In this video, I'm going to show you how to relieve bunion
pain at home using no special equipment. Stay tuned.
Hey, everyone. Dr. Rowe coming to you from SpineCare in Saint
Joseph, Michigan. In this video, we're going to go over
bunions, also known as hallux valgus, and I'm going to show
you how to get quick pain relief in a very easy-to-follow
three-part guide. In the first part, let's just focus on
getting immediate bunion pain relief even as little as 30
seconds with great stretching exercises. In the second part,
we're going to focus on self mobilization of the big toe.
So, definitely don't miss that one. In the third part, we're
going to focus on everything in and around that big toe to
hopefully lead to less issues, of bunion pain in the future. Go
through all three parts, take what is most effective for you.
As a bonus, all of these exercises can be done at home,
don't require any special equipment and may give quick
bunion pain relief, even in as little as thirty seconds. So,
let's get started and fix that bunion pain at home right now.
In the first part, we're going to focus on great stretching
exercises that can give quick bunion pain relief and we're
really going to focus right here on the big toe at the
metatarsophalangeal joint right here. That's what gets irritated
and causes that toe to really start to have that deformity.
As somebody that suffers a little bit with bunion pain
myself, I'm gonna show you some really good exercises that
really have helped me in the past. The first one is called a
sock toe spreader. Obviously, all we need is a sock. What I
would recommend is something very thin. A dress sock is
perfect. So, what I'm going to do is start off right at my
pinky toe right here and just place that sock right in
between it and then I'm going to loop it across and then go
in between the other toe and then just kinda crisscross. You
see how I'm kinda going like a loop front and back with the
toe until we get to the big toe. What this is going to do
is help space those toes out and also put the big toe into
better alignment. If this is a very comfortable stretch, you
can hold this one for an extended period of time,
several minutes. You really want to focus on allowing those
toes to become spaced out but if you need increase this just
a little bit more, take the end right here on that big toe and
keep wrapping it around because it's only going to help bring
that big toe into a nice, straight alignment but what we
want to do from there is build into a little bit more dynamic
movement. So, what I'd like to do is just curl my toes
forward. When you do this, you're really going to feel it
start to activate over the spot of the bunion. So, only go to
your comfort level. I just squeeze down with my toes and I
try to hold this for about to twenty seconds. From there, I
just relax and then, I'm going to repeat this five times. With
each repetition, also try to squeeze down even more. From
there, let's go backwards with the toes. So, really just focus
on bringing those toes back as much as you can. This will
activate again the joint and the muscles just a little bit
differently. Fifteen to twenty second holds, relax, and then you're
going to repeat this up to five times. Again, progress into it
with a thicker sock. Obviously, the more that the toes are
going to be spaced out, the more challenging it's going to
be and you can always take the loose end right here, wrap it
more around that big toe to try to get it back into better
alignment. This is what I like to call the bunion combo. It's
a very easy and effective exercise that puts a lot of
good mobility back into the big toe, that first metatarsophalangeal
joint. It's a three-part exercise and you can
do this one on the floor or in bed. You just need to make sure
that your foot is flat. With the first part, what I'm going
to focus on is what's called alternate toe lifts and to do
this one, I'm going to take my fingers and then I'm going to
just place them over the big toe. Let's curl this big toe
down into the floor or whatever flat surface that you're using.
Press down into it with your fingers too for a stable anchor
point. From there, I'm going to lift the other four toes up
towards the ceiling, resisting that big toe. So, we want to
really focus on driving that big toe down, holding it down,
and then lifting these four toes up. You'll feel a lot
activated into the foot into that first big toe. Only go to
your comfort level. You want to hold this for five seconds.
From there, you're going to relax and then you're going to
alternate. So, let's take these four toes. Drive them down and
then press into it with our fingers for a stable anchor
point and then lift this big toe up towards the ceiling as
much as you can. This will just activate it a little bit
differently. Again, only to your comfort level. Let's hold
this one for five seconds. From there, you're going to relax
and then just simply repeat this for ten to complete
repetitions. With each repetition to always focus on
driving the toes up even more because it's only going to help
put more motion in there. In the second part, we're going to
do what is called a toe spreader. What I focus on is
taking the big toe out and then the pinky toe also out. So, I'm
really just trying to put as much space with in these toes
as possible and try to keep the toes flat when you do this too
but it's not always the easiest but I'm really just trying to
focus on taking this big toe out as much as you can. You'll
really feel it stretch on the outside through here really
targeting that bunion. So, again, only to your comfort
level but you want to hold this for five seconds. You're just
going to relax and then, you're going to repeat this ten to
fifteen times. Again, with each repetition, really focus on
trying to take this big toe out as much as you can because it's
only going to help put it into better alignment and hopefully
give you a lot more bunion pain relief. In the third part,
we're going to focus on what I like to call the toe piano or
the toe wave. We're going to lift our toes up and the movement is
like a wave. So, with my pinky toe first, I'm going to lower
it like this then I'm just going to go down with all of
the toes. So, this one can become very challenging. So,
all my toes are lifted up. I'm gonna start with my pinky toe.
I'm gonna go with the one next to it, the middle one, and then
I'm gonna go all the way to the toe. I should say the big toe
right here and really focus on just slow, coordinated movements
with this and just press into each toe individually. What
you'll notice is that this activates each bone into the
foot right here just a little bit more individually so you
can really focus on building more motion into the foot and
hopefully getting a lot more pain relief but you want to do
this one nice and slowly. It should take you about three to
five seconds to do a complete one, and try to do this ten to
fifteen times, but just a good way to really focus on building
a lot of good motion into that big toe and hopefully getting a
lot of good pain relief into that bunion. In the second
part, we're going to focus on a self mobilization or self reset
of the first metatarsophalangeal joint and also that first metatarsal,
the site of our bunion. Let's begin by just finding our
contact point. Take the big toe and curl it downwards. The
knuckle forms right there and if you trace a little bit
below, you'll feel another knuckle form. This is the site
that we want to focus on. That's first metatarsophalangeal
joint. Take your thumb on the opposite side that
you are having that bunion. So, if I have a right sided or I
should say rightful I'm gonna take my left hand. I'm going to
take my left thumb and just press right over that joint.
