Medical Treatment

Hallux valgus

Hallux valgus is a deformity of the big toe that occurs frequently in 30% of middle-aged women. In our country, hallux valgus has become more common with the spread of the shoe lifestyle since the end of World War II. In particular, it has been believed that narrow-tipped high heels are the cause of this　disease.

The main cause is the deformation of the big toe due to pressure exerted on the inside of narrow-tipped shoes.

Therefore, to prevent or reduce this, it is important to prevent pressure on the big toe by the inside of the shoe.

We believe that the cause of hallux valgus is the outward pressure of the big toe on the inner wall of the shoe caused by the forward slipping of the foot during walking, and have developed “clog-thong shoes”that fix the big toe in place with the sole's clog thong.

Eversion of the big toe when wearing transparent shoes
Figure 9-1. Eversion of the big toe when wearing transparent shoes:
The tip of the big toe is compressed by the tip of the shoe, causing the tip of the big toe to bow outward. This is the primary cause of hallux valgus.
Insert the insole into the shoe with a elastic silicone band attached
Figure 9-2. Insert the insole with a elastic silicone band attached into the shoe ：
By wearing the clog-thong-attached insole and shoes, the big toe is improved by completely eliminating pressure on the big toe caused by the toe slipping forward when walking. The design has an oblique shape with a higher space on the side of the big toe to provide more room for the toe and prevent pressure on the toe.

We designed such shoes for improving hallux valgus and actually conducted two experiments on 17 women with hallux valgus and confirmed their effectiveness.

In the first experiment, the subjects walked for one-hour in shoes with and without clog-thong, and compared their lower limb pain.

The results are shown in the following figure and table.

Comparison of right big toe pain with and without a clog thong during 1-hour walking
Figure 9-3. Comparison of right big toe pain with and without a clog thong during 1-hour walking:
the right big toe pain with a clog thong is clearly reduced.
Comparison of left plantar pain during 1-hour walking with/ without clog thong shoes
Figure 9-4. Comparison of left plantar pain during 1-hour walking with/ without clog thong shoes:
Plantar pain is clearly reduced with clog- thong shoes. We believe that this is because people with hallux valgus cannot use their big toe due to its deformation and walk by kicking the ground with the sole of the middle toe, but with clog-thong shoes, they change to walking by kicking the ground using their big toe, which reduces plantar pain.
Comparison of right big toe pain during 1-hour walk with clog-thong shoes in the first and the second experiment after 3 months of wear
Figure 9-5. Comparison of right big toe pain during 1-hour walk with clog-thong shoes in the first and the second experiment after 3 months of wear:
Compared to the first, the second experiment showed less big toe pain, suggesting that the patient got used to wearing clog-thong shoes and improved his walking style, resulting in almost no big toe pain.
Table 9-1. Comparison of the time of worsening foot pain during daily walking in conventional shoes before the 1st experiment and in clog-thong shoes before the 2nd experiment. （n=14）
Table 9-1. Comparison of the time of worsening foot pain during daily walking in conventional shoes before the 1st experiment and in clog-thong shoes before the 2nd experiment.

: Before the first experiment, 11 patients complained of leg pain within 60 minutes of walking, but before the second experiment, the number of patients had decreased dramatically to only one, and 78.5% no longer complained of pain when walking at all.

Percentage of patients with improved toes after wearing clog-thong shoes for 3 months
Figure 9-6: Percentage of patients with improved toes after wearing clog-thong shoes for 3 months
Example of improvement in
Figure 9-7: Example of improvement in "calluses" after 3 months of wearing clog-thong shoes
Conclusion

Wearing clog-thong shoes for 3 months resulted in improvement of foot pain, calluses, fish eyes, and deformed nails during walking. These results indicate that wearing clog-thong shoes is effective in improving symptoms such as pain caused by hallux valgus.