 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi all...
bought new boots a month ago (Salomon impact 8 CS size 29.0) after having a few years of hell with rental boots. I was advised my right foot is much bigger than left foot and i have a high arch. I have the receipt and fit report paper which shows my left foot measured at 28.5 and right at 29.5. So the boot i was fitted for was 29.0.
Went skiing for a week and my right foot is giving me real issues. After about 1 or 2 hours of skiing i get really bad forefoot pressure on the underside of the foot and the front of my foot goes numb. It builds up as i ski and i end up having to release the buckles on every lift to relive the pressure! not what i want after spending £££ on boots!
For what its worth, the left foot is fine and fits really well. And also i had custom footbed made.
So... went back to the place i bought the boots at the weekend, explained the problem. They heated the boot up and i spent 20min in them with extra padding on the front of the right foot to stretch the boot more. Have been wearing them tonight and after an hour, the same issue. Right foot forefoot pressure building up, so the re-fit in the shop did not work.
What do i do?!?!? what could the potential issue be. Is it the liner that is too small on the right foot? will a 29.5 liner fit in a 29.0 shell?
I'm off to La Plagne in two weeks time and i need this sorted before i go. I can't be dealing with another week of bad fitting painful boots
please help... 
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Wed 2-03-11 19:19; edited 1 time in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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mikee_j, Can't answer the pressure issues, but I can tell you that a 29.0 shell is the same as a 29.5. Half size volume is normally taken up by a thicker insole that's it.
Does your right foot feel particularly tight in the boot?
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Changing liner won't help (it's just a bit of padding)- it's the shell that needs more work. Back to the shop for another stretch imo, the 'extra padding + heat' approach is fine for a little stretch but sounds like you need something more drastic to me, so just go back and say it needs some more. The fit doesn't sound _that_ bad to me so I think it's rescuable - and if not, honestly having to undo clips isn't that awful a thing, I still do often simply from habit after years of truly poor fit 
Stick with it, I think you are probably not that far off, if you can do a couple of hours at a time already.
aj xx
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Been reading loads online about this issue and it seems to be quite common. Forefoot numbness an hour or so into skiing with feet remaining numb for some period after. A few things I’m going to try is 1) a heel lift 2) stretching calf muscle and 3) stretching the shell again.
I have noticed that in normal shoes, my right foot doesn’t sit the same as my left and I’ve noticed that my right calf is a lot tighter than my left (maybe from playing football?!). I’m pretty sure the boot shell is the correct size and hopefully trying some of the above will help! I have also noticed that in my ski boots, my right foot isn’t a perfect snug fit in the heel. My left foot is!
Any other recommendations more than appreciated…
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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The Impact has a 3D buckle over the instep, has this been moved to a higher position?
Using a heel lift will increase ramp angle but this can also raise the instep, which could make the problem worse.
Which "custom footbed" were fitted?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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You say that the pain is on the underside of your foot and that your foot does not fit snugly into the heel of your boot. If you look in the boot, does the custom footbed look like it sits right into the heel of the liner?
I used to have a similar problem with custom footbeds which had been badly trimmed and didn't fit correctly into the liner, meaning that the footbed was causing pressure to the wrong parts of my sole.
Maybe try taking the footbed out and stand on it to find the most comfortable position for the sole of your foot. Does this position feel the same underfoot as the when the footbed is in the liner?
I suffered pain underfoot for years until I went to CEM and got some properly fitted footbeds.
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Re.: the position of the footbed. Mine were slipping forward and causing lots of pain because the footbed arch was too far forward. They were originally attached with lightweight velcro. The bed would tug at this and slide forward. If feet got hot / sweaty then it was worse. Solution was to get heavy gauge velcro from B&Q. Getting the footbed back far enough before allowing the velcro to catch was a challenge. The way I got it to work out was to sandwich a piece of plastic (old bit of DPM) between footbed and liner. The dpm prevents the velcro from engaging. Then push footbed back really hard into the heal of the liner. When happy with position, pull out dpm and velcro sticks bed and liner together.
Foot got better after doing this, but was not not perfect - still a bit of pain. I think I was getting some planta faciatis. So lots of calf stretches. I found that doing calf stretches while wearing the boot also helped, as besides stretching the desired muscle, it also pushes my feet back into proper position.
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The custom footbed was made at snow and rock. Had to stand on a pad for 20min and then trimmed to fit the boot. I'm pretty certain the footbed is correctly placed in the boot. Tried them again tonight with a diy heel lift but no change lol. Really don't know what to do...
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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ok... so had a good chat with snow and rock today and they advised that i should go in and see them again as there are more options than just heat molding the boot again. The guy on the phone suggested that the boot can be stretched manually and a heel lift option can be tested.
