Of course, toe separators should be comfortable before all else. They are supposed to make your life much easier, and how can that be achieved if they bother you every step of the way? Their comfort depends on many things, but it mostly depends on the materials, the thickness, and how well they align with your feet.

We should first look at the shape of toe separators. Imagine if the shape of the spacers resembled a box or some other non-anatomical shape. How well would that fit in with the rest of your toes, and more importantly, how would it do what it’s supposed to do? So, correcting their shape to accommodate your toes would be the best option for you to feel comfortable. Regular, small toe spacers attach to your big toe and fall between the big toe and the second toe, helping the big toe remain in its natural position. The sides of those spacers are curved, allowing the toes to lean on each other, without the spacers causing any discomfort. When it comes to sleeves, which cover your toe and the ball of your feet, their shape is curved, and there is a slit between the big toe and the second toe, which helps keep it in place. This sleeve cushions the balls of your feet and keeps the big toe in proper position. Every other separator we mentioned here does the same thing - they are all ergonomically shaped, ensuring you get a lot of comfort.

Besides their shape, some spacers have additional features that help with comfort. Plenty of the spacers have gel arch cushions. These cushions help guide your feet to their right position, alleviating pain and aches. The gel component is light, contorts to the shape of your feet, and doesn’t create unnecessary bulges. But, there is really no need to add cushions to spacers, because that would make them thicker, and they wouldn’t fit in your regular dancing shoes; instead, you would need to buy new pairs, and that can be a hassle! They are quite comfy on their own, considering they are gel or silicone!

The materials toe spacers are made out of play a big role - the right kind of material can help immensely, while the wrong type can mean a world of pain. First things first, toe spacers should be made out of medical-grade items, considering they will be in contact with your bare skin all of the time. This ensures you don’t get any type of irritations, infections, or fungus growing underneath it. Spacers must breathe, and they must bend easily, otherwise, they will only inhibit you from performing well. The material also has to be light, because the additional weight would only drag you down.

Silicone is a type of plastic that you might think would not find its place in the world of toe separators. But, you would be very wrong - most of the spacers on our list are made out of silicone! To be more precise, they are made out of medical grade silicone, not just any old silicone, it’s important that what touches your skin on a regular basis does not harm you. Medical grade silicones are the types which have been tested for biocompatibility, meaning they will not cause your health any trouble. This silicone is used for tubing, drains, menstrual cups, scar treating, and many other things, all that help us feel better. They even implant the silicone into the skin and check whether or not it will cause internal problems, and if it does, it does not pass the test, so the spacers you will get are truly helpful. These silicons show superior compatibility with our tissues and fluids. Besides being our trusting partner, silicone can also withstand sizzling temperatures, meaning it won’t change its shape when your feet heat up. It’s soft and pliable, making it optimal for contact with our skin.

Toe spacers should always be flexible. Their flexibility is influenced by the materials they are made out of, and nothing else. Since we already explained what spacers are made out of, we will not waste time explaining that again. Instead, let us mention how important it is for spacers to even be flexible.

Observe your feet while you walk, or jump, or perform any kind of movement - do the toes stay rigid, locked into place, or do they move and bend, harmonizing with the rest of your legs? Flexible toe spacers allow our toes and feet to move naturally. Without that, they would lose their sole purpose, which is to align our toes and help with other foot issues. If toes spacers were rigid, they also wouldn’t be able to fit into your dancing shoes nicely. They would be a bother, causing blisters, corns, and squeezing your toes together, which is the complete opposite of what they are meant to do! So, always make sure that your spacers bend enough for your needs - bad, stiff separators will feel like cages around your toes and will affect your act!

