Toe spacers and separators have become an increasingly popular product in recent times due to the prevalence of foot deformities such as bunions (clinically referred to as Hallux Valgus). Especially, when the toes point inwards as you can see in the image below.
Unfortunately, my big toes have showed signs in recent years of splaying inwards. It has made me consider all sorts of spacers to at best realign the big toe to it’s normal position or at least prevent the toes for moving further inwards.
Particularly in my case, the toes have begun to point inwards due to years of poor foot biomechanics and a long quest to find out the source of the problem. After years of self investigation, physio appointments and a meeting with a podiatrist I was none the wiser as to why my feet were so prone to over pronation.
But enough about me, let’s first explain what is a bunion and why it occurs.
What is A Bunion?
A bunion forms when the big toe begins leaning towards the other smaller toes causing a bony lump on the instep of the big toe joint. The lump is essentially the big toe joint being forced to stick out.
There are various factors that can cause a bunion such as narrow and tight wearing shoes, foot deformity, improper biomechanics and conditions such as arthritis.
According to a research study it found that 36% of respondents were found to have bunion deformity with the majority of the cases found in women. The higher rate in women has been linked to the type of shoes that women commonly wear such as high heels.
How Toe Spacers and Separators Can Help Bunions?
Toe spacers and separators are products that help to maintain even spacing between the toes. They can help the toes to splay and can help in improving walking and running gait by supporting the biomechanics of the foot.
There are various podiatry and foot clinics that promote through their client case studies that toe spaces and separators have prevented bunions from forming. However, research has suggested that they may not stop bunions from forming but may help to slow down the progression or provide some pain relief.
Find out Why Your Bunion is Forming
Getting to the source of why your bunion is forming is essential to management and what you need to do to prevent it from getting worse.
Toe separators and spacers are great to realign the toes and create the space between them to create a natural ‘splay’.
As highlighted above, often they can occur due to narrow footwear. But in my case, it was due to biomechanics issues with the foot. To explain briefly, I wasn’t engaging the big toe when walking and running which inhibited my ability to use the toes in the take off phase. This then caused further complications up the chain where it created too much stress through the calf and affected the running gait. If you combined this with my under active glutes the end result was a collapsing foot, with too much over pronation that caused the toes to move inwards over time.
So, I have to admit that toe spacers were never going to correct my issue on it’s own. However, they did help to realign the toes especially for walking and running. But a combination of correction exercises and using the toe separators have seemingly helped to correct the issue.
What Types of Toe Spacers and Separators are Available?
The most common types available are silicone gel spacers that fit between the toes and also splints that strap around the foot and big toe to keep it in a straight alignment.
How We’ve Selected Toe Spacers for Review
It would be fair to say that there isn’t well known brand for toe spacers, particularly the range of silicone spacers.
The products are generally from podiatry or foot clinics that have developed their own product and a variety of suppliers that can be found on Amazon.
We have picked out the various types, particularly ones that I’ve had personal experience with. So, before I get to the various products, I want to share with you my personal experience with different types of toes spacers and my journey with foot correction.
My Personal Experience with Toe Spacers and Foot Correction
Toe Separator Splint
The first type I ordered was a splint that I could wear around the house and in bed. My thinking was that I needed to wear something for a prolonged period of time to ease the big toe back into its natural position.
The splint was great for doing exactly that, forcing the big toe into its natural alignment. The problem with the splint was that they were uncomfortable to walk around in and also to sleep at night. In fact, I would wake up in the night to take them off as they were causing discomfort.
However, they were useful to wear when doing something relaxing such as sitting at the desk or watching TV.
The other issue with the splint was that the toe looked like it had improved in alignment for a few hours after wearing the splint. But would look like they had returned to pointing inwards after a few hours or day without wearing them.
So, this brought me to consider the silicone toe spacers. I thought if I could wear the silicone spacers more consistently or at least during times that I wanted to give my feet a rest from the splints.
