Bunion correctors are braces or splints that are worn during the night and are meant to help the alignment of the great toe or hallux in people who have bunions. Bunions are an enlargement of the great toe or hallux joint of the foot that is related to what is called a valgus deformity of the great toe. The brace keeps the big toe in the ideal position while sleeping in order to correct the alignment. There certainly is plenty of debate as to if this actually works or not. The problem with the concept is the fact bunions are caused by a mix of an inherited component, foot biomechanics along with the use of tight improperly fitted footwear. Thus during the day which you have all those causes producing the bunion and the expectation is that wearing the bunion corrector through the night over comes those forces which occur when walking in the daytime, and that is probably not feasible.
For that reason should you use bunion correctors? There is some evidence that they may definitely improve the angle of the great toe or hallux by a few degrees after a month or so of use. There has been no study done to see if that improvement gets any better with a longer term use or if that progress is just non permanent should you cease using the brace. Regardless of that, a lot of podiatrists advise still making use of them even when they do not change the angle position the toe much. This is because, even though they just do not fix the toe, they are going to still keep the toe mobile and flexible which is a good thing for the toe over the long run as the bunion disorder advances. In addition to using these correctors additionally it is most likely crucial that you get specialist assistance with the best footwear to wear to counteract the bunion from getting any worse and also carry out some exercises to improve the muscle strength about the bunion.
