Shoe/boot research

[drowning in spam]

Get it removed. I don't even remember any pain from getting mine cut out, and my foot sure felt a lot better immediately after. A LOT better.

[Greg Mihalik]

To avert Thread Drift I placed my Plantar Wart response Here.

[Matthew Swierkowski]

This is interesting because I just got done typing all this up to start a new thread, and then I saw this one.

I have been wearing size 13 shoes for years and years without problems except when I hike in them. When I measure my feet on a Brannock device they come out to be slightly larger than a size 12, but smaller than a 12 1/2. The main issue I have had hiking in size 13 shoes is that my 2nd to 5th toes and in particular the 3rd through 5th ones on each foot (notice the big toe is not included here) seem to get beat up (as in small blisters and sometimes nail damage) after a strenuous several day hike. I mentioned that my big toe does not get beat up because I want to stress the point that the length appears to be adequate (i.e. my toes don’t hit the front of the shoes on downhills). In all my shoes I normally have at least a thumb width of space between my big toe and the front of the shoe. The beating seems to come more from the side of the shoes.

Anyway, this has occurred in several makes of shoes from different manufacturers. Is there a generic problem I am having here such as the toe box is too small, the shoes are to narrow, maybe I need 14s, etc.? If anyone has any insight please let me know. I don’t know if need to change something about the shoes, or maybe what I am getting is just normal and there is nothing I can do about it. I will say that I switched from boots to trail runners last year, and that made a world of difference. I used to get nasty blisters on my heels in the boots, and haven’t had that happen yet in the trail runners. The 2 – 5 toe beating thing seems to be universal across the boots and trail runners though.

[W I S N E R !]

The steps Roger mentions in his last post are an excellent start.
You might just need less shoe, not more. I encourage you to browse the many threads and articles out there on the benefits of going barefoot/minimal.

[Greg Mihalik]

"…2nd to 5th toes and in particular the 3rd through 5th ones on each foot … seem to get beat up (as in small blisters and sometimes nail damage)…"

Small blisters where?
Top, ends, sides?

Nail Damage – Like they are Jamming? or being Peeled Back?

Off the Wall: do you pull your socks on tight, or are they loose enough in the toes to allow wiggling all day long? You are Sure your feet aren't sliding into the toe of your sock and consequently getting scrunched?

[Matthew Swierkowski]

Re: Craig
Thanks for the input. I re-read Roger's post and may try some of that stuff. In general I have come around to the minimal footwear philosophy as of late, and the TRs I hike in I feel are fairly minimal (at least for me). I use NB 909s. I'm coming from a heavy weight boot mentality, so it may still take a bit for me to fully come around :-)

Re: Greg
"Small blisters where?
Top, ends, sides?"
A little mixture of top, front end and sides (up near the front of the toes).

"Nail Damage – Like they are Jamming? or being Peeled Back?"
I'm not 100% sure, but most likely jamming I guess. I do have a wierd thing where my nails grow up at a 45% angle rather than straight out like most people. So I have to keep them cut short, but even then they still get agitated.

"Off the Wall: do you pull your socks on tight, or are they loose enough in the toes to allow wiggling all day long? You are Sure your feet aren't sliding into the toe of your sock and consequently getting scrunched?"
This is an interesting question because as a matter of fact I do wear my socks fairly tight. Since I am a really about a size 12 in shoes I use size 10 – 12 socks. Perhaps this is part of my issue. Maybe I need larger looser socks.

[Greg Mihalik]

Matthew,
I too have "high angle" toe nails. Problems seem to be random, but could most likely be traced to long days and swelling feet. Sometimes I run a piece of tape from the top of the toe(s), over the toenail, and under. Then I add a light wrap around the toe to keep things in place. This provides a snag-free sliding surface.

Blisters all around sound like things are just to tight. I'll be interested to hear about the results with roomier socks.

Perhaps the next time out and you become aware of issues, try loosening the forefoot as much as possible and see what happens. (You may need to tie a stopper knot below the 3rd lace or so to keep the forefoot loose, but still have control in the shoes.)

I am constantly amazed at how loose a shoe can fit and still get the job done.

[Larry De La Briandais]

I'd say that the nail problem is your nails either catching or pressing on the inside top of the shoe.

Blisters almost have to be your toes rubbing on something. I cured mine (but they were on the bottom of my toes) by wearing "under socks". These are very tight fitting shortie socks that you wear under your regular socks. They stay put on your feet and the "under sock" rubs against the regular sock instead of your foot rubbing. Worked well for me, but my symptoms were a little different.

[Jeremy G]

+1 on "training" barefoot or in minimalist shoes.

Training to me is everything I do outside of my hiking/backpacking trips. A year ago I had a lot of foot pain and knee pain in a pair of trail runners that fit me great on a 2 day backpacking trip. Since then I go barefoot all the time around my house and yard and have been running in minimalist shoes for the last 6 months. I can now hike with no foot pain or knee pain. YMMV

[Pam Mett]

I have recently developed a Morton's neuroma (self-diagnosed) on my right foot. I am currently using insoles with a metatarsal pad in my Asics running shoes, and have seen some improvement, but am only walking 2-2.5 miles.

I understand the need for a wide toe box, but my issue is that I have a very narrow heel (3A-4A) so it is difficult to find boots that accomodate both.

I have temporarily given up tennis (walking being my first priority) and want to avoid needles or surgery.

Last year I hiked the Grand Canyon with Team In Training, which included many training hikes on the AT in Georgia. Just glad this issue did not show up then, but really want to start putting more miles on the trail without aggravating the condition, so any suggestions are appreciated.

[Jeremy G]

In another thread regarding minimalist footwear, I made the following statement:

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"Check out this 3rd party review of a line of shoe that Russell Moccasin Company made for a guy that spends a lot of time in Barefoot Ted's Google Group Forum. They are extremely picky about their minimalist shoes on that forum!! They would even say that the MT100 does not qualify as a true minimalist footwear as it has a slightly raised padded heal!!

http://www.russellmoccasin.com/product_reviews/minimalist_footwear.html

I don't remember if it was in this article or not, but somewhere on their site it says that the first person that thru-hiked the AT was wearing Russell Moccasins. Pretty cool!

They also make a few models of "stalking" moccasins which is just a leather bottom. Doesn't get much more minimalist than that.

I would love to buy a pair of their shoes, but they start out around $200 and go up pretty quickly from there. Not in my budget at the moment.

Cool thing about them is that they are a true custom made shoe as you send in an outline of your foot to make the shoe.

Even though they are pricey, they will outlast any trail running shoe by a long shot. There not going to be as breathable as a mesh shoe, but it sounds like from the article referenced above that they are not too bad."

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On further note, they will custom make you a boot/moccasin that will fit the shape of your foot that can even accept your insert/insoles.

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