Treating Bunions Without Surgery (2024)

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A bunion is a bony bump that sticks out at the bottom of your big toe. Bunions form due to the misalignment of bones, tendons, and tissues at the base of your big toe. This causes your big toe to bend toward the smaller toes.

Several nonsurgical treatment options can help alleviate pain, reduce swelling, and prevent bunions from worsening. But if these methods don’t ease your symptoms or if you want to completely remove a bunion, surgery is necessary.

This article will cover the effectiveness of nonsurgical bunion treatments and provide tips for managing symptoms and preventing progression.

Nonsurgical treatments may help to relieve pain, ease swelling, and slow down bunion formation. Below, we explain how each of these options works.

Shoes

You must wear appropriate shoes if you have bunions. Wearing proper footwear helps to alleviate discomfort and prevent bunion progression.

Choose bunion-friendly shoes that are roomy enough to provide sufficient space for your toes. This may mean you need to go up a size.

It’s also helpful to wear comfortable shoes with heels under 1-inch high. And avoid wearing pointed, narrow, or tight shoes.

Orthotics

Orthotics may help to slow or stop bunion progression.

A shoe orthotic is a support or insert that improves comfort, arch support, and alignment. They can also help to correct or improve foot mechanics and movement patterns.

Shoe orthotics can also help to evenly distribute weight on your foot, which can reduce pressure on your big toe.

You can buy orthotics in drugstores or visit a podiatrist for custom orthotics.

Splints and spacers

You can wear a splint at night to hold your toe straight, which may help to prevent your joint from stiffening in the misaligned position and slow bunion formation.

But once you remove the splint, the toe will return to where it was. You can also wear toe spacers, which alleviate pressure on your toes.

Exercises

There are also exercises you can do to relieve pain, increase flexibility, and develop muscular strength. Bunion exercises can also help to improve your gait and foot mobility. But exercise alone won’t correct the bone misalignment that causes bunions.

Nonsurgical treatments can help to relieve symptoms, improve comfort, and slow a bunion’s progression. But they don’t correct the underlying cause, which is a misalignment of the foot bones.

To make treatment more effective, it’s best to start using nonsurgical methods as soon as you start to develop a bunion. This may also help to reduce the severity.

Bunions are permanent without surgery, but surgery isn’t always necessary. In general, bunions need surgery if the pain is severe and conservative treatments don’t keep bunions from getting worse, or if it’s affecting your activities or causing other foot concerns.

If you have bunion surgery, you’ll still need to take measures to prevent them from coming back.

Bunion surgery will usually reduce pain and improve your foot’s alignment, but it’s still possible for bunions to return.

To prevent bunions from recurring after surgery, the orthopedic surgeon will advise you on footwear and may recommend that you wear a splint or custom orthotics to alleviate pressure on your feet.

Your surgeon or a physical therapist will advise you to do foot exercises specific to your type of surgery and needs.

The exercises will focus on restoring and improving strength, range of motion, and joint flexion and extension. They may use hands-on techniques like soft tissue mobilization and range of motion stretching.

Other tips for bunion relief

There are several natural remedies that you can use to manage your bunion symptoms and keep them from getting worse.

Here are a few tips you can try at home:

  • Wear well-fitting, comfortable footwear that provide sufficient toe room.
  • Avoid flip-flops, high heels, and pointed, narrow, or tight shoes.
  • Use padded shoe inserts to enhance comfort, alignment, and arch support.
  • Wear a brace to hold the toe straight.
  • Wear toe spacers to alleviate pressure on your toes.
  • Wear thin, loose socks to prevent pressure on your bunion. Avoid tight or thick socks.
  • To alleviate pressure and irritation, use moleskin or gel-filled pads for cushioning and protection.
  • When possible, take off your shoes and stretch your toes.
  • Elevate your feet when you’re sitting or lying down.
  • Maintain a healthy body weight.
  • Do foot exercises.
  • Massage your feet.
  • To relieve pain and inflammation, soak your feet in a warm Epsom salt bath.
  • To ease swelling and inflammation, use ice packs for 20 minutes at a time. Do this before and after physical activity or long periods of standing.
  • Take nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) medications like ibuprofen or aspirin to relieve pain.
  • Try natural anti-inflammatory supplements like spirulina, curcumin, and ginger.

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There are many ways to manage bunion symptoms, relieve pain, and keep them from progressing. For best results, start treatment as soon as possible.

