UKC

Is it normal to have very sharp pains in the balls of your feet towards the end of a day in crampons? I have La sportiva trango evo gtx boots, and get severe pain in balls of my feet generally from about halfway through a day out in the mountains. If there is any way to put an end to this it would be amazing as it really ruins the end of climbs and walk outs!! from what I can tell the boots fit well, snug around my foot with enough room for the toes that they do not get damaged kicking.

In reply to James91: I used to get really sore around the balls of my feet.

For me, leaving the laces loose over the foot sorted it. I basically have them almost slack to the ankle, then tie an overhand not and crank it up from there upwards.

Give it a shot and if doesn't work, try something else. Be careful of those who recommend superfeet inserts...

In reply to James91:

Unfortuately it's a common problem for some folk. As Fultonius says, experiment with lace tightnes, socks and anything else that works. It does tend to ease as your feet get used to the boots.

In reply to James91:

Get yourself some custom insoles. I got the same problem and made it a bit more comfortable by 'customising' some Superfeet so that load is taken through the arch rather than just the balls.

I simply chopped the plastic until getting a good fit, but if you are not a cheapskate like me get the proper heat-shaped insoles making sure you wear your hill socks when you get them shaped.

Also, learn to french foot and use it as often as you can with the outside as well as the inside, and be sure to strike the stride with the heels when going downhill and on the flats rather than flat footing.

If anyone has other tips i'll be glad to hear them as well...

In reply to Mr Lopez: The advice so far has been good but if you are getting this problem each time then I would suggest you need a pair of Orthotics to correct an imbalance you may have developed in your foot geometry as you walk and you may also have a thinning of the fatty layer close to the heads of your metatarsals.

Why can I write this with such surety? Well, I have had an excruciating pain in exactly the same area and whilst different sock and retail-available inserts can provide temporary relief, I found that the actual problem was m in the bio mechanics of my foot movement. I spent much time reading up on the problem after my Podiatrist worked on my foot.

Once this problem was corrected, I also found my knee problems were less.
Andy

Yep-- Andy C is right. Get your biomechanics looked at by a decent physio.

In reply to Andy Cloquet:

Ha! Another one to add to the list. Next time i visit my GP (when i get one) i'll need to book him for the whole day!

Thanks for the advise BTW.

In reply to James91: Similar problems towards end of day as well. Superfeet do help, however preventative; stretch the metatarsals in both feet frequently as they can become 'clogged' up with scar tissue if you have gone over on your ankles for instance a few times - do the tendons between your balls of your feet and foot arch become tight as well?, use deep heat before putting your boots on, and quite a few other good points already posted.

In reply to James91:

One easy solution is to remeber to take your crampons off as soon as you don't need them anymore, which is as soon as the ice is finished. With this technique it is essential to then put them in your rucksack and not clip them to your harness.

If you are putting your crampons on at the car and taking them off again when you get back there, you are doing it wrong. Crampons are used for ice not snow.

Yours,

Neil Newton Taylor

In reply to James91:

I've had a very similar problem for years and have just got round to sorting it out, courtesy of a fantastic sports orthotist.

I have 'pes cavus': very high arched feet with hammer toes, which tends to give you tight calves and weak ankles due to the way your gait accommodates the anatomical problem. I get awful shooting pains into my toes, particularly on descents and in crampons.

It can be due to 'Morton's Neuroma' if chronic, or compression of the nerves between your metatarsal heads. I've been given various stretches to do, and some custom insoles with lumps under the ball of my foot, excellent so far.

I highly recommend seeing a specialist such as the orthotist.
Tom

In reply to tom bradley:

Thanks for feeding my hypochondria. Have googled "Morton's neuroma" and the signs fit perfectly with my case, but then again so would probably be the case if i googled for breast cancer...

I got a severe morton's by climbing in rock boots that were too tight (needed an operation....after MUCH PAIN)

SO, what kind of crampons? If you are using straps they tend to put pressure on the foot, clip crampons do not.

I have to stretch plastic boots in the width even if they are the correct size in length to ward off foot pain / morton's (even when the nerves are cut and removed in the operation, it can come back again many years later)

In reply to James91:

wait till it hits your testicles pal. Then your really in trouble.

In reply to Andy Cloquet: Andy were did you go to get this done. I have severe problems in the winter that can only be described as "hotache" in the foot, its so intense. I have tried specially moulded inserts from a ski shop but no improvement.

In reply to James91: cheers for the replies, a lot of useful tips to try. I do have high arches and get a dull pulling pain along the inside of the arch too after excessive front pointing, and my heel can sometimes be pretty bad after a long day but I have always thought it normal till I found climbing partners did not have the same issues!! Always had knee pain too which i guess is related, no matter what boots I wear.
It seems I should be able to at least lessen the pain by getting some decent insoles and then get to a physio asap... going climbing over new year so not got much time.

In reply to Mr Lopez: your gp will know F all and care less. he should refer you to a podiatrist, took 6 months in sheffield/dronfield.

you can go private for circa £400

In reply to James91: Had this problem, ended up trying to go up ice using the side of my crampons as too painfull frontpointing and walk outs used to be very painfull.

If a lot of skin build up on the ball of your foot removing the excess with a pumice stone will probably help, just don't over do it. You can also get cushoned tape to place on the ball of your foot to relieve the pressure in the short term.

Still go and see someone about your feet as there will be a reason for the pressure point. I ended up getting insoles from the pediotrist.

I find this at the end of the day, mainly on the walk outs also . Perhaps my boots don't fit too well anymore but it always occurs to me that my foot is trying to flex at it's natural point in a boot that does not flex.

That's when I get the pain underneath, asthough my foot is stretching.

In reply to James91:

The above replies are all pretty good. I also had bad pain in/near the ball of my foot after a long day in plastics. I eventually got some very good orthotics made, and they were bloody expensive - but worth it. I had tried green superfeet, but they were not shaped enough for me (for some they are shaped too much).

I have a very high arch on my right foot in particular and that was the worst. I didn't go to a podiatrist but went to a specialist foot / orthotics guy (here in Australia) and one of the first things he did was make me stand on a flatbed scanner(!). Then he showed me on the screen the contact areas of my feet. Though my left arch is also high, my toes touch the ground OK and there is, just, a reasonable amount of my left sole in contact with the ground.

But on the right it was totally different. Turns out my toes angle up in the air (I'd never noticed) so don't normally bear any weight, and the shape of my foot was such that there is actually very little surface contact, so all the force of my body etc is being put through a relatively small concentrated surface, particularly the ball of my foot - it showed up bright red on the scanner.

So my two feet were quite different, more so than I already realised, and this is reflected in the noticeable difference in the two orthotics. They are, and should be, made with different layers of different types of rubber and other material and can be shaped and padded or reduced in many ways. Under my right-foot ball I actually have less rubber, but it's softer than the rest of the footbed and there is a bulge of foam under my foot to better spread the load, where my foot flesh should be. This is all in addition to a deliberately high moulded arch.

Sometimes people get sore foot-balls or toes if their boots are too big or too long and they're scrunching their toes and flexing their foot to press down and keep the whole foot/boot/crampon stable when frontpointing. But if your boots are snug this should not be an issue. Damaging toes from frontpointing in too-short boots is a whole other issue. Which I have also had ....

In reply to Damo: cheers for that.. yeah I have also had the too short boot problem resulting in a horrendous walk out and pulling my foot out of the boot in the carpark to find a very red sock. not ideal! gone the size up now and its just long enough and fits snugly around the rest of my foot so hopefully some quality insoles will sort these problems!! Happy Christmas to all and time to put on some insulation by eating a lot of christmas lunch.