Bunion Aid Hinged Splint for Bunions

I certainly was concerned about spending this much money on one of these and only used one for a long time, alternating feet each night. Eventually I did buy another one so I could wear both at the same time.The concept is really good. The articulated joint is really the best approach. My doctor told me he was concerned with the progressive lack of range of motion in my big toes. I agreed. So the movable joint allows me to do the stretching and range of motion exercises my therapist prescribed with my toe in the proper position to do them in. And having the toe statically pulled away from the next toe overnight has made my bunions gradually hurt less. So I have more range of motion and less pain. And that is the major objective to avoid surgery (and you should avoid surgery if at all possible!)The not so good is that this thing slides around at night so that the side pieces rotate either to the front or back of the foot. Once that happens, the toe returns to its usual position and there is no stretching occurring. Then the pad on the outermost bone of the bunion begins to put a lot of pressure on the skin over the bone and it hurts! The skin is red and it stings for awhile after getting up (a pressure sore.) I often find myself waking up out of a dead sleep to rip the thing off and toss it on the floor.My partial workaround is that I have found a wonderful pair of Smart Wool toed wool socks. They are lightweight and provide a good amount of padding under this device. I can wrap the velcro strap around the sock on the toe. The device still does tend to slide around out of position but the sock helps keep it comfortable overnight. I have also used a regular heavy wool sock and pushed the wool down between the big toe and accomplished the same thing. Try to get the strap that goes around the instep as low as you can. But strap the toes around the top of the toe rather than the bottom, this will help avoid pain.I also bought yoga toes and wear them only when watching tv for an hour or so. Between the two devices I am more comfortable.If you have bunions don't just ignore them. Do "something" to restore the flexibility and range of motion in your toe and foot. If you can't afford this device, then make sure you are doing toe exercises every day with your hands to improve the range of motion. This device will provide passive continuous stretching that will help in the long term.

10 Dec 2014: This is an update of my original review, which is below. I have revised my rating from 3-stars to 5-stars. Here's why.At the time I wrote my original review, I had just had a Lapidus bunionectomy on my right foot and was still no-weight-bearing (NWB). My left foot was 5 months post-op Lapidus bunionectomy. During the NWB period on my right foot, when my left foot was doing all the work, my left big toe did what I said I was afraid it would do in my original review - it started to drift towards my small toes again. When I noticed my toe seemed to be angling in again, I asked my doctor to x-ray my left foot when I came in for a check of my right foot, and you could see it in x-ray - an approximately 3mm shift out of alignment. I'd been taping my foot and not wearing the splint.After 5 months of post-op hell on this left foot, there was no way I was going get another bunion, so rather than return the splint, which I was all ready to do (I'd already packed it up), I decided to use it. Since it fits inside no shoes and gets filthy fast if I walk around barefoot, I wear it with a surgical shoe. For the next 3 weeks, I wore the splint almost constantly unless I was wearing shoes. I wear it around my apartment, and I wear it when I'm sleeping. When I go out (i.e. when I wear shoes), I use my custom orthotics so my hypermobile foot has proper support. I also have been using a home ultrasound machine, and after the ultrasound treatment when my foot is warmed up, I stretch that big toe back in the other direction. It started to look a lot better. Yesterday, I had another check of my right foot and asked my doctor to again x-ray my left foot. And... THE BIG TOE ON MY LEFT FOOT IS STRAIGHT AGAIN, back in joint.So this thing does work. I moved my own bones and have the x-rays to prove it. I'm now using the splint as a sort of "retainer" (like the retainers the orthodontist gives you after braces). And I bought one for my right foot. :)5-STARS!!!!! *****---------------------------------------------------------------Many reviewers said this product caused them pain. I'm pretty sure I know why. If you use it according to the directions, you will pull your big toe out of joint alignment, and that's going to hurt. More on this below, but first some context.I am trying this product after major bunion surgery to maintain the correction while my foot strengthens and heals. For those familiar with bunionectomy procedures, I had the big bad gruesome one on both feet: Lapidus. The right foot surgery was very recent, left foot about 5 months ago. I have hypermobile feet and my bunions were severe. The Lapidus procedure straightens then fuses the joint at the base of the first metatarsal, but the rest of my foot remains hypermobile. Also, because I had such severe bunions for so many years, I have atrophy in the adductor muscle in my big toe.Try this experiment. Put your finger on the outside of your big toe, and try to push your toe against your finger, so your big toe is spreading out from your foot towards the center of your body. Can you do it? If so, congratulations! You have a healthy adductor hallucis muscle. Sadly, I cannot do this - or rather, I can barely do this. I like to think there is trace movement, though I'm not really sure there is.Because of my foot's hypermobility and the loss of adductor strength, my stupid freaking big toe wanders in (my physical therapist insists this is "out" because it's away from the center of my body, but I say it's "in" because it's towards my small toes). Anyway, you get the picture. After 5 months of painful and difficult recovery from Lapidus surgery (5.5 weeks no weight bearing!), it's really annoying!! It's important that I keep my toe in correct alignment while I build up strength in my foot - not only to avoid future surgeries, but because my foot starts to hurt when the joint is not aligned.I originally solved this problem with a simple and effective method I devised of taping the toe with Kinesio tape. But then I had to have a second surgery on the same foot because of scar tissue adhesions, and the incision couldn't properly heal when I was taping it all the time. So I looked for an alternative to taping and found this splint.I've learned more about feet than I ever expected to know because of these surgeries, and I know where the proper alignment of my big toe joint is. So one of the first things I noticed about this splint is that if you follow the instructions, you will pull the big toe joint out of alignment - over-correct in the other direction - and that's going to hurt. There is a 1/8" gel cushion that starts at mid foot and ends at the big toe joint. The aligned position of my toe is where it would be if the gel cushion extended all the way up the splint. So unless I want to pull my toe out of joint, I have to leave about a 1/8" space between the outer edge of my big toe and the splint. Maybe this is something unique about the structure of my foot, but it seems like a design flaw.Also, FYI, this thing fits inside NO shoes. I tried it in crocs and my biggest bedroom slippers. Even the crocs didn't work because all that stuff at midfoot needs a lot of room. Walking around barefoot, it would get dirty fast, so I'd put a sock over it. It's good for keeping my toe aligned while doing my foot exercises, although it prevents the second joint from bending.When the incision from my second surgery is fully healed, I'll go back to using Kinesio tape. Taping the joint keeps it in alignment, doesn't restrict any joints, and fits inside any shoe. (Don't do like I did and put Kinesio tape over an incision that is not 100% healed.)I'm using this device to maintain correction post-op. For someone trying to correct an existing bunion, I have two thoughts...1) If you have severe bunions, forget it. With really severe bunions, the correction has to be done at the BASE of the first metatarsal (physically, that's at about your instep). If you could see an x-ray of my foot before surgery, you'd see how impossible it would be for a device like this to have any impact on my foot since this device is putting pressure at the head of the first metatarsal. If you have severe bunions, go find a competent podiatric surgeon (and don't wait as long as I did to do it).2) If you have mild bunions, apply the pressure very slowly - just a little at a time. You are trying to move bones. Think how this deformity happened in the first place. It happened very slowly over time, most likely from wearing naughty shoes. (If you were born with bad feet, like me, you'd have severe bunions.) So don't yank your toe out of joint with this splint. Pull it just a little bit from where it is. Slowly, slowly. Did you have braces as a kid? Remember how that worked? This is the same.

