Tips For Easing Your Bunions Without Surgery
Bunions can make wearing shoes tremendously uncomfortable and can make your day-to-day life relatively unpleasant. However, you might not have the funds or the time to have surgery to have the bones near your big toe moved back into their normal position. This can be a problem. Here are some ways that you can ease the pain of your bunions without having to resort to surgery, or at least make your bunions manageable while you wait for a situation in which surgery is a viable option to become available.
1. Get a Splint
Go to your foot doctor and get a splint that you can wear at night that will hold your toe straight. This does two things. The first thing that it does is that it helps reduce the pain that you might feel as a result of your bunion while you are sleeping. This is incredibly important because it will help you get a good night's sleep and speed up any other efforts that you might have at recovery during the day. The second thing that it does is that it gradually corrects the position of the bones in your foot so that they go back into their correct location. This process is incredibly slow but it can lead to you not feeling as much pain during the day as well.
2. Wear Wide Shoes
You are going to experience pain if you put pressure on your bunion. When you are standing up and your feet are bearing your weight, you are going to feel pain, but you can reduce the pain that you feel if there isn't the added pressure of narrow shoes pressing onto your bunion. Purchase shoes that have wide toes so that the side of the shoe is not necessarily touching your bunion all the time. This will help you reduce some of the pain that you feel on a regular basis.
3. Lose Weight
If you are overweight, losing weight can help you reduce the pressure that you put on the bunion, causing it to not worsen as quickly and cause you less pain. Talk to your doctor about the possibility of losing weight helping your bunion but do not start a diet or exercise program without speaking to a doctor first.
4. Soak Your Feet in Warm Water
Finally, be sure that you soak your feet in warm water or use an ice pack after you have been on them for a long time. This will help numb your feet and improve circulation, reducing the amount of pain that you feel.
For more information, talk to a company that specializes in podiatry and bunions like Robert A. Raley, DPM.
