’s first dive into the basic mechanisms of how bunions form.

1. Tight shoes and high heels

Interestingly, bunions almost exclusively occur among those in shoe-wearing societies. Multiple scientific literature has stated footwear as the main factor which contributes to bunions, however, the results are questionable as there was little attempt to adjust for demographic factors such as age and sex.

Here are some studies that may indicate that footwear is directly related to bunion prevalence:

• A study by Sim-Fook and Hodgson reported that 33% of a shoe-wearing population in Hong Kong had bunions, compared to only 2% in a barefoot population.
• Nguyen et al. reported an increased risk of HV in women who had worn high-heeled shoes as their usual shoe type throughout adult life. When wearing high-heeled shoes, a lot of pressure from the hindfoot is transferred to the forefoot, mainly the big toe.
• Al-Abdulwahab et al. reported that 77% of subjects with hallux valgus wore shoes with a narrow-pointed toe box, while 85% of those without hallux valgus wore shoes with a wide round toe box.
• A study by Hylton B. Menz and Meg E. Morris showed that hallux valgus was associated with insufficient footwear width.

Regardless of their level of reliability within academia, these studies do somewhat point towards footwear being associated with bunions. What the literature currently lacks, however, is what are the characteristic of footwear which contribute the most to bunions.

The take home message is that it’s better to wear comfortable shoes that not to. If you’re someone who’s suffering from bunions, find a show with a wide toe box, a wide overall width, and avoid high heels. If you currently don’t have bunions, it’s good to be safe than sorry.

At least if wearing a wide toe box shoe doesn’t directly reduce bunion risk, it will definitely do good for your feet by reducing pressure to the toes, reducing friction, and prevent other issues such as blisters and athlete’s foot.

2. Foot shape

Aside from footwear, there are factors that make your feet more likely to develop bunions than others. In fact, many people who wear tight and constricting footwear don’t even develop bunions. These are called non-modifiable risk factors, and a good example of it is foot shape or anatomy.

To understand the next few points, we need to know a bit of anatomy. Essentially, the bones that make up the toes are called phalanges. Going closer to the ankle, we have the metatarsals. They’re these long bones that connect the toe bones to the bones of the midfoot.

These are the known foot bone characteristics that have been known to have a higher risk to cause bunions:

• A rounded metatarsal head.
• An angle of divergence greater than 9 degrees between the first and second metatarsal.
• A metatarsophalangeal angle greater than 9 degrees.

3. Muscle weakness

Sometimes, an issue in your foot can be caused by another issue a bit further up, say, the knees. It’s all about force transfer. If there are weak muscles in your legs and calves, this can cause an uneven force to be distributed to your foot.

The issue in bunions is that the force is mostly transferred to the medial or the inner sides of the ankle. This causes the foot to overpronate. All that load is tanked by the joint of the big toe. Poor guy.

To prevent these types of bunions, you need to strengthen your lower limbs by doing exercise such as squats and lunges. You might consider seeing a doctor too because some misalignments are caused by abnormal bone structure, and this is cannot with corrected by exercise alone.

What are the things you can wear to prevent or treat mild bunions?

There are a few products out there, called bunion correctors, that you can try out. These products fall under the category of conservative management in treating bunions, as opposed to surgical treatment. I mean, who wants surgery as their first option, right?

Keep in mind that these foot tools don’t cure bunions, but they sure do help in relieving the symptoms such as pain and irritation. For some, alleviating symptoms is more than enough to improve their quality of life.

In this section, we’ll have a look at different types of products you can wear: bunion socks, bunion correctors, toe spacers, shoes with a big toe box, and insoles.

1. Bunion socks

Bunion socks are socks specially designed to hold your big toe straight. They’re comfortable just as your regular socks, with an addition of a split-toe design that separates the big toe from the rest of your toes.

In addition to that, they have bunion pads built into the sock to cushion the bunion from rubbing with your shoes, causing friction, pain, and ultimately blisters. In these socks, you would also want moisture-wicking capabilities to keep your foot dry from sweat to further protect your bunion from foot blisters.

