The hex wrench adjustments are either for the upper cuff adjustments if they're on the side, or for the screws in back that attach the upper cuff to the lower boot and affect flex of the boot. If your upper cuff isn't adjusted for your leg and foot inside the boot that could be causing some navicular pain (the 2nd ankle bone). Find a friend to help you, stand in the boot shell on your orthotics and see if your leg is closer to one side of the boot than the other. If that's the case, you can have someone tilt the upper cuff to match your leg more closely by loosening the hex bolts at the ankle and tilting the cuff - that's something that any of the ski shops should be able to help you with for little to no charge.
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WHY do my boots hurt SO much???
- Thread starter oragejuice
- Start date
Okay - so are they comfortable to stand around in/hike in if you have the buckles closed?
Also - Did the buckles get rotated over the summer? You know - how they have the micro-adjustments that go in and out... I've had them flip around once or twice and all of the sudden a buckle is too tight.
Actually now that I think about it - maybe you just need to rotate them out (i.e. loosen the micro-adjust) to compensate for your orthotics, which are probably bigger than your old footbeds that you replaced? If you were just barely comfortable on the first buckle before - it would make sense that they're miserably tight now with the orthotic instead of stock footbeds.
I'm also pretty skeptical that a heel/arch orthotic (vs. a full length custom footbed) makes any sense in a ski boot, but I guess if your podiatrist made them for use in ski boots... can you take the orthotics and boots back to your podiatrist and see if they can take a look at it? If that doesn't help, I'd go see a really good bootfitter (i.e. NOT at REI) and see what they think about the orthotic... and fit in general.
Gloria
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
OJ - I see you have a snowboard in your quiver pic...How much time did you spend snowboarding? Also how significant is the difference between the heel lift in your old boots and your new ones? I ask this because I snowboarded for several years and about 4 years ago when I went back to skiing and replaced my old boots that had significant play in them I had similiar problems. I ended up the following fall as the problem got worse ( to the point where simply switching between different shoes would cause severe cramping )finding out that I had severely stretched the tendons in my feet from snowboarding. If this sounds remotely familiar, you may want to see your podiatrist sooner than later like myself. It does go away eventually, but there are some excercises they can give you to rebuild the tendons so your feet can stay in one position without cramping. Now I have the opposite problem, when I try to snowboard my feet hurt so bad I can't.
oragejuice
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
My snowboard boots have never hurt my feet. Only my calves, strangely. I really don't snowboard much, but I keep the silly thing around to make a fool of myself every once in a while.
Altagirl- I didn't think of that. I'll try it next time I go out. =)
Altagirl- I didn't think of that. I'll try it next time I go out. =)
Gloria
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
It's actually caused by the binding or buckle in step in models where it crosses across the top of the foot. It presses down on your foot as your foot is trying to rise like in a toe side turn, the combination wreaks havoc on your structure. So the boots don't hurt, mine never did, but if it's not something you did often it probably isn't the case anyways.
I would though talk with your podiatrist or physical therapist about ditching the customs first. I know most people aren't fanatical about these types of orths in ski boots, but I have used them in both my ski and snowboard boots for 20 years or so now. My Doc told me back in my 20's that I wouldn't be skiing in my 30's if I didn't so I kept them...
PowDiva85
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
what bindings are you on? Since they feel ok except when you are skiing my money is on a binding issue. You are likely on a binding with a lot of difference between the toe and the heel causing you to have waaay more pressure on the balls of your feet than your heels = pain. It doesnt sound like these are the best boots for your feet but the binding issues is probably compounding the matter.
skidaup
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Do you have a narrow foot, I found Lange's to be pretty narrow. I liked mine after I wore them a while but they hurt a lot. My foot is a little wide up by my toes. I played around with a lot of foot beds and they came with a tool to adjust the cant that helped some too.
marta
Angel Diva
My hunch is still the footbeds. Because they're not ski-specific. The force you put on your foot when walking or hiking is much less than the force you put on your foot when cranking turns on the slopes. That and the boot fit itself. The podiatrist inserts could be altering the overall boot fit. What happens when you put the original stock beds back into your boots?
oragejuice
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Update! Took my strange feet, and ski boots over to my shop today, and the owner/bootfitter wonderman is going to do everything he can for me, in exchange for a case of beer. =)
His suggestions...