A lot of people have seen these nifty little tools, but have brushed them off, because they were uncertain about how to use them. There is no need to stress about this, it’s not rocket science, and if you ever do go wrong somewhere, your body will tell you ahead of time! So, put simply, toe separators spread out your toes. Shoes made today are shaped to look sleek, slim, nice to the eyes. This fashionable shape only looks good, but it feels like shackles. It squishes our toes together and doesn’t let hem wiggle and break free, forcing them to stay huddled together. After enough time spent in fancy shoes, the foot starts to change its appearance in order to adjust to the shape of the shoe. These deformities look bad, but they feel even worse! Some of our toes even begin to overlap, and these overlaps are the cause of both bunions and bunionettes, corns and calluses. When the big toe begins its journey to the rest of our toes, the mighty flexor tendon starts to pull it inwards, bowing the metatarsal further out creating bunions which worsen over time. And what’s the solution to this problem? You might be upset thinking surgery is the only way out, but think again! Toe spacers are here to save the day.

At first, the feeling of having your toes spread out like that might feel unnatural. But, take a look at your hands - are your fingers hugging each other tightly, or are there spaces between them? These spaces are normal, and they should be present between our toes too. But, it does feel strange, and it will hurt at first, so you might want to start out slowly. Use your separators in small doses, and increase the duration over a period of time which suits you best. For an example, start with just one hour per day, indoors (walking with them might feel even weirder, so leave that for when you are comfortable enough to have them on inside the whole time). After you are comfortable within that hour, start adding more and more, until you can wear them whenever you please. The reason why they will feel uncomfortable is due to the fact that the tissues surrounding your toes are used to being squeezed so much that they changed, and now what’s normal will feel abnormal for them. After you regain some mobility in those tissues back, the separators will be easier to use, and the more mobility you gain back, the easier it will get! And, lucky for us, spacers are cheap and available anywhere, so you can try out many pairs and see which ones fit you the best.

You can wear toe separators even when you are asleep! Just pop them around your toes, turn off the lights and enjoy effortless aid. Also, you can use them more than once. They can be washed easily, using hand soap and warm water, and you can use talc if they rub you or cause friction. They can find their place around your toes when you are relaxing in your own home, or you can wear them inside your shoes if your ballet footwear makes you uncomfortable!

We have covered just about anything that might pop into mind about spacers, but you still might be a skeptic - do they even work? How effective are they? Well, you should rest easy knowing that they do quite a good job at keeping your feet healthy. As we mentioned, they dissipate the pressure your foot joints feel, and they make sure your toes remain in their natural positions.

One of the best parts about wearing these little silicone wonders is that they make our toes stronger. Spacers cheer for our little buddies, encouraging them to move. The toes will then begin to bend and flex and begin to explore new positions which were unavailable to them before. This toe dance makes our foot muscles tougher, which in turn helps us be more stable and balanced. And dancing is all about balance and stability! And, your arch support will improve, allowing your feet to bend more.

Toe spacers help get rid of hammer toes too. Hammertoes are deformities which make the toes bend in a way they are not supposed to, and they look like they are curled, or hammered. Flexible hammertoes exist, which are not painful and don’t look that bad, and there are unsightly, really painful hammertoes which interfere with our daily lives. Even corns can form on top of the toes, making the problem bigger. This is where spacers come into play. Besides surgery, they are also a viable way to correct the crooked toes. The separators keep the tendons and muscles around the joints limber and elastic. They stretch us out and encourage the surrounding tissue to stretch as well. This loose tissue is relaxed, and it helps the joints pop back into their original place, restoring the toes to their former glory.

Bunions can be seen quite commonly in dancers. Ballerinas tip-toe all the time, and that motion forces the big toe to cower under other toes, bending it more and more until it decides to stay there. This musculoskeletal condition is unsightly, painful, and even more troubling when you wear shoes. Extreme cases cannot be fixed with separators and will require the hand of a skilled surgeon to help the toe get back where it’s meant to be. Milder cases, however, can be helped with the spacers, as they will promote the tissues and the joints back into their natural place, shape, and size.

Dancing can also stress out the muscles of our feet and toes. Just like any other muscles, the muscles in our feet also like to be stretched out and relaxed, but that can be troublesome, because when our feet truly stretched out and relaxed? Welcome spacers, here to rescue your achy muscles! Pop them on when you go to bed or sit down to relax, as they will pull your toes and ensure your muscles get all the rest they need!