Some of you may be surprised to learn that growing up I was always known as a bit of a drama queen. These days I’m not always quite so histrionic on the exterior but one of my favorite little drama moments is dropping the fact that Bunions are Not Genetic. 😱

“What?? But my mom, grandma, and aunt all have them! I have them. How can they not be genetic?” 

It's not that genetics don’t play a role in whether we form bunions, but not in the way we think they do. On the whole, genetics can predispose us to certain conditions in the body, but they usually aren’t a fait accompli -- like one day a bunion will just erupt out of your big toe joint for no apparent reason to cause pain and annoyance. 

(Bunions, for those who may not be aware, are when your big toe gradually veers to point in toward the other toes, sometimes completely lying over or under the rest of the toes, and the joint bulges out away from the rest of the foot. This can also happen with the pinky toe. They're quite common in the western world; some studies find that they might be found in as much as 28.4% of adults, 74% of the elderly. And they are far more common in women.)

There are factors related to genetics – the length and shape of your bones, pelvis and hip joints, the quality of your collagen – but genetic factors don’t exist in a vacuum.

Rather bunions begin to take shape due to the environment our feet live in.
This includes:

• The positions they take during the day (squeezed up in tight shoes?).

• The way we walk (toes pointing forward or feet angling out to the sides?).

• How we stand (weight forward, so the toes have to grip to keep us upright?).

• The activities we engage in on a regular basis (ballet dancers are highly prone). 

Genetic factors + HOW WE USE OUR FEET + time = creation of bunions.

Interesting to note: did you know that not only are our physical characteristics, like hair color or the shape of our nose, passed down from our families, but so are our movement patterns? Think of it like an accent. We all learn to speak with different accents depending on who we heard speaking while we were growing up. Same with movement. We inhabit movement patterns from observing and absorbing how the people around us moved -- a movement “accent” if you will. So if your mom and grandma walked and stood in certain ways that contributed to bunions, there’s a good chance you walk and stand in similar ways. 

Now the thing is, I can’t just give out this information and not also say: Bunions are not your fault because you’ve been “walking wrong” for so many years. No.

Our bodies wisely adapt to the environments they are given. Nobody stands and walks perfectly. Perfectly doesn’t exist. We do what we do, and we adapt to the world we exist in. Bunions are an adaptation. And the good news is that while we can’t change genetics, there are things we can do to change how we express them. We can change how we move and stand, the shoes we wear, and we can have a hand in our own healing.

So what are some easy things to do to start playing an active role in your healing?

• Wear shoes that give your toes room to move. Wide toe boxes, summer sandals (less flip-flop time though), barefoot time.

• Toes stretches and exercises like those in the past few newsletters (I’m going to get these up on my blog too so you can refer back to them)

• Noticing where your feet point when you walk and gently see if you can get them to point more straight forward. 

• Noticing where your weight is when you stand up, especially when you’re in bare/socked feet or flat shoes. More towards your heels takes the pressure off your toes. 

• My favorite passive toe stretch (below)

NO-EFFORT TOE STRETCHES with MY HAPPY FEET ALIGNMENT SOCKS!!

When we squeeze our feet into shoes all day, the muscles between our toes get shorter and tighter. Alignment socks are a product I used a ton when I first began working on my feet ages ago. The loops in these socks passively stretch the muscles between the toes.

I recommend wearing them after a long day in shoes or a night out in heels. They’re meant to be used when you’re resting or sleeping. Start easy, 10 or so minutes at a time. Or even less if your feet complain too much.

The first few weeks I slept with them on I would wake up in the middle of the night, my feet on fire and ripping them off as fast as possible. I can make it through the night now. But start slow. Don’t be all cocky about it like me.

I have no affiliation with My Happy Feet, I just love recommending their product and give them out as presents. There are less expensive versions on Amazon and they work fine too. After trying these, I decided I liked the fit and quality of My Happy Feet and stuck with those. I’ve had the same two pairs for years.