Are Yoga Toes a Stretch, asks Morton’s Toe Expert ?

Here a item about Yoga  that I wrote, that   ran nationaly

The ancient physical practice of Yoga, which originated in India, has become more and more popular as Americans seek a workout that includes the body and mind, and is a welcome reprieve from the gym. This expanding interest in all things yogic has spawned an industry constituted by clothing, props and related products. One of these products is Yoga Toes, which are rubber prostheses that separate and stretch the toes, similar to what is used during pedicures (http://www.yogapro.com/products/YogaToes.html).

In many yoga classes, students are encouraged to practice stretching their toes wide, with the eventual goal of returning to the bare feet of our childhood years–hence the name “Yoga Toes.” Yoga Toes are marketed as a treatment for painful and disfigured feet, and the website lists their many benefits (http://www.yogapro.com/products/YogaToes.html): spreading, stretching and exercising toes; correcting and realigning foot structure; strengthening and stretching foot muscles; improving circulation and appearance; and balancing the entire body and stimulating and improving posture.

If you are using Yoga Toes for any lengthy period of time, and you notice your toes may be stretching and strengthening, then you may also notice that your second toe is longer than the first toe (also known as “Morton’s Toe”). And if this is the case, this could be some of the cause of your foot and leg discomfort. Products like Yoga Toes and practicing yoga with bare feet can certainly help alleviate toe, foot and bodily pain. But you may still suffer inexplicable pain, and this can be treated by placing a toe pad under your first toe. This pad helps redistribute the weight proportionally across the foot, thus relieving the stress that can be caused by abnormal pronation from a longer second toe (http://whyyoureallyhurt.com/mortons-toe/pronation/).

Products such as Yoga Toes may not be a stretch for helping alleviate pain and discomfort, but a simple toe pad under the first toe can be worn throughout your busy day and it addresses the fundamental cause of much foot pain.

In the 1920’s and 1930”s Dr. Dudley J. Morton of Yale Medical School and Columbia Medical School wrote that a problem with the 1^st metatarsal bone, known as a Morton’s Toe could be the reason for most foot problems. Dr. Janet Travel, White House physician to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, and Professor Emeritus of Medicine at George Washington University took this concept further by writing and teaching that the Morton’s Toe could cause pain all over your body. She wrote and taught for four decades that a “Morton’s Toe could cause, back, hip, knee, leg foot and ankles problems. In the new book, Why You Really Hurt: It All Starts In The Foot  Dr. Burton S. Schuler, also shows how it can also cause arthritis, fibromyalgia, sleep disturbances, and TMJ. The good news is that all of these problems can be treated with a simple pad that costs about two to three dollars. .

About the Author: Dr. Burton S. Schuler is a leading authority on the Morton’s Toe and it associated problems. He is the author of the newly published book about The Morton’s Toe, Why You Really Hurt: It All Starts In the Foot. The book published by the La Luz Press, Inc.,   is the story of how one bone in your foot could be the real reason for pains thru out your whole body. This book is important because it offer the public new information about why millions of people suffer everyday with aches and pains, and offers new hope to get rid of problems they believed they would have to live with forever. It literally can be the “medical missing link” . He graduated from the N. Y. College of Podiatric Medicine in 1975 at the age of twenty-four, and has been in private practice ever since. In 1982, he published his first book, The Agony of De-Feet: