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Foot Pain

38K views 61 replies 30 participants last post by  richm6 
#1 · (Edited)
I haven't been around here in a while...

I posted a thread a while back about having pain on the ball of my foot and got many suggestions that I tried, but didn't have any luck with. I've been boarding for 8+ years and the past two have possibly been my least favorite as my feet hurt to the point where I can't finish a run without stopping. It's not the fit of my boots, i've been through many pairs. High and low end.

I have fairly wide, semi-flat feet.

Here's a list of some of the things that I have tried:
-Many different boots.
At least about 8 different pairs, all of them fit perfectly. Just to name a couple of them- Malamutes, Driver's, 32's, F22's, F4's, Libertine's, and various k2's. It seems as if the standard lacing worked best, BOA seemed to worsen the pain.

-Heel Lift's
I've given these a small test in every pair of boots that i've had. Didn't do anything in any of them

-J-Bars
Used in every boot that had any heel movement.

-Insoles
I've tried almost everything when it comes to inserts. Superfeet, Sole, Zap's, SoftSole, And a couple various other ones. The Superfeet helped a small amount, but the pain was still unbearable. I haven't used custom orthotics yet, but I plan on it this year.

-Bindings
I've used multiple bindings such as 390's, targas, K2's, Cartels, and Nrc's. The footbed canting on the Nrc's seemed to make the biggest improvement over anything else I have tried. The pain is still there, just not quite as bad as it is with standard bindings without the canting.

-Stance
I've tried almost every stance possible. Forward, duck, wide, narrow, etc. They all feel the same, but I tend to use a wide ducked out stance.

-Socks
I've tried many different socks without much difference between them. Seems as if thinner socks tend to work a little better for me though. Bunching is not the issue.


I'm not too sure if this means anything, but I've been riding an SL-R, Airobic, Goliath, and a Darkstar.

As you can see, I've tried almost everything. I need some help as to what else there is I can do.


UPDATE 2/22/12

After breaking in my 32 Prime boots and Sole Ed Viestur Footbeds, it seems as if my footpain has been alleviated a little bit. However, I'm now getting knee pain. Any suggestions as to what I can do? I have never had knee pain until I switched over to the 32 Prime's.
 
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#39 · (Edited)
Get it checked out.



Hopefully it won't be as bad as what my foot pain turned out to be...I'm sitting here with a big boot on my foot, just got the cast off this morning. Turned out I had a separated tendon in my back foot, plus a chipped bone and cartilage damage. They cut the side of my foot open, peeled the skin back like a banana and reattached the tendon, then sanded down my ankle and drilled holes in it...somehow that's supposed to help rebuild cartilage, or something like it.

Bottom line; I'm out for the season. Today is the first day in two weeks that I've been out of bed. I still have another month on crutches, and another month after that with the boot. Then a couple of months of physical therapy.

I could have dealt with this last season when the pain started, but I just "worked through it." I just kept riding, then hoped resting up over the summer would help. It didn't, obviously. The pain just got worse. Now I'm fucked. I'll be sittin in the lodge getting drunk while my wife skis with our friends. My best hope is late Spring riding, maybe a trip to Mammoth.

The moral of the story should be pretty clear...if it hurts really bad, don't keep doing whatever you're doing!
 
#40 ·
I'm gonna go ahead and give this another bump. I'm still having foot pains. It's holding me back from enjoying riding...

Here's another list of things I have done:

-Tried flows. I absolutely hated them. Some people love them, but I honestly couldn't stand the feel of having one strap.

-Went to several pediatrists. Some of them said I had no problems at all with my feet. One of them mentioned that I had minor metatarsalgia and installed some supports in my boots. I couldn't even get up the damn lift because those things gave me so much pain. I went back and they said since those don't work then just try custom orthotics. Several hundred dollars later and multiple return visits, I'm still in pain.

Any other suggestions? I might just be forced to go back to skiing....
 
#41 ·
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.
 
#42 ·
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.
 
#44 ·
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.
 