Can someone explain how the manual stretching of the boot works and what the potential advantages/disadvantage with this are!? Seems like there is some more hope before accepting that i need to spend more money on specialist fitting...
thanks for all the replies so far!
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IMV, this is more likely to be a footbed issue than a boot length one. What sort of pain / discomfort do you feel and exactly where is it?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I have exactly the same problem with my left foot (bigger than my right) unless I have my instep and toe cuffs completely loose. I suspect it's probably an issue of the boot not having enough instep volume/instep height for my foot (my current boots are Salomon Irony). Have decided to change my boots but having real probs trying to find any that are comfortable without being cavernous wastelands (particularly for the smaller foot)!!
Keep us posted on how you get on - I for one would be v interested to know if they can find a solution for you.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I should have added that I had this problem before AND after having custom footbeds fitted 
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| altis wrote: |
| IMV, this is more likely to be a footbed issue than a boot length one. What sort of pain / discomfort do you feel and exactly where is it? |
Firstly, my big toenail goes black and is pushed into my toe. Secondly, i the whole forefoot goes numb and i get shooting pains from the feeling coming back and pain from the presure of the boot onto the balls of my feet. Hope that makes sense!
I don't think it is footbed, or maybe partly. Its an issue i've had in the past two seasons with rental boots. I bought my own this season and custom footbed to sort out the problem! but it hasn't!!
thanks for the reply
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You know it makes sense.
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mikee_j, are you sure that your boots are not way too big? your heels dont fit snugly and your getting bruising and compression on your toes.
How much gap do you have behind your heel is you do a shell check?
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| mikee_j wrote: |
Can someone explain how the manual stretching of the boot works and what the potential advantages/disadvantage with this are!? |
It's what I mean by 'more drastic' above - they heat the boot and instead of relying on your foot to stretch it a bit, they put shoe stretcher thing in and do it with that - it results in much more stretch. It used to be really common, a little less nowadays, as shell shapes seems to have gotten closer to human foot shapes 
Downsides? Done too much and your boot will then be too wide == not a good performance fit, also it can be done in the wrong place (as you and the operator have to work out where on your foot == where on the boot) which isn't very helpful, and finally I'd say it can be done with something too small leaving a 'bump' of stretch with an uncomfy edge. No downsides imo if done by someone with some experience though, it's a normal enough thing to try, not as extreme as it might sound.
aj xx
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Poster: A snowHead
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mikee_j - its sounds like a combination of things to me. The black toe suggests that your foot is sliding forward and so you have pressure on the nail. This would also mean that your foot is incorrectly positioned in relation to the footbed arch. Even in rental boots (with a generic / flatish footbed) this would have caused some pain, but more so if your custom footbed has a high arch. The foot needs to be stable in the boot for a custom footbed to work. Also if your feet are sliding forward with a high footbed arch or heel lift, you could be over-stretching the Plantar fascia.
Lockwoods had a go at making my first footbed, and initially they could not get rid of the pain for me either. They recommended a local sports podiatrist and I got some custom footbeds made up there, then we brought these back for fitting into the new boots. They are rigid (cast from resin), and I thought they would be painful, but for the first time ever I had comfortable feet. Not perfect, but with a few seasons of tweaking I am just about there. I relate this story just so you know that it can take a long time to get things sorted, and also be aware that you might need specialist help. There are plenty of specialists listed on SH. As you are off on a trip soon, I would suggest that the best thing is try to keep your foot stable so that the footbed has a chance of working. As Kevindonkleywood says, your boots might just be letting you move around too much.
When I put my boots on in the morning I lean forward to get the foot positioned properly, then do up the lower ankle strap as tight as I can. I might have to do it up even tighter later in the day.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I ended up purchasing the same boot as you but, against a lot of the advice on here, I ended up buying them in resort (Tignes) I had the same problem but because I was in resort, over the next few days I was able to actually "feel" the problem whilst skiing and each night, the shop stretched out the boot in the area that I was having problems. I now have the most comfortable boots and dont have any problems with them at all.
I would thoroughly reccomend talking to someone when you next ski and seeing if they are willing to make changes on a nightly basis AFTER you've skied and can tell them where the pain is. This way you are giving feedback on a daily basis. Even if it costs you a few quid extra, its worth it for cmfortable AND EFFECTIVE boots!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Markoncarp, Boooom, on the nose mate. 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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ok... so had a heel lift put into the boot and heat molded again. We'll see how it gets on next week in La Plagne, but can anyone recommend a good english speaking boot fitter in La Plagne centre i can see if they are still pretty bad!?
thanks all...
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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i had the same problem and all it was down to was tigtening the boot to much on the foot. i now just clip them over so they stay in position. The boot fiter told me the boot was molded to the foot so it does not need o be cranmped up tight. Just the two leg straps need to be tightened around your ancle. Try that if all other advise fails
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