20 Nov Don’t let your bunions or plantar fasciitis stop you from running a marathon!

Don’t let your bunions or plantar fasciitis stop you from running a marathon!

Foot pain from bunions affects over one in three Australians. Bunions, defined as the swelling and misalignment of the area where your big toe joins your mid-foot, are an all too common podiatry problem. According to doctors and most podiatrists, the only way to fix a bunion is surgery. NOT TRUE! Now there’s a painless natural way to effectively treat and correct your bunions.

Bunions

Plantar Fasciitis/Heel Spurs

Normally, heel pain or pain in the arch of your foot is due to a condition called plantar fasciitis or heel spurs. The condition is brought on by an inflammation in the fascia or tissue under your foot. The inflammation causes micro-tears in the tissue, which bleed and become painful. This pain is often worse after sitting or when waking up in the morning. Any weight-bearing activities can provoke it, and if left long enough the condition will restrict activity.

Meet Alison, a patient with a classic case of bunions and plantar fasciitis. In Alison’s case, both conditions were primarily caused by the misalignment of her lower limb, which affected the way she walked and ran.

Alison had advanced bunions bilaterally (the big toe turned inwards), and was suffering from plantar fasciitis. When we met her, she was extremely frustrated because she was used to being active but was now unable to exercise. The problems with her feet were also making her job as a theatre nurse increasingly difficult.

It is always our top priority to help our patients achieve their goals. Alison’s main goal was to be able to run again. She was surprised to hear that we could straighten her bunion too, as it was quite advanced.

After medically assessing Alison’s case during our initial consultation, we referred her for an X-ray. This is Alison’s initial X-ray. As you can see, it shows a bunion angle of 29 degrees on the left big toe and 34 degrees on the right. The ideal angle is 12–15 degrees. We definitely had some work to do on a few fronts. After discussion, we decided on a course of foot mobilisation in conjunction with strengthening exercises.

Running again in under a month!

To her credit, Alison was enthusiastic about the appointments and the exercises. She reported a significant diminishing of pain in both the bunion and the plantar fasciitis, to the point where we decided she could start running again. During that time, Alison commented that she could see her ‘big toe straightening’.

In Alison’s case, the four weeks were the most intense aspect of the treatment, with a reduction in frequency of visits after that.

As with all our patients, we sent Alison for a follow-up X-ray to measure her results. We found the angle of her bunion was down to 23 degrees on the left big toe and 27 degrees on the right — a huge improvement. What’s more, the best is yet to come! I am confident that one day soon Alison’s big toe will be straight.

Most importantly, Alison is now heel pain free! I believe she is currently training for a marathon and wears the shoes she loves. This is because we addressed the alignment of Alison’s foot, which was the underlying cause — no Band-Aid solutions.

We have successfully treated thousands of bunions and plantar fasciitis cases at Alternative Foot Solutions, and we believe that there is a better alternative to surgery or the constant pain inflicted by a bunion. We know that the sooner the bunion is treated, the better the long-term result.

Want to get started on fixing your bunion? Book a Bunion Assessment today.