These Feet Weren't Made for Walking - But They'll Just Have to do

6th December 2018

I'm sitting at the train station now. Students are chattering. Birds are tweeting. The sound of traffic in the far distance could almost be mistaken for the sound of wind. The sky is a dark navy with patches of royal blue behind the silhouettes of bare trees' branches. A clear crisp Winter evening - and it isn't even that cold... Just perfect. I'm crunching on some snacks to keep me going.
I've just left my podiatry appointment. It went well actually! They've attacked my verrucas as I asked. So you know I got dealt a bad hand with genetics and have bunions in both feet on my big toes. I also had hammertoe in both second toes on my feet which have been previously operated on when I was 12 - one of which has decided to make a comeback - unlike Take That, it won't be back for good because I have a surgery on it and one bunion next Summer to correct them. You knew that though. I also have verrucas on my feet. One of which I've had for maybe 5 years, another one for about 2 years and a new one identified today.

Today I was told to also book an appointment for Bio-mechanics so I can maybe get some arch supports. SO basically if I could get feet transplants or regrow them, I'd try!
I have a Christmas dinner tonight with Ulster University Students' Union which I'm looking forward to but with all of these dressings for the verrucas, my feet aren't going to fit into elegant shoes so I think it's a boots night for me! I'll find a way to make boots and a dress work.

In my last post I talked about my experience with night splints to support my bunions. I have tried the rigid night splints a few times now and I've came to the conclusion that they are fine for maybe two hours of relief but they aren't going to work for me as a long-term overnight option to relieve the pressure on my feet. After 3 hours my feet are on FIRE. I recently bought another support from Amazon for my hammertoe but it doubles up to help my bunions too. It's a gel support so a lot softer and it fits like a sleeve over my second toe to reduce the rubbing of the upright joint and has a thicker side to create a gap between it and my big toe. I am hoping to try it tonight and see how secure it is! Hopefully it will provide some relief...

13th January 2019 - Reviews

Firstly, I didn't have to wear boots to the Christmas dinner. Thankfuly the dressings were a nude colour and barely visible when I wore my pretty tall platformed, stiletto Mary-Janes... A girl with bad feet can enjoy awesome shoes for one night - sure they can't really get much worse anyway! 😂

So my gel supports came in the post and I would highly recommend them to people who have bunions. I will leave the links to both the gel supports and the night splints at the bottom of this page! They were soft and comfortable for my bunions and I wore them for several days all day inside my shoes. However, my hammertoe did not thank me. As my hammertoe is a 'fixed' one - meaning it doesn't unbend (it looks like it's just permanently clenched) - the only way to fix it is by operating. The only way of supporting it so it doesn't worsen is by creating that space between the big toe and the hammertoe (at least that's how it is for me). The joint, although protected by the gel support sleeve, felt persistently under pressure and caused discomfort which was small but constant. 

I went for my podiatry appointment with bio-mechanics and got a pair of orthotics. They have a wedge glued to the bottom of around 5 degrees? I'm still not entirely sure what that means but they have been so much more comfortable to wear in my shoes and seem to not put as much pressure on my bunion in some way? I do however think my natural arch is higher. I feel like my feet could still take a higher arch support. The best way to describe it is, I feel like the arch supports could fit my arch better. They still have a flatness to them and the inner side of my foot would experience some dull pain after walking on them for too long just like when I didn't wear orthotics. I guess I believe that there's still a better fit out there. However, this is only my first pair so maybe they have to train my feet to adapt to having orthotics first, rather than shock my system into walking a totally new way and leave me with aching legs. I have been trying to do some research online to test if I have a high, medium or low arch. I believe from this that I am reaching the higher arch spectrum but of course I'm not a professional. 

I followed this guide below if you would like to try too:


I have another podiatry appointment coming up in February about my verrucas so I will keep you all updated! I am going to try another set of gel supports as they work for me but I may try a gel splint which is softer on my bunion but also doesn't apply pressure to my hammertoe!

Here are the links to the rigid night splints and gel supports that I've already tried: 
Gel Correctors
Rigid Night Splints

Yours truly,

A very patient Cinderella 

NPK xx

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