Silicone Toe Separators and Spacers
The other major plus with silicone spacers was that I could wear them while exercising, whether it was during functional exercises in the gym like calf raises, jogging, or everyday running. In fact, they were great at helping to keep the toe in alignment while strengthening the foot muscles to help prevent over pronation, improve my foot biomechanics and re-align the big toe.
There were various different types of silicone spacers I tried. The first was the type shown in the image below that wraps around all of the toes.
However, I found the silicone strap that overlaps the little and big toe to cause discomfort after wearing for a few hours and also dug into the outside of the toes. So, I then tried the following silicone spacer which just slotted in-between the toes.
These were great, but they were not comfortable when I used them for running or more dynamic exercises. So, I ended up settling on the below type for running and when I wanted to wear them with a shoe or trainer. Particularly as my main focus was to re-align the big toe.
In conclusion, I settled on a combination of using the splints when I was doing something stationary like watching on TV on the sofa, the strapless toe spacers for everyday walking around the house and then the big toe spacer with bunion guard when exercising and wearing with a shoe.
Try These Toe Spacers and Separator’s
Here’s links to some products that I came across during my research into toe spacers and separators
My Foot Function Toe Spacer
My Foot Function is an online clinic that caters for people with foot and biomechanics issues. So, a bunion is a condition that they frequently address and have developed their own toe spacer, as highlighted in the photo above.
Design Type: Fits between the toes with no strap around the outside of the big and little toe.
Material: Styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene, also known as SEBS.
Variations: 3 different types of material hardness from soft, medium to hard.
Price: £11 for an individual spacer or £32.00 for a toe spacer kit (the kit includes 3 x toe spacers and access to their workshop that shows people how to correct their feet.)
YogaMedic Toe Separator
The YogaMedic Toe Separator wraps around the big toe and the second or long toe. It has an adjustable gel page to change the thickness between the toes. This is a good alternative for people who feel they don’t need to space all their toes or may find straps around all the toes uncomfortable.
Also the adjustable strap helps to ensure correct fitting around the toe.
Design Type: Fits between the big toe and second toe with an adjustable gel pad.
Material: Silicone
Variations: None
Price: £12.99 for 6 pieces
YogaMedic Bunion Corrector
Similar to YogaMedic’s own Toe Separator except it doesn’t have the adjustable strap and has a shield over the bunion for correction.
Design Type: Fits between the big toe and second toe with a protective shield.
Material: Silicone
Variations: None
Price: £12.99 for 6 pieces
Toe Separator with Straps around the Toes
Simply slots in-between the toes without the aid of straps around the big and little toes.
Design Type: Separators between all the toes with straps around the big and little toe to hold the spacers in place.
Material: Silicone gel
Variations: Different colours between blue and white
Price: £9.99 for 4 pieces
Toe Separator without Straps Around Big and Little Toes
Simply slots in-between the toes without the aid of straps around the big and little toes.
Design Type: Separators between all the toes with honeycomb breathable forefoot support
Material: Silicone gel
Variations: None
Price: £6.99 for 6 pieces
Toe Separators to Correct Little Toes Overlapping
Some people can also get small bunions forming on the outside of the small toe. These toe separators focus purely on preventing overlapping of the smaller outside toes.
Design Type: Separators between the fourth and fifth toes
Material: Silicone
Variations: None
Price: £12.99 for 10 pieces
Avidda Bunion Splint Strap
The bunion splint is made out of aluminium and covered by a neoprene brace to support the realignment of the big toe.
The main big difference between the splint and the toe separators is that the splint would not be able to comfortably fit into most shoes or use when walking.
It’s more effectively used when sitting or lying down.
Design Type: Brace that straps around the foot and a splint that straps around the big toe
Material: Aluminium and Neoprane
Variations: One size fit all but does come in a choice of colours
Price: £12.99 for 1 pair (left and right foot)