- Blowing out the boots, evenly in the front to give my feet more room, I do not have narrow feet, he thinks that this is causing the pressure that hurts so damn much.
- Removing the custom orthos. His reasoning = ridgid orthotics like the ones I have are not good for the type of skiing that I do, because they A- Interfere with the fit of the boots that I paid alot of money for, and B- They do not allow my foot to move naturally, while skiing agressively on changing terrain. His two cents on these type of orthotics was "theyre only good for people who don't push it too much, and ski groomers, all the time" =P
- Superfeet. Just enough support that my feet don't hate me at the end of the day, but enough flex to let my feet move naturally inside of the boots!
I left them at the shop, he is going to blow them out a bit, to give me more room. Also, he mentioned grinding down the footbed in the front... BTW I have the foam ones, FR boots, not the other ones. I thought I had different. Weee.
We shall see how this goes!
His suggestions...
- Blowing out the boots, evenly in the front to give my feet more room, I do not have narrow feet, he thinks that this is causing the pressure that hurts so damn much.
- Removing the custom orthos. His reasoning = ridgid orthotics like the ones I have are not good for the type of skiing that I do, because they A- Interfere with the fit of the boots that I paid alot of money for, and B- They do not allow my foot to move naturally, while skiing agressively on changing terrain. His two cents on these type of orthotics was "theyre only good for people who don't push it too much, and ski groomers, all the time" =P
- Superfeet. Just enough support that my feet don't hate me at the end of the day, but enough flex to let my feet move naturally inside of the boots!
I left them at the shop, he is going to blow them out a bit, to give me more room. Also, he mentioned grinding down the footbed in the front... BTW I have the foam ones, FR boots, not the other ones. I thought I had different. Weee.
We shall see how this goes!
oragejuice
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Update on the update.
They are blown out, and SO COMFORTABLE! Looks like they were too narrow after all. Also, there is now a nice little donut between the plastic and my ankle bone, therefore no bone pain. =) Will be skiing on them this weekend, I believe, we shall see!
They are blown out, and SO COMFORTABLE! Looks like they were too narrow after all. Also, there is now a nice little donut between the plastic and my ankle bone, therefore no bone pain. =) Will be skiing on them this weekend, I believe, we shall see!
Gloria
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I know that there are a couple of bootfitters on here and others who genuinely know alot about it, so for the sake of learning something new. Or my curiousity is wildly peaked, I have to ask....
I wear a rockered orthotic pretty much all the time, I have a congenital foot deformity and supinate something fierce. The only time I don't ski with them in is when I am doing laps on groomers or hard surfaces ( which I avoid because either way if I do it repeatedly I end up in one form of pain or another ). What I find in this case is that the correction towards pronation, causes me to over-pronate as I am edging more and rubs the skin navicular bone raw so I remove the ortho in trade for arch pain instead. I guess I am simply curious hypothetically if a donut at this bone would correct over-pronation or simply alleviate the pain as caused by over-pronation? Or more simply is this a band aid or would the alignment issue be corrected as well?
I don't know, food for thought....
I wear a rockered orthotic pretty much all the time, I have a congenital foot deformity and supinate something fierce. The only time I don't ski with them in is when I am doing laps on groomers or hard surfaces ( which I avoid because either way if I do it repeatedly I end up in one form of pain or another ). What I find in this case is that the correction towards pronation, causes me to over-pronate as I am edging more and rubs the skin navicular bone raw so I remove the ortho in trade for arch pain instead. I guess I am simply curious hypothetically if a donut at this bone would correct over-pronation or simply alleviate the pain as caused by over-pronation? Or more simply is this a band aid or would the alignment issue be corrected as well?
