Burning feet, your help really appreciated?

A snowHead

Hi
I've been skiing for 30 years and really addicted to it, like off piste and black runs mostly. Since 10 years however I have problems with burning feet. I have been buying the best shoes from any manufacturer including buying a pair of fully custom made "surefoot" boots but nothing helps. Currenty wearing the competition technicas but still no joy

I have short achilles and wide feet so not an easy customer but most of my life didnt have that problem. Now skiing leasurely which makes it even worse

I really appreciate all your help and thughts on this

thanks

JB

A snowHead

JB77, welcome to snowHeads.

Don't be surprised if people get confused about who you are.

We also have a JB007 (lives in Tremblant Quebec) and a JB1970...

I am not an expert - but I suspect that three suggestions you may get here are:

a) Plenty of calf stretches when not skiing (to deal with that Achilles problem - which may be pushing your forefoot down too much)
b) See a specialist sports podiatrist
c) Look at your alignment and posture on the skis.

Over to the pros...

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

JB77, welcome to snowHeads. Regarding alignment and posture, as mentioned by stoatsbrother, there are various people on here (and others I've spoken to) who swear by the services of this man. Maybe he'd be able to help you. He sometimes works in conjuction with CEM, who is a much respected snowHead bootfitter - see here for details of CEM's establishment.

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

Thanks for the quick reply gents. Calf stretches not a bad idea maybe, funnily enough my last painfree boots, for those of you who remember them, where red/white sx91 equipe backloaders which probably freed up my achilles more, never should have thrown them away! Probably end up trying, again, a new pair of boots (there is always hope!) and maybe go for a softer and more comfortable boot, uptill now always ski extreme forward and hard shell boots. So any thoughts on what to look for are welcome
Thanks again!

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

JB77, Take the thermic heaters out before you put your boots on wink

Welcome to the mad house Laughing

You'll need to Register first of course.

My new boots are way more upright which I find helps incredibly (yes I should stretch more), def worth a try.

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

If it's the bottoms of feet that are 'burning' thast usually means your boots are too tight over the top of your feet - maybe try skiing with only the shin clips doen up and the feet clips undone (which shouldn't affect performance much).

After all it is free

snowboarding ?

Or those "soft" boots that were being flogegd by Rossignol a few years back ?

burning feet, oh god where do i start?

I have suffered from burning feet for years. I am currently having it investigated.

It all depends when your feet burn. mine usually burn after i have been weight bearing, say after shopping or standing for about an hour, then for the rest of the night it is similar to walking on lava with crushed glass.

I have had a referral to the podiatrist who said that there is nothing mechanically wrong with my feet. He told me to go back to GP as it could be vascular or neurological. GP done a load of bloods including vitamin B12, he was concerned that I may have diabetes in which case he would have diagnosed peripheral neuropathy but blood tests came back fine. Before seeing the podiatrist I was convinced he was going to tell me I had metatarsalgia or a mortons neuroma but nope, nothing! The GP has also been looking into this and he has come up ......so far with a diagnosis of "burning feet syndrome" as he found I had a low ferritin level so I am currently on iron tablets. I do not think that this will alleviate my burning feet, I think it is something else. I also do not think this is the problem as this seems to cause the patient burning feet at night whcih gets better in the morning. Mine only burn when I have been walking around (or if I put the wrong type of ski boot on)

I google my symptoms nearly every night and have come up with a few things I would like ruled out. next visit I am off to ask for an MRI of my lower back as sometimes a bulging disk can cause burning feet. and I also have a few other things I would like tested for.

Last year was my first time skiing since I had these problems. I hired a pair of boots which had one strap across the toes and they were fine, however, during my trip they got wet and when the hire shop tried to replace them with another pair (that had 2 clips across front) I bearly made it out the shop when my feet started to go pins and needles and then they were just on fire, i had to rush back into the shop to take them off!

Last week I decided to buy my own boots (mainly to save the embarrassment in the hire shop) the new ones have 2 clips over the toes. the shop has let me bring them home and wear them in the house to see if they bring on my burning feet. I have 28 days to return them and so far, they do not make my feet burn so I am going to take them to shop to get the soles moulded as they have a memory foam insert, so hopefully I will have no burning feet!

I would go to your GP as it will probably take quite a few different things to diagnose. I hope this helps you.

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

@JB77, hey man I have the same problem as you, I have short Achilles and wide feet, so my feet are burning already after like 15 minutes, what was your solution?

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

@JanKiBa, If it was terminal he's probably 6 feet under by now.
But seriously, have a read up on Mortons Neuroma. I get the same thing, self diagnosed, but only in snowboard boots and sometimes after a long walk in hiking boots. As well as heat moulding with the outsides of my foot padded with tape I've modified my liners to give extra width. Helps a lot but only about 80% pain reduction so far. Didn't have to walk barefoot in snow this year

snow reports

@BoardieK, well I only have the problem in ski and snowboard boots a little bit, never experienced it somewhere else, it it sucks, it takes the fun from skiing and i wanted to start touring and I definitely need to get rid of the problem before I hike up the mountains in ski boots xD

I have a morton's neuroma. I wouldn't describe it as burning feet. My symptoms are pain on the sole of the foot (when weight put on it) and a feeling that small stones or similar are stuck in the shoe under the sole of the foot. It probably originated during my running days but it's been more of a problem since a skiing holiday 15 years ago, involving a walk of maybe 200m back & forth in uncushioned ski boots.
Ever since then I've had to insist on oversized ski boots with room to insert an orthotic with padding to protect the neuroma. I've also learned (from a podiatrist) that it helps if the orthotic protrudes upwards (as if into the foot) just behind the location of the neuroma. This helps push apart the tarsals (or metatarsals- not sure now) to give the neuroma more space.

You know it makes sense.

Buy rear-entry skiboots.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

I had steroid injections between the toes for Morton's neuroma. They hurt a bit but they did help! The problem was diagnosed with ultra sound, to identify the right place for the injections.

A snowHead

Simple thing to eliminate before trying anything else
Try skiing with the boot undone!
It might be just over tightening the clips get used to what will feel like looser boots
Too tight boots due to over compensating for a poor boot fit

A snowHead

I would say your feet are swelling in the boot.
When you move your foot a little, there is less volume because of the swelling & your foot is not longer going back into the same position where you foot is allowed to spread, so it is then cramping because it is squeezing into the space.
Try thinner socks.

Help!!

Burning feet, your help really appreciated?

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