If you’re looking to buy one, I’d recommend these ones by Doctor’s Select. They’re infused with copper and bamboo viscose to add in that moisture-wicking that we mentioned. Moreover, you can get them in different colors unlike other brands that mostly sell in black and grey. If you’re having bunions, why not add some style to it, right?

2. Bunion correctors

Bunion correctors are essentially feet add-ons that hold your toe and keep it straight. There are many designs out in the market. Some are made with silicone, some from fabric and velcro, and there are also more fancier options that have an adjustable strap. Let’s have a look at some options.

a. Gel bunion corrector

This is a cheap and simple type of bunion corrector. It’s made of silicone gel and it’s small. You can wear them under your socks and shoes, and people won’t notice a thing. Also, being made of silicone makes it easier to wash and clean after a sweaty day’s use.

The downside to these is that they’re non-adjustable, so they might not fit every foot perfectly. But if you’re looking for something easy, simple, and cheap to start off with, then this is your best bet.

If you’re looking for one, I’d recommend these from Promifun:

b. Bunion strap-on correctors

This type of bunion corrector is made of fabric, and you strap them on with hook-and-loop fasteners, or velcro. You can adjust the amount of correction you prefer simply with the placement of the strap.

These correctors are thin and go unnoticed when you wear socks. The annoying thing is that the traps might get dirty with dust and fabric form your rubbing with your socks over time, and you would need to buy new ones later. Cleaning them might also be a hassle compared the gel bunion splint we mentioned above. However, the adjustability might be the selling point that puts this above the gel bunion splint, regardless of the cons that we mentioned.

I would recommend these strap-on correctors. They’re from a not-so-famous brand, but they have a video demonstrating how to wear their product which is super helpful.

c. Bunion splints

Bunion splints are the most flexible in terms of adjustability. They have a knob that you can rotate to finely adjust the amount of correction for your bunion. The downside for this type is that it’s not exactly suitable for outdoor use. It’s difficult to wear socks with these on, let alone any type of footwear.

For indoor and overnight use, however, I would definitely recommend it. These ones by Tenicore are an excellent choice.

3. Toe spacers

Finally, we have toe spacers. Just as their name suggests, they add space between your toes.

There are mainly two types. The first one add space between all your toes. They are usually used for stretching the foot and relieve foot pain from exercise. The second type is a spacer only for the big toe, and this one is what you should get.

Similar to bunion correctors, they straighten the big toe. The difference is that instead of a pulling motion with a strap, it provides a push motion from the opposite side. You can check out these toe spacers made by Golbylicc.

Similar to gel correctors and strap-on correctors, they can easily be hidden from plain site with socks so that you won’t have to worry about stares and glares. The downside to them is that they’re non-adjustable.

4. Shoes with a big toe box

Tight shoes and high heels are definitely a risk factor for bunions as mentioned in multiple scientific studies. But it’s not like we’re all going to ditch our footwear and go out barefoot in malls, right? Luckily, there are brands out there that manufacture shoes which with a big toe box.

A big toe box is helpful in preventing the toes from cramming altogether in a tight space as we see in generic shoes today. It provides room for the toes to wiggle around and reduce that force from the side of the toes. A big toe box is not only helpful for preventing and relieve bunions but is also a crucial component of diabetic shoes because they don’t cut off circulation to the feet.

As mentioned in my article for diabetic footwear, FitVille makes nice shoes a big toe box for both men and women. So, you should definitely check those out.

5. Insoles

Insoles are a type of orthotic. They are a type of custom-molded device we insert into our shoes before we wear them. They help provide extra support for our foot arch when we walk and help redistribute the pressure in our feet.

One of the mechanisms of how bunions develop is overloading the forefoot. That constant force against our big toe joint eventually causes the first metatarsal to deviate inwards. By using an insole, this problem can be somewhat reduced.

Moreover, instead of spending hours searching in catalog for shoes that fit your foot perfectly, just use an insole. You save money instead of buying a new shoe every time.

You can head over to Dr Scholl’s and order a custom-made insole just for your feet. It’s costly, but the results are definitely worth it. If you’re not ready for that commitment, you can try out pre-made insoles by Dr Scholl’s.