Whenever a study has problems with recruitment and disqualification of individuals enrolled in the study that is a red flag.
Recruitment problems can stem from difficulty in finding individuals that meet the inclusion criteria. So there must be a very specific inclusion criteria so the results are not generalizable. It should not be difficult to recruit people with bunions. I'm skeptical.
Disqualification? What exactly does that mean? Disenrollment or intolerable side effects?