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The Short Foot Exercise for Bunions

Does it work?
A lot depends on how much you believe that muscle strength is involved in the development of bunions.
This is the short foot exercise (SFA):

The exercise is very effective for what it is designed for and that is to strengthen the intrinsic muscles of the foot. It is claimed to be an effective treatment for overpronation (its not). There is a bit of controversy around the SFA, most due to the extraordinary strength and number of claims that get made or what it can do, versus the lack of any actual evidence to support those claims.

Does it help those with bunions? Probably not. The problem with muscle strengthening in those with bunions is that due to the deformity (and the valgus of the hallux), the problem is not necessarily weak muscles, but a very poor lever arm that the intrinsic muscles have to exert their effect. This means that any gains from doing this exercise in those with bunions is going to be, at best, minimal in return for a extraordinary amount of effort and time needed to perform the exercise.

The exercise is a good adjunct to use in the treatment of plantar fasciitis.

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Reflexology for Bunions

Reflexology is a non-nonsensical failed pseudoscience belief system that claims different organ systems can be mapped to the foot and stimulation of those zones on the foot can affect the health of those organs. There is no physiological or neurological or any sort of biological link between the organs and the bottom on the foot. Clinical trials of reflexology are badly done and all systematic reviews of the good published evidence clearly shows that reflexology is totally useless at treating everything. The only studies that show a results were either badly done or the intervention used was not “reflexology”, but just a foot massage.

In that context, there is absolutely nothing that reflexology can do for bunions, so don’t waste your money on it or fall or the non-nonsensical failed pseudoscience. On the other hand, a damn good foot massage will make everyone fell better …. it just won’t fix your bunion.

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Kinesio Taping for Bunions

Remember all that brightly colored tape that athletes wear at the Olympics? It apparently can be used for bunions:

Kinesio taping has some controversy around it as to its effectiveness but discussion between those who do use it for bunions is that they do find it helpful. There is no research one way or the other as to its effectiveness.

It is unlikely that the taping method can actually fix bunions, as the forces making the bony changes are too great for a flexible tape to overcome, however, it may be helpful for the symptoms that are caused by bunions.

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Jacks Test

jacks
Jacks Test (or the Hubscher maneuver) is a clinical test that is used to test the integrity of motions and forces at the first metatarsophalangeal joint and the windlass mechanism of the foot. The aim of the text is to dorsiflex the hallux while the foot is weightbearing and determine how hard the hallux is to dorsiflex and and easy it is to raise the arch of the foot during the test. This information is often used to guide interventions when there are problems with function of the joint and the integrity of the windlass mechanism at supporting the arch of the foot. It was originally described in the context of surgery for flat foot. There have been questions about the test’s validity, but it is still widely used in clinical practice.

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Homeopathy for Bunions

Homeopathy for bunions does not work. It can not work as homeopathy does not work for anything. The scientific evidence on it is really clear. There is plenty of that evidence and it all shows that it does not work. Homeopathy is no better than a placebo. Any ‘clinical’ effect of it that is seen is due to that placebo effect. Those that promote homeopathy grasp at straws, misrepresent bad research and use all sorts of logical fallacies, data dredging and special pleading. They still do not get it. All the scientific investigations and government reports show that it does not work and can not or will not work. If it does not work for anything, then it can not work for bunions.