Take care of your feet by wearing comfortable shoes with arch supports, bunion pads, or toe spacers. To reduce discomfort, use ice packs, take an Epsom salt bath, and rest and elevate your feet.

If you have a bunion, talk with a podiatrist or a healthcare professional about your treatment options. This is especially important if it causes severe pain, leads to additional foot concerns, or affects your physical activity.

Treating Bunions Without Surgery (2024)

FAQs

Treating Bunions Without Surgery? ›

In most cases, bunions can be treated nonsurgically. One of the podiatrists from our team can examine your bunion(s) and recommend a conservative treatment which includes one or more of the following: Custom shoe orthotics (inserts) that relieve pressure on the joint and align your weight in a more beneficial way.

Can bunions really be corrected without surgery? ›

In most cases, bunions can be treated nonsurgically. One of the podiatrists from our team can examine your bunion(s) and recommend a conservative treatment which includes one or more of the following: Custom shoe orthotics (inserts) that relieve pressure on the joint and align your weight in a more beneficial way.

How to help your bunions if you don't want surgery? ›

Keep heels low (no higher than an inch). You can also protect the bunion with a moleskin or gel-filled pad, available at drugstores. (Make sure your shoes have enough space to accommodate it.) A clinician may recommend semisoft orthoses (shoe inserts) to help position the foot correctly as it strikes the ground.

Is walking barefoot good for bunions? ›

Going barefoot is ideal in the beginning stages of bunions. When barefoot, the joints of the toes will get stronger, an important part of good foot health.

Do toe spacers work for bunions? ›

Bunion toe spacers cannot cure bunions, but they can help manage pain and prevent further damage to the toe joint.

Why do bunions get big? ›

Bunions are usually caused by prolonged pressure put on the feet that compresses the big toe and pushes it toward the second toe. Over time, the condition may become painful as extra bone grows where the base of the big toe meets the foot.

Do bunion correctors really work? ›

While they can offer pain relief, it's important to know that bunion correctors can't permanently heal a bunion. It won't align the bones, muscles and ligaments inside your foot. Bunion toe spacers fit between the big toe and the second toe, and can keep them from crowding and rubbing each other.

Does rubbing a bunion help? ›

Massage is great at relaxing the muscles and other connective tissue and fascia that may be pulling your toe into a bunion-causing position. Massage will also help to reduce inflammation in and around the bunion and increase blood flow to the area.

Do bunions get worse with age? ›

Bunions develop gradually over time. Without the right care, like changing your footwear or using orthotics, bunions can get worse over time. As a person gets older and ages or gains weight, our feet spread and that worsens the problems already in place or triggers the development of bunions.

Why is my bunion suddenly so painful? ›

A fluid-filled sac, called a bursa, cushions the bone near the joint on your big toe. When that joint gets bigger because of a bunion, the bursa can get swollen and painful -- that's called bursitis. This can make it hurt even more and may damage the smooth tissue that covers the joint, called cartilage.

Can a podiatrist fix a bunion without surgery? ›

Other non-surgical treatments for bunions include injections of cortisone or oral anti-inflammatory medication and wearing custom-made shoes that accommodate the bunion deformity.

Do bunion socks really work? ›

Bunion correctors and guards do have a place in the treatment of bunions, but it may not be what you think. Unfortunately, there is no medical research or data to support the claim that bunion correctors straighten the big toe. If your bunions are pretty severe, no plastic or elastic device is going to correct them.

What happens if you don't fix a bunion? ›

If left untreated, a bunion can cause arthritis, especially if the joint in the big toe has sustained extensive, long-term damage. Bunions may cause the cartilage in the joint to deteriorate. While bunions can be remedied through surgery, arthritis and the possibility of chronic pain are not curable.

Is there a bunion corrector that actually works? ›

Unfortunately, there is no medical research or data to support the claim that bunion correctors straighten the big toe. If your bunions are pretty severe, no plastic or elastic device is going to correct them. However, these correctors and splints may provide some pain relief to the big toe.

What happens if you never get bunion surgery? ›

If left untreated, a bunion can cause arthritis, especially if the joint in the big toe has sustained extensive, long-term damage.

Does bunion taping really work? ›

Taping bunions can reduce the bunion pain and stress brought on during the day by most shoes, standing and walking. Taping is often used to provide support, stability or rehabilitation to athletes suffering from bunion pain including runners, dancers, bikers and skiers.

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