Real stories · The little thing in my shoe

My bunion decided my shoes for years — this little thing quietly took over

A soft little thing that sits between my toes and gets on with its job — that's the whole product, and it has made more difference to my days than things forty times the price. If you have a bunion you already know the arithmetic: by mid-afternoon the big toe has been pressed against its neighbour for six hours, the joint aches, and you're choosing tomorrow's shoes by which ones punish you least.

I'd assumed that was simply what feet become at my age.

Then I found the Podivex from a British label called York Boutique — a small, soft toe corrector: a knitted fabric loop with a gentle gel pad, that sits between the big toe and its neighbour and gently guides the big toe back towards its natural position.

The gentleness is the point. It doesn't force anything — it simply keeps that little bit of space, easing the sideways pressure on the joint as you walk — which is why by teatime my foot has simply had a NORMAL day rather than a campaign. It's slim enough to disappear inside ordinary shoes, soft enough that I forget it's there, and it comes in two strengths: a lighter one to start with, a firmer one for when you're used to it.

A soft loop and a gel pad keeping a little honest space between the toes — which is why the joint stops fighting the shoe, step after step.

Here's the part I re-read twice: the pack of three is £9.95 — half the usual £20, so effectively buy two, get one free. Less than two coffees, for the thing my feet now refuse to be without. A fortnight to send it back and free delivery, for completeness — mine are staying.

I mentioned it at the coffee morning, expecting nothing, and instead got a show of hands. Four of us, it turns out, had been quietly choosing shoes by bunion. Margaret ordered the three-pack before her tea went cold, and last Tuesday she walked the LONG way to the café. Her announcement, not mine.

If your shoes are also being chosen by a joint instead of by you, do have a look. The Podivex is rated 4.6 out of 5 by more than 260 customers, comes as a pack of three in two strengths — and at £9.95 the packs go quickly.