Move the toe up and down. You want to feel for that joint to
open and close. Once you've isolated that spot and
pinpointed it, just take your thumb just a little bit below
there and that's going to be our stabilization point. Let's
take the fingers and then just grip below on the bottom of the
foot. I'm going to clamp down with my thumb and with my
fingers. This is going to be held stationary so it's not
going to move instead we're only going to focus on toe
movement I'm going to take the other hand and I'm going to
place it on the back side of the toe the movement from here
is very easy while this just stays locked I'm going to bring
that big toe backwards like this this will really open up
that first metatarsophalangeal joint so you should really feel
it isolated and really opening up and moving so just bring
that toe back for a very comfortable but strong stretch
hold this for 10 to 15 seconds. From there, you're going to
relax and then, you're going to repeat this up to five times.
With each repetition, try to bring this toe back even
further. To get our self reset or mobilization, what I'm going
to do is incorporate a shearing motion. So, while I pull back
with my toe, this hand is not going to be stationary anymore,
it's going to press downwards like this. So, watch how I do
this. You'll kind of see how this movement right here really
opens up that joint, offers more of a passive stretch into
that metatarsophalangeal joint and you might get a sudden pop
crack or self release into that joint. That is completely
normal. Again, it's just gases being released from the
synovial fluid but if you don't get the crack, the main thing
is what we're looking for is more range of motion. So,
stretch into it, press down, pull the big toe back, hold
this for two to three seconds, relax, repeat this up to ten
times with each repetition, try to shear into it just a little
bit more but again, don't try to force that crack and if you
are getting discomfort with this one, please discontinue
immediately. From there, let's focus a little bit more on the
metatarsal. So, if you start right at our beginning point
and trace down into the foot, you'll feel a very long bone
that runs pretty much to the ankle. That's the metatarsal.
That's what we want to focus on. So, we're going to deal
with what are known as raised and dropped metatarsals that it
means it can go up and it can also go down causing issues
here at that metatarsophalangeal joint. So, for a
raised metatarsal, what I'm going to do is just grip the
top or I should say the outside of the foot right here with my
fingers just like that and then I'm going to take the meaty
portion of the palm and place it right over that first
metatarsal. So, if you notice, I have a very stable anchor
point and I can press down with my hand to really isolate. I
don't know if you heard that on the microphone but I got a very
good release already into that metatarsal. So, I start right
at our beginning point and then I press into it, hold it for
about two to 3 seconds and then I just work my hand, that palm
just a little bit further down until I just work all the way
over that metatarsal just nice and slowly and once you've gone
all the way to the bottom, just come all the way back up and
again, if that joint's locked, you might get a sudden pop or
crack into that metatarsal joint. So, if for a one at the
bottom of the foot, I should say a dropped metatarsal, what
I'm going to do, take my hand, I should say my fingers like
this, place them on the backside of the foot and then
I'm going to take my fingers and I'm going to do the same
thing but I'm going to press upwards with it. So, start
right at the top and then just keep working your way down
towards the bottom and if one is dropped, this might help
reset it and give a satisfying self pop, crack, or release. But
keep pressing in there and you can do this for a couple
repetitions. Afterwards, just notice if you have a lot more
range of motion into the foot and hopefully, a lot less
bunion pain. Without a doubt, if we want to slow the
progression of a bunion and just help reduce future pain,
we have to strengthen everything around the big toe
and also around that first metatarsophalangeal joint. I'm
going to show you a two-part exercise that's very easy to
do. I'm just going to be using a dress sock for this. You want
one that's thin and a little bit more kind of elastic.
You'll get a better result with it but pretty much any sock
works. I'm gonna start off with by just taking the sock
right here, placing it over the toe, wrapping it around that
big toe and the loop is going to be on the top of that big
toe. Let's start off by just having enough pull in there
where you're feeling initial tension in to the toe and then
we're going to try to take this toe and then lift up on it like
this. The sock will fight this movement. This is an isometric
exercise. Focus on just trying to drive that toe up and have
just enough tension into the sock over that toe where your
toe is still going to be able to win. But really focus on
having it be a nice challenge. This should really start to
fire the muscles into the foot around that big toe. So, focus
on that but you want to hold this for about 5 seconds, relax,
and then on the next repetition, let's increase that
tension just a little bit more by pulling on the sock in the
opposite direction and then making our toe fight that much
more on that next repetition but just keep doing this over
and over again for about ten to fifteen repetitions. And
adjusting the amount of resistance on that sock to make
it more and more challenging. For the next part, what we're
going to focus on is taking the toe outwards. So, I just put my
foot flat like this and I'm going to pull on the outside
like this. So, what I'm gonna try to do is try to bring this
toe outwards. Again, only enough resistance into the sock
that yours uh your toe is still going to be able to win. Again,
five-second holds. You're going to relax and then you're going
to repeat this for ten to fifteen times. Again,
increasing the amount of pull into the sock to always make
sure that that toe is getting challenged more and more and
hopefully what this will do is help really bring this toe
outwards into better alignment and also cause less issues of
pain and discomfort with that bunion in the future. If the
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If you have any comments or questions, please leave them
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much for watching!