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Hot spots in boots---how to eliminate?


SWriverstone

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Now that I'm really getting down lower in my turns, I'm feeling something in my boots pressing in almost painfully on the sides of my ankles. It's definitely enough to keep me from focusing fully on what I'm doing.

Anyone have a similar experience? Is it the liner? Or that round hinge-thing on the Raichle boots?

I tried really cranking down on my straps tonight to see if that made any difference, but it didn't.

It doesn't feel like a boot fit issue; I'm pretty sure the length/width of the boots is fine. It's more like a liner/boot "protuberance" issue. (I'm wearing super-thin liner socks.)

Any ideas or suggestions on how to get rid of it?

Scott

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Scott,

my non expert opinion...

if they are the super thin liner socks i'm thinking of, maybe they are actually too thin. Have you tried some standard snowboard socks. they are still relatively thin, but the better ones have more padding in specific areas. I prefer non wool myself. socks can be expensive, but good (and warm) ones are necessary IMO.

sides of ankles, perhaps it has to do with you angulating more, thus applying more pressure to those areas. again, more padding there *may help to alleviate. until you get more padding there, may wanna not crank the boots so tight....

===

Barry

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Do you have some sort of arch support in the boots? Could it be that your arches are flexing and making your feet sit lower in the boots than they are designed to? Thus crunching your ankles in a narrower part of the boot...

Just a thought...I'm way more attuned to ankles now that I broke one

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Gosh---good points everyone! I'm not sure what to try first! :)

Bobdea---you've got me curious about attacking my boots with a C-clamp. :confused: Can you (or anyone else) elaborate on that?

Barry---good suggestion. My socks are the ultra-thin liner socks, and you're right, slightly thicker socks might help (don't have much leeway at my toes though---they're right at the end of the boot!).

Skatha (isn't it Kathy?)---that's a possibility too. I have pretty high arches to start with, but I can definitely feel my heels lifting off the bottom of the boot in turns. I know that's a big part of the problem.

Anyone: is it normal to have some degree of heel lift while carving? Or should your boot fit so snugly that your heel stays right against the bottom of the boot at all times? (If it's the latter, then something's way wrong in my boots.)

Thanks,

Scott

PS - Funny I never noticed this last year...but I wasn't flexing nearly as much last year either!

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Guest astan100

I have the Deeluxe Lemans and had a similar problem.

It's only my right foot and it feels like the pain is coming right from the that round disc thing...is that the canting mechanism?

It was fine until I lost my footing on some ice and my board caught like a foot and half later jamming my foot really hard into that raised area...and then it hurt the rest of the weekend.

The last time I went it didn't hurt as much though. I bet it has something to do with the boots, but I dunno.

I'm going to go again this Thursday and keep you updated. I was thinking of taking it back to my bootfitter and seeing what they can do. I'll guinea pig it for you with the bootfitter and maybe I'll learn something.

P.s- I enjoyed reading your posts at the end of last season...it helped me get into carving also. Inspirational! :)

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I'm going to go again this Thursday and keep you updated. I was thinking of taking it back to my bootfitter and seeing what they can do. I'll guinea pig it for you with the bootfitter and maybe I'll learn something.

Thanks astan100! Please keep us updated. I do think the culprit is that round disk-thing. It's evil. I'm going to try the footbed solution along with slightly thicker socks, and see if that helps. I'll keep you posted on that as well!

Scott

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My 125's give me a god-awful blister right below my inboard rear ankle. It doesn't happen so much from riding, it seems to be happening if I have to push off and glide too much that day...really freakin painful and slow to heal!

I tried lowering my boot cuffs a bit and it's better, ( i noticed this also helped heel lifting inside the boot as well.) and I'm also trying some different liners this year, but now I'm curious about the bob's c-clamp attack...

With boot pain/blisters I assume you would want to squeeze the shell closer/tighter to where it hurts...? And maybe heat it first?

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Okay, I can definitely go get footbeds. Is this something I can pick up at the local drug store (e.g. Dr. Scholl's)? Or do I have to order some expensive, "made-for-carving-boots" footbeds? :)

Scott

I would suggest <a href = "http://www.superfeet.com/content/blue.html"> these</a> from Superfeet. You can get them pretty much at any ski shop or online if you want. Tognar sells them as do some others.

I am going to be trying out <a href = "http://www.itsyoursole.com/"> these</a> once my ankle is fully healed. I'll report more on them once I get to try them out.

But I have used the superfeet insoles and they 10x better then no footbed at all. You need the footbed as a starting point to get your foot/leg in proper alignment. Once you have that foundation then you can go from there should you have any other issues with the fitting.

->Ben

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I would suggest these from Superfeet. You can get them pretty much at any ski shop or online if you want. Tognar sells them as do some others.

There is another brand that I wuld ercommend over Superfeet for the same price of $30 - my wife got some this weekend and says they are much more comfortable - if only I could remember the brand name - will try to find out.

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Guest astan100

If you feel like dropping more coin (not that this necessarily fixes the problem), I went to surefoot where they made me custom fit insoles for 200 bucks. However, it includes lifetime boot modifications for free, so that might be worth it.

I will note that I had mine heat molded and THEN went and got the custom footbed. I didn't want to re-heat mold if I didn't have to. Now I'm questioning if I should, but why am I only getting pain in the right foot?

If the pain comes from skating etc. more than riding, maybe that explains it? Perhaps the lesson learned is never skate....ever.

edit: http://www.surefoot.com/shop/

-Allen

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you need to pack out a certain spot such as the "eggs" in the heel or another spot that is too tight

what you need to is get a C clamp and possibly some small metal peices to adjust the size of the contact area you need to compress after this is figured out get the clamp on there as tight as you can and leave it over night.

the trouble with this method is the mileage varies between liners, some will pack nearly flat and others will hardly pack at all.

also I have seen boot techs take a rubber mallet to liners as well but I have not done this method myself so I don't wanna give bad advice on that.

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I had the same problems with two of my boots. At one of my boots I put a piece of rubber, neonprene at the spot, the material they use for wetsuits. Worked fine with me. The other boot I didn't fix a thing, I only used better insoles so my feet couldn't move, my heels were fixed, and cranked the boots real tight. Hope you will solve the problems, otherwise your snowboarddays really sucks with this pain.

Greets, Hans.

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