eek5

What flows did you try? I wasn't a huge fan of the low end flites but the nxt line is much more responsive. I have atses and they are as responsive as my targas and are super comfortable.

Have you tried getting any of your liners (assuming they are compatible) heat molded? Might be worth a try.

surfinsnow

I agree...cheap Flows suck. I have the NXT FRX (freeride) bindings and love them. I also matched them up with some Flow boots, which felt awesome but fell apart after two seasons. Seams totally blew out. My next boots will be heat molded. But that's next season; I'm still out after surgery on my ankle back in November.

I need a name

I gave those exact bindings a try. Maybe it's just all in my head, but I honestly can't stand flows. Never liked them and it looks as if I never will.



Any other suggestions? I know almost everything has been mentioned, but I'm honestly desperate. I picked up a pair of SOLE footbeds that had the highest amount of cushioning available. Maybe all the extra cushion will alleviate the pain? I figured it would be worth a try...

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Bataleon Airobic, Ptex Iron

srdeo

i think you may have plantar fasciitis or fallen arches. Do you have a pain at the back of the foot just in front of heel area? If it's a minor case you may get away with not getting custom orthotics but it looks like you have tried most of the foot bed. One other foot bed you can try is called Aline footbed. they are little more customized than superfeet.
Eventually you want to try to strengthen your foot. Some people swear by barefoot running or getting vibram. NO GEAR IS GOING TO FIX YOUR PROBLEM. Some deep tissue massaging and stretching of the lower calf muscle may help with the problem. tightness of calf muscle is the casue of me getting plantar fasciitis. Do a search for plantar fasciitis to see if its what you have. there are alot of information online.

firstx1017

I started having foot pain mainly this year on the balls of my feet. I noticed that on our local mountain the longest run is 5 minutes and I never had a problem. But we went to Park City this year and one run was over 10 minutes and around the 10 minute mark the balls or my feet were numb and my toes then went numb and I had to stop and rest my feet and then continue. It happened on every "long" run we went on. Short runs were not a problem.

I then came on here and read about getting snowboard socks. I have really wide feet (Triple E) and usually wear just the thinnest socks I could find because my boots were already tight. We came back from Park City and I tried the snowboard socks and I didn't have a problem. However, we are back at our local mountain which is only a 5 minute run. When we went to Copper Mountain last year for the first time I was starting to have this problem also on the bottom of their longest green run. So I wasn't sure if it was the socks or just the long run that we were on.

We are going back to Park City next month and I can't wait to see if I will still have the same problem. I also notice that the more I ride the cat tracks on my toe side (I'm regular) the worse the pain was. Long traverses on my toe side and the pain would start and boy, once it started it just got worse and worse to the point that I had to stop and rest and then start again.

My boots are laced loose as are my bindings. I feel for ya!!!!!

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I learned to snowboard at 50! woo hoo!

ceridwen

Your pain sounds like exactly the same thing I am experiencing. Long cat tracks that force me to spend most of my time toe side absolutely kill me. In all other respects my boots seem to fit great though: no pressure points, not overtightening them, no problems with heel lift, toes hit the ends but are not cramped. And the fact that I've never had this issue during any other activity, even when my feet are crammed into my rock climbing shoes or I'm carrying a 30lb pack during a backpacking trip, makes me skeptical about it being any kind of medical issue. I never had this issue with rental boots...but I was a very beginner rider and wasn't riding nearly as hard (or spending much time toe side) when I was renting, and I had plenty of other issues with the rental boots that I don't have with my current boots.

Let me know if you find a solution! I've tweaked my bindings a bit since the last time I was out (because the way I set them up for my new board seemed to have made things worse) but won't know if it helped until Sunday or Monday.

I need a name

Here's a bit of an update.

I'm now riding with a pair of 32 primes and Sole Ed Viestur footbeds. Footpain is intense for the first few runs, but after that, it levels out a little. What a relief to finally see some results. However, it seems now as if my knees are now a problem as well. Halfway down the mountain I need to stop for my knees and/or some foot pain.


Any suggestions as to what I can do for the knee pain?

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Bataleon Airobic, Ptex Iron

srdeo

it may be the footbed. Not that footbed is bad for you, but it may more that you are wearing them too long. With any custom footneds/orthotics you have slowly introduce them to your feet. Like you wear them 2 hrs first week and add 1hr each week etc. Pay attention to how your feet are feeling.
Your body probably is in proper alignment now so you may be using muscles you havent used before (may be why your knee hurts).
New boots, new foot beds and full day of riding, you are asking for trouble.
Wear the foot beds everyday in you walking shoes. (wear them couple hours per day and slowly increase the time you wear then)
From my experience, your feet gets tired and sore when you first use foot beds, but not any kind of pain.
So take it easy first week or two.

oefdevilvet

The most comfortable bindings I've ever had I got just before this season, Ride El Hefe's and Flow NXT-ATSE's. I was skeptical of all rear entry but these were great they felt loose even though they were actually very tight and the responsiveness which I was most concerned about was taking everything I threw at it great. The El Hefe felt tighter on my foot and rode a lot more responsive, but was not quite as smooth fitting, but was still very comfy for how tight they were and the wedgie system on the El Hefe's comes with a pad that has a 5 degree cant if that is something you think might help.

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When I was in the Army I knew a man who had 3 rules about sex, one of them was "quantity not quality". I really regret not asking him what 200 pound twins would classify as.

DrrrtyChurro

I had the same problem! I haven't gone through 8 pairs of boots though, I had issues like that, I'd have to take my boots off in the morning after riding for an hour cause it hurt pretty bad, then I might have to do it a couple more times through-out the day and I would be good at other times. To stop this, this season i bought superfeet insoles, they worked perfectly! Also play with the lacing on your boots, you said BOA made it worse and it is probably because its easier to tighten your boots and you end up over-tightening them, do your boots up so they are on snug, not loose but they are holding onto your feet snugly-tight, if that means anything. I have burton speedzone boots, 2011 Ambush and I find myself easily over tightening my boots, it has worked for my problems, sometimes I still get it but it is wayyyyy better than last season where it was almost every single day

Note: After reading that switchback thread argument I really don't feel like reading any more, sorry for the inconvenience if anything I stated was mentioned earlier.