Q - Several yogini friends are dealing with bunions – what ligaments, etc., contribute to bunions and what poses/sole placement, etc., could be used to prevent/therapeutically correct bunions? Many thanks, Namaste, M
They seem not to respond to yoga poses, except to increase one’s sensitivity or pain. They are a bone growth on the medial side of the first metatarsal. They are the result of increased kapha, which is natural occurrence with aging process. Why they form here is a mystery from what little I have done to investigate it. I have found personally that they do respond to following Indra Devi’s arthritis diet, which seems to lessen bony growths regardless of where they are in the body. My own foot was developing this growth and the diet seemed to have dissolved it. This diet is described in the website www.yogaforums.com in some cases putting pressure on the bunion seems to displace it from its attachment to the bone and then with regular massage they dissolve. At other times it is the outgrowth of tissue from the metatarsal and does not respond to pressure, which only makes the feeling worse. There are not asanas to address it other than variations of Virasana that only works in the first case not the latter.