Ankle probs

A snowHead

Cant figure this one out at all...

Regular stance, angles at +15 -5, Nitro Punisher board, Burton Boxer boots(these are a wee bit softer than my older ones).

Had a few warmups at glencoe this season and no problems.

Had a week in Val thorens last week and on the 1st day I gradually started to get pains on the outside of my left ankle. I cant find any good pictures online to highlight the area affected.

This then eased in the afternoon but came back every morning as soon as I went steeper than a blue.

Theories I came up with.
The boots were new last season and I'd only had a few days up north on them so I wasnt used to them. thus ended up boarding with them done up too loose on the 1st day on hese long european pistes and aggravated my ankle.(It did feel like heellift)

or

Bindings setup wrong this season. This could be true as after a few days I realised the back binding was 1cm too close to the front edge. Up until then I was wondering why the board was going in a less than straight line at times.

or

wee wee poor technique. rolling eyes

Anything else? I'd be quite happy if it was theory 1 as I cant quite handle another week of pain!

A snowHead

wear an ankle support, get stiffer boots, and it may be technique too.

I get this pain as i ahve very dodgy ankles. I normally get it after riding in pow, when my weight i back. I also get pain in the inner right ankle with the pain in the outer left (i'm also regular)

only thing that makes mine better is wearing stiff boots and for me flows work very very well in supporting my feet and ankles.

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

Thanks, sounds similar. Have always had a bad habit of leaning too far back (which is great in powder)

Will investigate the ankle support 1st as Mrs prog99 may not appreciate more kit turning up Smile

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prog99, tight spots (trigger points) in calf muscles can give quite bad pains in ankles. Have a really good prod round your calf muscles, up the back and on the outer edges. With your knuckles or something hard - they are likely to be very localised, and very sensitive to pressure. Or better still, have someone else do it. If you find any sore spots massage them hard and regularly.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I can get bad pains in the same place you mention, from the ankle bone directly up the outside of my calf to my knee. sometimes all the way up, sometimes in a smaller spot somewhere in between. Started 3 weeks into my season. It had never come up before because I'd never ridden that much in one go. I got new boots, which helped, but problem was still there. Things I've learnt since:

1. Don't do the tops of your boots up too tight. Have them nice and tight round your foot, (otherwise you'll be adding to you problems by trying to compensate for sloppy boots and heel lift, like you say) and then a bit slacker from the ankle up. Seems I have to relearn this one every now and then. One of the most painful days I had was after I put my boots on hungover and a bit drunk. I knew they were too tight, but couldn't be bothered to do anything about it. The route we did that day was pretty tough and with some sketchy, cruddy, icy snow. Agony!

2. Ride pistes less! for me, the forces of being on edge (particularly heelside, with the highback adding its extra pressure on your calf - see 3) combined with the constant jarring from the texture of the piste get me all hurty really quickly. Hike a bit: less time actually riding, but you'll get a different perspective on things, get away from the crowds, get fitter and find more powder, which is easier on your ankles as you're not using your edges. Then you can get a board like these guys and you won't have to lean back at all!

3. Take the forward lean off your bindings, particularly the front one, and make sure that the highback is parallel with the edge of the board: if you're leaning back, (which you can't avoid all the time) you don't want your highback acting like a lever/fulcrum to put even more force down through your ankle.

4. (should be 1. really!) Do a bit of a warm up before you head out. Run up and down the stairs a few times, enough to get you out of breath, then spend a bit of time stretching your calves, being careful not to overdo it, obviously. Then stretch everything else while you're at it! I give myself a foot massage too, really cuts down the footache after long runs.

These work for me, but everybody's different. Have a look at the new Salomon Relay bindings, too. I'm getting some for my upcoming trip. I think the way the soft heel cups let your ankles move more naturally side to side (as you shift your weight back and forth along the board) will help. I'm back from hols in mid March so I'll post again with my findings!

Good luck, take care of yourself.

You'll need to Register first of course.

custom footbeds can't be a bad idea either, you only need to buy one set and they'll outlast a few pairs of boots. sound investment.

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

Thanks for taken the time to answer.

pam w, your calf muscle one is interesting as walking home from the pub on Saturday they felt really tight and now my ankles hurt in the same place as when boarding. I'm normally out hillwalking when not boarding but weather this year put paid to a lot of that so far and I suspect has caused some issues with my legs not getting out as much.

nedrapier, would love to ride pistes less as I've had all my best boarding experiences in the powder.
With the forward lean I actually had my bindings at the factory default as I sort of forgot to do anything with them when I bought them last year... rolling eyes

And with my boots I know these need a bit more faffing to get used to although they are a good snug fit but not so snug they feel like skiboots.
I also have custom footbeds from my old boots which fit the new boots (superfeet), I'll give them a whirl.

Help!!

Ankle probs

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