#45 ·
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!!!!!
 
#46 ·
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.
 
#47 ·
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?
 
#48 ·
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.
 
#49 ·
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.
 
#50 ·
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.
 
#54 · (Edited)
I too am in the foot pain club. My pain seems to be confined to toe side and in the ball of my foot. I just had my first run out with custom footbeds, and they most certainly did not solve the problem. I already know that I have semi-flat feet, and apparently "long" arches. As in, the length of my arch is consistent with a foot size that is a size larger than my feet actually are. In any case, the custom footbeds should resolve that...maybe they improved something but there is still something going on that is far worse.

I visited a podiatrist and he didn't seem helpful. Just wanted to sell me expensive orthotics.

It's actually pretty funny for me to see people say that they could barely finish a run without pain, because if I got anywhere near a single run complete without stopping I'd be thrilled at this point. I have to rest them constantly.

The mountain I went to had a lot of runs that required lengthy toe-side traversing for goofy riders, which was quite agonizing.

It seems like the next things to try are bindings and boots. I know I can rent boots, not sure about bindings, but I'll ask the local shops.

Oddly, the foot that hurt the most (rear foot) - and still is very sore the day after - felt like it was too small for the boot. When trying the boots on normally, this was not the case, and it's never been the case that foot felt "bigger" in a boot than the other. So I'm not sure if it was a fitment issue, or if it was another issue that then caused swelling, which then made fitment a secondary issue once the foot was swollen. :icon_scratch:

The pain is mainly on the ball of my rear foot, and more to the outside. While riding, there is overall soreness on both feet, but where I feel it the day after is there.

I'll try the stance thing that the poster above me mentioned as well. Especially since the pain seems to be on the outside of the rear foot, perhaps as if it wants to be aimed back a bit. Right now I'm at something like 20/5. I did try duck stance briefly a few years ago and immediately switched back, but I can't remember if that was due to pain or because I felt like I couldn't control my board as well.
 
#55 ·
Sorry to hear you're having major problems.

I don't know what the solution is but the first thing I would do is go back to the guy that made the custom insoles, as they should be willing to tweak things until you get comfortable. What was the process the used to fit and make them?

Other than that, could the new insoles have reduced the volume of the boot so your feet are now cramped? If the bones of the forefoot are pinched together slightly it could cause that pain (I had something similar in cycling shoes with new insoles).
 
#57 ·
Yeah, I went back and they hammered out my boot a little bit and shaved down the footbeds. It feels fine when I try it on, but the test will be next time I go out. They said it definitely isn't a boot size issue, which is good I guess, because I didn't want to buy new ones.
 
#58 · (Edited)
Did OP ever solve this?

3 months since my last post and I've made no progress. I did, however, waste a lot of money. Bought new bindings (yes, flows), new boots, orange superfeet, custom molded insoles, thick snowboard socks, thin snowboard socks, changed stance width, went from forward stance to duck. Talked to bootfitters.

Only option left that I can think of is those $400 orthotics, but it sounds like those didn't help OP.

If I'm lucky, the pain starts to fade about halfway through the day. Some days I do get lucky and the pain doesn't really show up. Other times, it never goes away. And it's only during riding.
 
#62 ·
Hi

I know this is an old thread but I had this issue could not go down a slope without painful cramps in ball of feet and had to stop ever minute or so .. Green slopes were unbarable etc nightmare... Pain was bad with both Flows and Burton P1 bindings, Previous boots i had were Burton and some other makes (cant remember) all gave me pain.
My solution was a pair of Quenchu Snowboard boots... I dont know what model they were but they were very cheap about £20 at the time... and the only thing I can think why the pain stopped was because they are wide and even if i try and tighten the straps on bindings down on these boots compared to other boots I have had they seem like they can cope with the pressure of the straps (a bit like steel toe capped boots for snowboarders lol ).. When i get home i will try and find out the model of boots I have...and post...
But good luck as until i found these boots i wrecked 2 holidays.... :
 
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