Hallux valgus. Bunions. No fun at all on a mountain hike. In regular hiking boots, from about the fifth kilometre the pain shoots from your foot all the way up to your head. Where can you find boots that won't make you suffer? Do they even exist? Good news: they do! Look for the ones labelled BUNION.
The human foot is a fiendishly complicated thing. Just think about it – 26 bones, 19 muscles, 33 joints, 10 tendons and more than a hundred ligaments. In a single foot. So there's plenty that can go wrong. And when it does – when one of the bones shifts out of line – it's a problem. A painful problem. Especially on a mountain trail with a pack on your back.
Hallux valgus – in plain English a bunion – is exactly that problem. Put simply, the big toe leans in towards the other toes. And then a "bump" forms on the inner side of the foot that presses against the boot, rubs and hurts like hell.
Bunions (hallux valgus) are one of the most common foot problems. According to research, bunions affect roughly 23% of all adults. Mainly older people and women. The result? Pain, pressure sores, inflammation and – a real struggle to find boots you can bear to wear.
Are bunions hereditary? Genetics certainly play a part, yes. But how far bunions develop also has a lot to do with how you live. Wearing high heels, narrow shoes (climbing shoes included) or being overweight – it all plays a role.
The very root cause of bunions, though, is flat feet, where the muscles that hold the foot's proper arch give up. And that shows most around the first metatarsal bone. What happens? As the big toe "leans" inwards towards the other toes, its joint pushes outwards.
Probably not. Hallux valgus is a deformity that tends to get worse over time. In milder cases the angle can be "improved" a little with a combination of exercises, orthoses and boot adjustments. But with pronounced bunions, getting back to normal without surgery is almost impossible. The goal then is rather to stop it getting worse and reduce the pain.
The basic medical advice goes like this – a toe box that's wide and high enough, a soft upper with no seams over the enlarged joint, a slight heel and a somewhat stiffer sole that reduces the need to "bend" the big toe as you roll into the next step.
When it comes to hiking shoes and boots, everything depends on the shape of the last the bootmakers use. And what is a last? A carefully, anatomically designed piece of wood or plastic that the boots are shaped around. For feet with bunions, it's the last labelled BUNION that's used.
Just buying boots a size or two bigger is pointless. Bunions need extra room in just one specific spot – at the side of the big toe. Everywhere else the boot needs to fit well – to support your foot on tough mountain terrain. A boot that's too big means losing stability, blisters and overloading elsewhere.
Using a bunion last means, first and foremost, widening the boot locally, just at the big toe joint. This prevents those nasty pressure points and the pain that can turn a gorgeous mountain hike into pure hell.
But the big toe also pushes inwards. And that affects the other toes. That's why bunion boots have a higher toe box – so every single toe gets more room. On the inner side – by the sensitive big toe joint – there are usually no seams, to avoid pressure and rubbing.
There are several brands offering bunion boots. Asolo is one of them. The Italian bootmakers designed their own bunion last, which they use for both lightweight low-cut hiking shoes and sturdy full-leather hiking boots. The principle is always the same, though. Instead of the big toe fighting the upper for space, it gets extra room – while the rest of the boot stays stable.
Barefoot shoes also make sense for bunions. Definitely. The wide toe box and thin flexible sole let your toes work, strengthen the small muscles of the foot and improve proprioception. That can slow down the deformity and make walking more comfortable.
But in the mountains? Minimalist barefoot shoes don't protect your toe or joint from rocks, roots and other obstacles. Nor do they offer much support under a heavy pack. And they can actually increase the pain as you push off over your big toe. This is where bunion hiking boots are better. They hold your heel, ankle and arch and protect your feet on tough terrain.
Barefoot shoes are great for town, forest trails, maybe easier mountain terrain. It also depends on how experienced and trained you are. Bunion boots, on the other hand, let you, bunions and all, move safely on rocks and snow and with a heavy pack. In other words, where wearing barefoot shoes would mean risking an injury at the very least.
There are no miracle cures. You know that. Not even bunion boots (or barefoot shoes, for that matter) will magically cure bunions. What we're talking about here is footwear that doesn't press on your foot, doesn't cause pain, yet still supports it on mountain terrain.
And that's what it's all about. Being able to walk in the mountains (again) without suffering. So that up on a mountain ridge you can focus not on the pain – but on the path ahead.
