Foot Pain (Not plantar fasciitis!!)

[Roger Caffin]

Probably better to have a foot doc or orthopedic doc diagnose it over “forum medics”.
But do remember the experiences of quite a few BPL members: went to 5 different orthopedic specialists and got 5 different diagnoses.

The problem here is that very few main-street docs have any experience with backpacking: they are used to treating people who sit at a desk all day and don’t exercise. They just don’t know about our problems.

High level athletics coaches and experienced walkers may not be medically qualified, but at least they have EXPERIENCE with hard-working feet.

Cheers

[Tom K]

“Just pressure pain when I walk, and only under the ball.”

Try stretching your calf muscles, both the gastrocnemius and soleus groups consistently and thoroughly.  I recently had a conversation with an athlete oriented podiatrist on the subject.  He explained that tightened calf muscles result in increased pressure on the metatarsal plates, which is exactly where your problem is presenting(as was mine).  If you visualize the relationship between the calf muscles and the foot, his explanation make a lot of sense.  In any case, it worked for me.  FWIW

[Chris H]

Roger,

Good point.  I’m one of those guys that straddle the fence.  Lifetime hiker, rock climber, and backpacker, but with a desk job and bad habits of not getting up from working for 8 hours straight day after day after day.  I got a couple of stoopid drs 10 years ago that missed my L4/L5 herniated disc and called it muscle strain and just hopped me up on muscle relaxers.  So yea, gotta get somebody worth a damn that’ll send you for tests.  An office visit is just dumb when pain is involved.  There is no substitute for X-rays, MRIs, and the like.  MD office opinions and forum diagnoses are only educated guesses and anecdotal at best.

[BH]

Roger – I’m already in a size wide boot, so no issues there. My feet were not sore in the Superstitions, despite carrying more weight on that trip. I assume this is because more of the trail in AZ was dirt (fewer rocks) and there was less uphill. We also did less mileage each day. Same boots, same insoles. Yesterday I purchased the superfeet trailblazer and I’m going to give those a try.

[Roger Caffin]

I remain unconvinced about after-market insoles. If they were that much better than the ‘standard’ insoles, surely most companies would switch to them as a default. What company wants to be selling shoes which need the insoles swapped out first thing?

I did try some after-market insoles, and found them worse than the ones in my shoes. That was just one brand.

Cheers

[Author]

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