Blinding
Participants were blinded to group allocation by limited disclosure, in that they were told that the clinical trial was comparing two nonsurgical treatments for hallux valgus, but they were not informed about the specific characteristics of the treatments. Research staff administering the treatments could not be blinded. Outcomes were participant-reported, thus this study was also assessor-blinded (as participants were blinded). The study biostatistician performing the statistical analyses (BE) was blinded.