Outside of foot pain

A snowHead

Started skiing just under 2 years ago as a 36 year old.

Invested in boots off Colin

Before I had the boots off Colin I had alot of pain all over my feet and since having the boots of Colin had no pain until this week.

So I have been carrying on my lessons through the summer and gone through refined parallel onto carving and it finally clicking the last 2 weeks and now getting my skies on edge. Along with now carving I am putting more pressure through the boot and started to get pain in the outside of my left foot.

I assume this is not the boots or equiptments issue but an issue of mine.

Any ideas how to help this pain

A snowHead

My view based on personal experience - your feet will be slightly bigger in the summer than winter so things will show up that don't when it's colder. That pain is most likely a lack of width not across the toes but further back in the boot, the area roughly in line with your instep but towards the ankle rather than the toes. The part where your foot first starts to widen out.

Next time you ski and have the pain, take the boot off and your sock and look for red patches on the outside of your foot. If the fatty part of the outside of your foot is redder further back towards the ankle than it is on the toe section, that's a clear indication of too little width in that part of the boot in my experience. Different boots flare out towards the toes at different points and in slightly different curvatures. Most likely, it's just not quite right for you. Simple fix for a bootfitter to stretch it out a bit.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Have been using the boots every week since I had them last October and have been using them all year on the dryslope but pain only now I am stemrating to get a larger edge angle and really drive through the boot and make them squeek on the turns.

Didn't notice any red on the feet and is more a muscular pain not a pressure pain

You need to Login to know who's really who.

I think your boot may be "settling" or "stretching" I was going to post a similar question myself this evening.
The boots I have been using for the past 2 years are the best fitting I have ever had.
But in the past few weeks I find that my right foot is getting a bit sloppy.

The thing is, how to fix it?

I'll probably go along to ski exchange where I bought them and see what magic they can do.

What will be the likely fix?

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

@Ghostlybadge, when you put more pressure on, your foot expands to a greater width. It's simple physics. If you think it's a muscular pain, that's because your foot is trying to pressure something that won't move - a hard plastic shell. Most likely your liners were packing out to absorb the additional pressure before, but now they've reached their limit and you're up against the shell.

Carry on convincing yourself that it's your technique if you want but it isn't.

You'll need to Register first of course.

@DrLawn,
Is it the liner 'packing out'? If it is then the expensive fix is get some Zipfit liners, cheaper option is strategic use of neoprene or even just some duct tape attached to the liners - may not take much as even a 1mm slackness can feel like a lot.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Do you have footbeds supporting your arches ? if not the extra force may be causing your arch to collapse and the foot to widen and pronate, and making the little toe side press against the outer side of the boot.

After all it is free

I have that outer foot pain after wearing new (non skiing) boots I've recently bought. They're fine for a while, and then get quite painful. They're soft leather, and I am fairly confident they'll stretch, but in the meantime I can wear thin "pop socks" instead of normal socks. So I suspect @Pejoli and others are on the right lines.

If the OP reads back through CEMS footpain posts over many years you will find info in nearly every post he talks about a lack of flexion in the lower leg/ankle and therefore the foot .
He repeats it like a mantra no one get that its a you issue a physical issue .

The foot can twist or contort in the boot from a lack of lower leg flexion ....its a physical training issue

(Yet most will suggest and focus on the lessons mantra or equipment as skiers all have Olympic downhill fitness flexibility and endurance levels from doing a week or two a season Shocked

)
Ultimately the average two week skier is rubbish as the just dont do it enough as two weeks is nothing

Cem/S4F would have likely advised you on footbeds although as said above equipment is not a fix for a physical lack of flexion in the lower leg chain.
It boils down to stretching/range of motion and you can bet lower leg weight bearing exercises in conjuction with stretching would be even better but first things first... stretching increasing range of motion.... then strenghtening through that the increased range of motion.

The Anterior Tibialis will be part of this its one of... if not the most neglected muscles needed in skiing you have to address this physically over months ie training consistancy .

Anterior group - The anterior muscle group is primarily responsible for dorsiflexion of the ankle (toe to shin movement), but it also plays a role in inversion of the ankle (going up on the outside edge of the foot). This helps you keep forward while skiing and use the edges of your ski.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Thanks all.

Yes I have footbeds and yes I have been working on ankle flex to a point where I have not had any foot pain on steeper slopes the last 2 trips or any pain throughout the year so thought I had enough.

Adding more room was not an option that I was really looking for as CEM had already given me a bit more room on my 6th toe area they I don't believe he really wanted to give me. And with the time I had spent making sure they didn't hurt not something I wanted to start again.

The pain is not high enough that it will stop my day but I know that by the 3rd or 4th it will starting earlier and earlier until it effects me.

Will try them again with an increased ankle flexing program over the next 4 weeks and see how I get on

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

Just ring Colin and ask his advice, I'm sure he keeps a record card for fits so can take a look at what's been done already.
I always need one, possibly 2, tweeks in a new boot and a mm in the right spot inside a boot can make a huge difference.
Give him a bell and give him a chance to get you sorted.
Anyone commenting on here hasn't seen your foot and doesn't know your background so it's all conjecture.

snow reports

One thing I didn't say yesterday was that you may find that the real cause is the heel pocket in your liner breaking in. Do you do your ankle clip up tighter now than when you first got the boots? If you take the liner out and there's a definite crease above the heel, then your foot has probably moved backwards in the shell by as much as 5mm. It's better for skiing but it means your foot is no longer in the same place relative to the shell as it was when the boots were first fitted.

It won't affect your toes or instep because they most likely are now in a slightly wider/taller part of the boot than they were. It will affect the midfoot because that's now been pulled back into a narrower section of the boot. Hence the pain on the outside which is lack of circulation due to compression.

You know it makes sense.

Help!!

Outside of foot pain

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