Many people experience foot pain and discomfort due to conventional footwear that squishes feet into unhealthy positions. Correct Toes, toe spacers that can be worn barefoot or inside naturally shaped shoes, help prevent these adaptations and provide numerous benefits to overall health.
Worn regularly, Correct Toes gradually adjust the natural shape of the foot and retrain muscles to support that alignment. This retraining improves balance, stability and strength for confident and healthy movement throughout the body.
Better Balance and Stability
Most shoes today force the feet into tight, unnatural positions that negatively impact foot health. Correct Toes, made of soft, flexible medical-grade silicone, help the toes revert back to their natural position, allowing your feet to regain the wide support they were originally designed with at birth. By splaying your toes, you can relieve years of imbalance and pain, as well as prevent many common foot conditions such as hammer toes, bunions, corns, plantar fasciosis, ingrown toenails, and numbness.
When worn regularly, Correct Toes, like braces affect the alignment of teeth, slowly and progressively change the architecture of your foot. This creates a wider base of support, improving balance, proprioception, gait and posture. As your feet strengthen, they become able to support themselves naturally, eliminating the need for arch support and orthotics.
Correct Toes toe spacers are passively effective when worn barefoot or within properly-shaped footwear, but are most beneficial when used during regular weight-bearing activity. Unlike cheaper toe separators that can only be worn without shoes and that restrict toe splay, our Correct Toes are safe and effective when worn during exercise or activity, whether a brisk walk, hike, or jog, or even while running or climbing. Our founder has even set records while wearing Correct Toes as he ran 14,000 foot peaks! This allows you to maximize your workout while getting the benefits of improved balance, stability, and strength.
Strengthened Muscles
As the foot stretches and adapts to its new shape, muscles throughout the lower leg and foot strengthen. This passive strengthening, over time, can reduce the frequency of foot and toe issues as well as help resolve issues that do develop (i.e. hammer toes, plantar fasciosis).
Like braces impacting the alignment of teeth, Correct Toes slowly and progressively adjust the natural foot architecture. With regular wear while walking or running – or just being active barefoot or in healthy footwear – the toes align and the feet become wider, improving balance, stability, proprioception, gait and posture.
Athletes who use Correct Toes report increased power and speed in their workouts, along with a reduction in foot injuries. This is largely because the wider toe stance helps with foot and toe strength, which in turn enhances full-body movement and performance.
Almost everyone can benefit from Correct Toes, particularly anyone who has spent their life wearing shoes that are too narrow for their feet. The toe spacers can be worn barefoot or in healthy footwear and are simple to use. They provide gradual, incremental change and are easily adjusted to fit a variety of foot widths. The initial adjustment can cause some tenderness and soreness as the muscles stretch and strengthen, but this should subside with continued use. The toe spacers can also be used for preventative foot health, preventing problems from developing in the first place.
Reduced Foot Pain
Foot pain can be annoying and inconvenient, but it often gets better on its own if you avoid things that make it worse. It can also be relieved with home treatment, including exercise and wearing well-fitting shoes. Taking over-the-counter medicines such as ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB) or naproxen sodium (Aleve) can help ease pain and swelling.
When used regularly, Correct Toes toe spacers return feet to the wide-open design they had at birth and the way they were meant to work. They’re worn barefoot or with healthy footwear and help train the feet to move more naturally, improving balance and strength.
Common causes of foot pain include bunions — bumps at the base of the big toe caused by poor bone alignment or ill-fitting shoes, and hammer toes, a condition in which the toes bend downward into a claw-like position. Other issues that can lead to foot pain include plantar warts, which are sores on the bottom of the feet, calluses or corns — thickened areas of skin irritated by rubbing or pressure, and Morton neuroma, a thickening of nerve tissue between the toes.
To help prevent these conditions, keep the area dry and clean, especially after sweating. Don’t wear shoes that don’t fit well and change the type of shoe you wear as frequently as possible. If you have foot pain, a podiatrist can help you find relief.
Improved Posture
The feet are the foundation of the body. When they aren’t functioning properly, the whole body compensates and functions incorrectly. Our current footwear, especially athletic shoes, squishes the toes into narrow spaces and over time, our shod foot shape is very different from the natural, un-shod adult foot shape and the foot shape of infants. Correct toe spacers splay the toes in the way nature intended, helping return our feet back to their natural anatomical position. This helps re-align toes, joints and muscles, correct muscle imbalances, relieve foot pain, improve balance and increase overall strength of the feet and lower leg.
Made with medical grade, flexible silicone, the toe separators have four dividers designed to fit in between each of the five toes. Worn regularly, and preferably with weight-bearing activity, they hold the toes in a spread position like when you are at birth. This passive, gradual adjustment of the foot’s natural architecture changes the toe alignment, creates a wider base for support and strengthens the intrinsic foot muscles over time.
When worn regularly and ideally with a wide-toe box shoe, Correct Toes help you to improve your balance and stability while exercising or working out in the gym. During your workout, you’ll find that the wider stance encourages your muscles to move in new ways that will promote stronger and more confident balance throughout your entire body.