How To Prevent And Treat Bunions To Avoid Surgery

Bunion is a deformity of the great toe, but it can also affect other parts of the foot. There are a lot of factors that cause it, such as improper nutrition, influenza, poor metabolism, tonsillitis, rheumatic infections, gout or improper shoes. The great thing is that you can treat bunions if their development state isn’t too advanced.

If you feel you are starting to form bunions, there are a few tips in this article that’ll help you to prevent them. Also, you’ll find out what treatment to apply and what exercises to perform to treat bunions at home, and at the same time, to avoid surgery.

You can see in the pictures below how a bunion looks like; with the deformed big toe, swollen joint and a lot of pain in the foot.

Early Signs Of Bunions

I’m pretty sure you’ll not need this list with signs because you’ll really feel (it hurts!) when the bunion is developing. But anyway, here are some of the early signs and symptoms of bunions:

– Irritated skin (which can lead to blisters) around the big toe.

– Joint pain, usually at the side of the big toe.

– The big toe points outward instead of pointing a straight line forward.

The Causes Of Bunions

Here are 3 of the most frequently causes of bunions:

1. Improper Footwear

The main cause of bunions is wearing improper footwear for long periods of time. So wearing high heel or tight fitting shoes (soccer shoes, running shoes, etc.) during the entire day might not be the smartest move to prevent and treat bunions.

2. Genetics

This foot deformation might be genetic, so if your parents or other relatives have bunions, you need to stay alert.

3. Foot Injuries

A regular foot injury can develop into a bunion, so make sure to treat it correctly.

How To Prevent Bunions

Even if genetics might play an important role in the formation of bunions, you can still prevent them. Here are a few tips that will definitely help you prevent this foot deformation:

1. Wear loose and comfortable shoes.
2. Rest your feet as often as you can and avoid pressure on them.
3. When you’re at home, try to avoid wearing shoes as often as possible.
4. Perform some exercises to prevent bunions, such as toe abductions (spreading your toes apart with a toe separator usually used in nail salons).

How To Treat Bunions

The best way to treat a disease is to prevent it, which pretty much applies to this situation as well. So from the first time you see a small deformity of your toe’s joints, apply these tips to prevent the bunions go worse and to comfort the pain:

1. Use Only Comfortable Shoes

All your shoes should be comfortable. Find out here how to choose your best running shoes.

2. Treat The Inflammation

The inflammations caused by bunions can be relieved using regular soap. Here is how to do it:

1. Apply some shredded soap on your bunions and gently massage the area.
2. Dry your feet with a towel.
3. Soak a cotton bud in some povidone-iodine solution (you can add lemon juice too) and apply it over the affected area.
4. Let it dry and put on your cotton socks.
5. Repeat the procedure daily, for a month.

You can also combine equal parts of the povidone-iodine solution and lemon juice, then apply the remedy on the sore spots to treat bunions’ inflammations.

3. Treat Bunions With Bay Leaves

The bay leaves treatment helps you to dissolve the salt in your body. Since bunions are salt deposits, this treatment should make your bunions to eventually disappear. The frequent urination is a good sign of salt elimination, so don’t worry when you’ll have to go to the toilet so often.

A) Bay Leaves “Tea”

Ingredients:

• 300 ml water;
• 1 tbsp bay leaves, crushed.

Preparation:

1. In the evening, pour the water over the crushed bay leaves and cook for 5 minutes.
2. Keep the remedy in a thermos overnight.
3. Strain the liquid in the morning.

Usage:

1. Don’t drink it at once, but take small sips throughout the day.
2. Do this treatment for three days in a row, then repeat it after a week.
3. The bay leaf treatment should last for 2 months.

B) Bay Leaves “Cream”

Ingredients:

• 5 large bay leaves, crushed;
• 100 ml 96% alcohol;
• 1 tbsp baking soda;
• 3 l warm water.

Preparation: Pour the alcohol over the bay leaves and leave it for a week, then strain.

Usage:

1. Mix the baking soda with 3l of warm water.
2. Soak your feet in the water.
3. Dry your feet with a towel.
4. Apply the bay leaves remedy and put on some cotton socks.
5. Repeat the procedure every evening.

After 10 days of bay leaves treatment you should notice some improvement in your joint pain, which will disappear. Also, the size of the bunion will reduce considerable and you’ll feel way much better.

4. Exercises To Treat Bunions

Don’t forget that if your bunions look awful and are causing huge pain, exercise or any other remedy won’t work! In this case you need to get professional advice or, even worse, surgery is required.

If your bunions are in the primary or secondary stage of development, these 7 exercises to treat bunions are great to reverse the deformity:

Image credits: LittleThings