I bought this splint for a minor bunion on my right foot. It only really bothers (discomfort) me when I wear high heels, otherwise it just is a bit ugly to look at (but not as severe as some people may have).I have used a ~$10 splint that I picked up at a drugstore and I swear that one did more for me than this one. This one is quite comfortable and adjusts to my size fine (women's size 7 shoe) and it does seem to wear fine when I walk (I wear it around the house, I have no idea how you'd fit this in a shoe!) but I seriously don't think it's done anything to improve the bunion. I certainly didn't expect the bump to disappear after a week, but I most definitely saw more "immediate" improvement when I used the cheaper splints. I kind of believe in the mentality "no pain no gain" and I don't feel like this is doing anything. I can pull the straps tighter, but all that does is cut off my circulation. I woke up in the middle of the night, not due to the discomfort of my toe getting yanked the direction it's supposed to be, but because my circulation was slowing from all the straps crossing my foot. I realize that's easily correct by loosening them, however then you lose the benefit of the contraption. That's why I feel like the cheaper one worked better. I think it was just a stiffer fit and held my toe in place better. The cheap one definitely didn't last as long as this one will....but again, I really don't think this one is doing anything for me.i will continue to wear it and perhaps will provide an update in a month or so...it's been one week.

I noticed the difference on day 2. It genuinely does correct the alignment and prevent the rotation. It’s not cheap but it’s a sturdy piece of kit. The hinged joint allows a full range of motion, it’s comfortable to sleep in and I can wear it comfortably in trainers and soft boots. Only criticism is that it’s white so it gets grubby quickly. Otherwise it’s a lifesaver. I’ve had bunion surgery on my other foot. Bunion on this foot has moved from mild to moderate and I had to act. Really think this splint will prevent it becoming worse.

Sehr lange habe ich recherchiert, bis ich mich für diese meiner Meinung nach überteuerte Variante entschieden habe (Name wird halt mit bezahlt). Mehrere weitere Artikel habe ich schon ausprobiert, aber nie so den richtigen Erfolg. Das Anlagen der Schiene ist ja nicht so kompliziert. Stutzig machte mich aber schon, dass es nur eine Einheitsgröße gibt und das ist schlecht. Wenn ich das Klettband um die Zehe befestige, dann schneidet dieses genau am Ender der großen Zehe in das "zarte" Fleisch zwischen 1. und 2. Zehe (und das bei Schuhgröße 43-was machen dann die mit 45 und mehr). Über Nacht wird der Schmerz so groß, dass ich gezwungen bin das Klettband zu lockern. Dann habe ich aber keinen Effekt mehr, weil der Zeh nicht mehr zur Seite gebogen wird. Ich habe das Teil nun über 4 Wochen nachts im Dauereinsatz und bisher keinen Erfolg erzielt. Es bleibt wohl doch nur eine OP.