I don't know, food for thought....
oragejuice
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Same problem. Totally the exact same. The donut is amazing. I've been tromping around the house in fully buckled boots, and this donut thing is perfect. I put a little bit of moleskin on the inside of my ankle, right over the navicular bone, for added protection, but it's awesome. Did you see what I mentioned above about his opinion on custom orthos correcting pronation in ski boots? It makes sense to me. I cannot STAND the navicular bone pain, its obnoxious, but the achy feet are sometimes all right, compared to that.
IMHO.
IMHO.
Gloria
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Yeah, like I said I only get it when I ski groomers, which is seldom. We only have a handful and only one that goes top to bottom so I rarely ever need to take them out. Occasionally I will ski with random people whom prefer them and then I just go with the flow of the group. I did see what he said, but I am not sure I would personally follow his advice. Might probably be fine for most, but my alignment issues are severe enough that I would pay more dearly for not using orthos on uneven surfaces etc.
veggielasagna
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Hey,
Hope it's all worked out now! I had major pain last season after new orthodics. It was pretty much cramping numb feet...pretty bad. After taking them out it was sooo much better. I replaced them with a much lower volume, more flexible orthodic and those were fine. I still need my boots blown out a bit even after I've had alot of work done on them...so keep at it : )
-veggielasagna
Hope it's all worked out now! I had major pain last season after new orthodics. It was pretty much cramping numb feet...pretty bad. After taking them out it was sooo much better. I replaced them with a much lower volume, more flexible orthodic and those were fine. I still need my boots blown out a bit even after I've had alot of work done on them...so keep at it : )
-veggielasagna
toughgirl
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Well i'm not sure I can add much to all the advice except my experience w/insanely painful boots that left me crying on many mountains. I went to some reknown expert fitter and got crap boots b/c it was a busy saturday.
Long story short... it ended up that I was over flexed in the boot. I apparently have a very flexible ankle and the forward lean in my boots was too much. Causing insane pain in my feet and calfs.
I got a recommendation from the Diva's for a local fitter and got special attention. I got a boot that has almost no lean and I my skiing improved greatly w/NO pain. They are so comfy. I got the Dalbello Electra 8 I think. :P
Long story short... it ended up that I was over flexed in the boot. I apparently have a very flexible ankle and the forward lean in my boots was too much. Causing insane pain in my feet and calfs.
I got a recommendation from the Diva's for a local fitter and got special attention. I got a boot that has almost no lean and I my skiing improved greatly w/NO pain. They are so comfy. I got the Dalbello Electra 8 I think. :P
C
CMCM
Guest
I got a lovely pair of Nordica Beast boots at REI, helped by a total moron who I realize didn't know a thing about boots and fitting them. They were total torture chambers. I have a high arch and I simply could not get in and out of these boots without help. Once in the boot, in very short order they really hurt. I had expensive orthotics made, but it didn't help much if at all. Finally I gave up and mid-year last season I went in to a local shop that I liked and got different boots. My first requirement was to find something that opened up in a way that I could actually put my own boots on and off without help. Some boots are narrower than others, and I finally settled on a pair of Technica Attiva Flames. I put my old orthotics in them, and the shop did some additional adjustments on them, and I went into boot nirvana...I could get them on and off easily, they fit right, they never hurt, and what an incredible difference that made in my whole skiing experience.
Another thing: This boot shop told me that they guaranteed they would get the boots to fit right or they'd find me another boot. I think that all serious boot shops would tell you the same thing. I had to pay full price at that point, but the professional help was SOOO worth it!
This year I went back in and discovered the boots were on the stiffest setting. So he adjusted them to a softer setting, and THAT made a big difference for the better as well.
Don't think you can't get a properly fitted boot....you CAN if you find the right shop and right fitter. Don't settle for less!
Another thing: This boot shop told me that they guaranteed they would get the boots to fit right or they'd find me another boot. I think that all serious boot shops would tell you the same thing. I had to pay full price at that point, but the professional help was SOOO worth it!
This year I went back in and discovered the boots were on the stiffest setting. So he adjusted them to a softer setting, and THAT made a big difference for the better as well.
Don't think you can't get a properly fitted boot....you CAN if you find the right shop and right fitter. Don't settle for less!
