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Pointe shoes for bunions


Dlovestodance

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My daughter is currently at vocational school and has bunions.  She has physio and rehab to help and wears a specially fitted toe spacer.   She has tried numerous brands of pointe shoes (Grisham, Russian pointe, Bloch) but to date has not quite found the right ones to make her bunion feel comfortable and give her the confidence to do her pointe work.   Does anyone have any recommendations as to a particular brand that may be good for her to try.   We are going to Freed on Wednesday and will also have a look at Dancia as they stock many different brands but any advice would be appreciated.

 

thank you 

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Has she tried a bunion stretcher? (I’ve seen them but not tried myself). It may be a better option so she can stick with a shoe that suits her foot shape and the increase the space for  the bunion. Has she tried all the Russian pointe? I think one of them is meant to be well shaped for bunions, I think it might be the brava. Russian pointes are usually reasonably pliable on the wings which might be more comfy than something harder like a grishko. 

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Thanks Jan :)

Most brands do a wider shape style which can then be fitted in an appropriate width to accommodate bunions and any associated support/spacers/padding. She really does need to try as many on as possible. Adapting the style she currently wears may also be an option - maybe going up a width, but using a box liner to reduce the space where it’s not needed.

 

Try Russian Pointe Brava, Muze, Entrada Pro (has high crown) 

 

Grishko Triumph, Super Triumph or Smart Pointe

 

Bloch Balance European and Hannah are quite square shoes 
 

 Hope this gives you some help to start :) 

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My dd has a bunion and wears toe spacers in both big toes.  Now she’s dancing at Uni and not doing much pointe she only wears Gaynor Mindens (fitted by Sheila ☺️) as they don’t rub her bunion.  For her Advanced 2 classes and exam she wore her Freed Classic Pros as her particular “maker” has quite soft wings.  Neither shoe hurts her bunion.

 

When she was doing a lot of pointe and then in full time training, her bunion was very red and painful so her dance Physio gave her sheets of thick felt, adhesive on one side, which she cut into rectangles and stuck inside her pointe and Character shoes above her bunion (so further towards the heel, if you see what I mean) so the sides of the shoes were lifted off the bunion and didn’t press on the bunion - that really helped, much more than padding the bunion itself.

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9 hours ago, Anna C said:

My dd has a bunion and wears toe spacers in both big toes.  Now she’s dancing at Uni and not doing much pointe she only wears Gaynor Mindens (fitted by Sheila ☺️) as they don’t rub her bunion.  For her Advanced 2 classes and exam she wore her Freed Classic Pros as her particular “maker” has quite soft wings.  Neither shoe hurts her bunion.

 

When she was doing a lot of pointe and then in full time training, her bunion was very red and painful so her dance Physio gave her sheets of thick felt, adhesive on one side, which she cut into rectangles and stuck inside her pointe and Character shoes above her bunion (so further towards the heel, if you see what I mean) so the sides of the shoes were lifted off the bunion and didn’t press on the bunion - that really helped, much more than padding the bunion itself.

I think the felt Anna describes is Scholl Moleskin or similar. 

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10 hours ago, Jane said:

I think the felt Anna describes is Scholl Moleskin or similar. 

 

No, it was much thicker than that, I think, Jane?  At least 10mm deep and felt like a cross between felt and boiled wool.  It sticks on the shoe, rather than on the foot.  I’ll see if dd has left her Character shoes here and try to upload a photo. 

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Couldn’t find the character shoes but I found a sheet of padding.  The paper peels off to reveal the self-adhesive layer that sticks onto the shoe.

 

I’ve marked up a photo of a shoe - if the blue arrow is where the bunion would be, the black rectangle shows where the rectangle of padding goes - it’s before the bunion, definitely not on it.  I hope that makes sense! ☺️

5D7709BF-F848-4407-A024-C2BF9ABF6C20.jpeg

03DB0028-EB0F-4481-A088-6BE6B8B39C86.jpeg

A6FC611A-B54A-428D-A56E-D7D2506382A0.jpeg

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3 hours ago, Anna C said:

 

No, it was much thicker than that, I think, Jane?  At least 10mm deep and felt like a cross between felt and boiled wool.  It sticks on the shoe, rather than on the foot.  I’ll see if dd has left her Character shoes here and try to upload a photo. 

Sorry can’t post a link but Dr Scholls moleskin plus is 8mm thick and can be stuck to shoe or foot, it is like felt. We were introduced to it years ago by physio when son had foot/leg splints that rubbed when first fitted. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thank you all so much for your help and advice.  Last week during half term we visited numerous dance shops and my DD tried on many many pairs of pointe shoes.  We even looked at the possibility of having some specially made in Freeds.   However, she then tried on some Gaynor Minden and couldn’t believe how comfortable they felt over her bunion, at the same time not making her feet look really wide.  She has worn them all this week and for the first time in almost a year has managed to do full pointe classes (with some exercises specially adapted to go hand in hand with her rehab).   DD has reported practically no pain and her bunion feeling more comfortable than it has ever done.    DD has the Dr Scholl adhesive padding but has not put it in the shoes at the moment as she feels that they are fine as they are.

 

Thank you all so much.

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11 minutes ago, Dlovestodance said:

Thank you all so much for your help and advice.  Last week during half term we visited numerous dance shops and my DD tried on many many pairs of pointe shoes.  We even looked at the possibility of having some specially made in Freeds.   However, she then tried on some Gaynor Minden and couldn’t believe how comfortable they felt over her bunion, at the same time not making her feet look really wide.  She has worn them all this week and for the first time in almost a year has managed to do full pointe classes (with some exercises specially adapted to go hand in hand with her rehab).   DD has reported practically no pain and her bunion feeling more comfortable than it has ever done.    DD has the Dr Scholl adhesive padding but has not put it in the shoes at the moment as she feels that they are fine as they are.

 

Thank you all so much.

 

Brilliant news!  I’m so pleased. 👏🏻☺️

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  • 3 weeks later...

My daughter has terrible bunions - she had a lot of difficulty as her feet are otherwise very narrow. She tried a few different shoes and now wears Gaynor Mindens in a combo which has a wide box to accommodate her bunion and a narrow width heel. Anyway she loves her Gaynors and has danced pain-free in them for a few years now.

 

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Kanangra thank you for your message that’s so great to hear.   It’s the Gaynor Minden combos that my DD now has.   Having worn them now for just over three weeks I’m so happy to report that she is relatively pain free when doing pointe.   Her confidence is building in her pointe work where previously it had diminished as she was simply unable to join in the pointe lessons as the pain was so bad.  Xx

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