A bunion is a bony bump that forms on the joint at the base of your big toe. A bunion forms when your big toe pushes against your next toe, forcing the joint of your big toe to get bigger and stick out. The skin over the bunion might be red and sore.<\/p>\n
Wearing tight, narrow shoes might cause bunions or might make them worse. Bunions can also develop as a result of an inherited structural defect, stress on your foot or a medical condition, such as arthritis.<\/p>\n
The first step is to relieve the pressure by wearing the right kind of shoe.<\/p>\n
There are many muscles located in the foot which attach to the bones of the big toe and have an impact on the alignment and function of the toe. Excessive tension in these muscles can cause an increased pulling on the bones of the big toe moving them out of normal position. Massage of these muscles can relax the muscles and bring some relief to the foot.<\/p>\n
Sit in a comfortable chair and position your foot across your opposite knee to give you access to the foot for massage. Applying ice to the area prior to massage can reduce pain and inflammation.<\/p>\n
Gently grasp the foot with your hands and slowly move the foot around to loosen the bones and joints. Notice movements that feel comfortable and movements that cause discomfort. Be careful to avoid hurting the bunion area.<\/p>\n
Stretch the foot in different directions and hold the stretch for half a minute in each direction.<\/p>\n
Using your fingertips and making small circles, massage the muscles and tissues on the top of the foot. Move all around the foot and ankle working around the large bumps (malleoli) on the inside and outside of the ankle.<\/p>\n
Using the tip of one finger press between the long bones located above the toes (the metatarsals) to loosen small muscles located between the bones on the top of the foot.<\/p>\n
Bringing your attention to the bottom of the foot, gently massage with circular movements pressing into the tissues. Press deeper and deeper until you can feel the underside of the bones in the foot. You might feel tension in the muscles of the foot. <\/p>\n
Bring your attention to the inside of the heel. One of the muscles that move the big toe arises from the inside of the heel bone. Use your thumb to make circular and lengthwise movements along the muscle on the inner arch of the foot. If you encounter tight or sore areas stop and press into them with firm pressure for up to 30 seconds.<\/p>\n
If you feel ropy or stringy areas in this area you can run your fingers back and forth across the ropy areas for a minute. These muscles may develop trigger points which can refer pain into other areas of the foot.<\/p>\n
Move to the middle toes on the bottom of the foot. There is a muscle that connects the third metatarsal to the big toe. Press deeply into the area around the third metatarsals to identify tight or stringy muscles. Press into the tight areas and wait for the tissue to softer or run your finger back and forth across stringy tissues. Another muscle belly connects the end of the third metatarsal to the big toe. Press into the area around the end of the bone (where the metatarsal joins with the toe) to locate tight or sore muscles.<\/p>\n
Move to the area around the bunion. Gently massage the bunion area with fingertip circular strokes to loosen any tight or sore tissues. Gently hold the bones above and below the joint where the bunion is and move them gently in different directions as tolerated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A bunion is a bony bump that forms on the joint at the base of your big toe. A bunion forms when your big toe pushes against your next toe, forcing the joint of your big toe to get bigger and stick out. The skin over the bunion might be red and sore. Wearing tight, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/etbodywork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/etbodywork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/etbodywork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbodywork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbodywork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/etbodywork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/etbodywork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbodywork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbodywork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}