[pct-l] Feet Swelling

Sun Jun 6 12:06:40 CDT 2010

As you are responding to a post from 4 months ago, I don't even remember 
the context of what I was replying to.  But there were 2 things that 
were happening to my feet as I hiked the PCT.

One, you feet do swell from the buildup of fluids over the course of 
hiking all day; most likely due to blood pooling at the lowest part of 
your body due to gravity and the stronger blood flow.  I'm not talking 
about your feet doubling in size or it being uncomfortable to walk, just 
that your feet are slightly larger and having some extra room in your 
shoes to account for this swelling helps.  The hotter the temperature, 
the more the feet seem to experience this as I don't notice this 
happening much in the winter.  However, they return to normal overnight 
once you get off them for a short time.  Everyone I know experinces this 
when backpacking in hot weather for any length of time.  And yes, we are 
properly hydrated.

The other thing that happens is the expansion of your feet where they 
grow longer.  This takes longer to experience so you only see it when 
hiking a long trail.  This is likely due to the arc of your foot 
starting to flatten from the constant pounding of your feet over a 
period of weeks.  The internal sturcture of most shoes starts to 
detoriate after a short time and even aftermarket insoles with extra 
support will loose some of their support after awhile.  Some hikers' 
feet don't return to normal after they stop hiking, while others have 
their feet return to their original size after a period of time passes. 
After 2 weeks on the PCT, my feet would no longer comfortably fit in my 
original shoe size that I use at home as my toes were pressing into the 
front of the shoe.  By the time I had hiked most of California, they 
were at least a full shoe size longer.  Having used shoes that were 2 
full sizes larger meant I didn't have to worry about my feet not fitting 
in my shoes as time past.  After I returned home, after about 3 months, 
my feet were once againt able to fit into my original shoe size.  I can 
only guess that using a shoe/boot with a foot support that lasts longer 
beforing breaking down, may reduce this.

-Miner

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Yoshihiro Murakami" <completewalker at gmail.com>
To: "Sean 'Miner' Nordeen" <sean at lifesadventures.net>
Cc: <pct-l at backcountry.net>
Sent: Saturday, June 05, 2010 11:30 PM
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Feet Swelling

Dear Sean

Today is Sunday, so I have consulted the brief handbook of mountain
medicine, because I cannot understand the swelling of feet. I had
never  experienced the swelling.

There are three causes of the swelling.

1. The altitude sickness. In this case, the swelling disappears as
soon as clime down the mountain.

2.The lack of water.  When the amount of drinking  is a little, the
excretion of water is disturbed because of the hormone. This
phenomenon continues for a few days.

3. The lack of carbohydrate. In this case our body uses the protein
for energy resource, and the kidney must work excessively.  As a
result, the kidney function will be disturbed. This disturbance last
long.

The footwear does not cause swelling. I think your case is the
malfunction of kidney. If you  take more carbohydrate foods and water,
the swelling problem will disappear.

2010/2/17 Sean 'Miner' Nordeen <sean at lifesadventures.net>:
> I started the trail in April 2009 with a half size larger in a pair of 
> new balance shoes. They were the same pair that I had been going 
> backpacking in for the past year on trips lasting 2 to 6 days and 
> never had any problems with blisters.
>
> However, due to the hotter evnironment of the PCT, I started to get 
> blisters by day 2. After 2 weeks on the trail, I went home to heal up 
> from an injury and I found that my normal size shoes didn't fit and 
> realized that my half size larger shoes now fit perfect. I promptly 
> bought new shoes that were 1.5 sizes larger then I normally wore and I 
> wore that size for the rest of the trip. When I returned home, I 
> couldn't even wear my original size shoes with any comfort until 3 
> months latter.
>
> I normally use superfeet insoles and used the same sized insole was 
> used no matter what size of Shoe I bought since they were all in the 
> same size range. I suspect this helped my comfort since I was always 
> getting similar arch support no matter what size I wore and they 
> helped keep my feet from moving around in the shoe as easily.
>
> So what you can do is start with the smaller shoes but keep a pair oif 
> larger shoes available (say in a bounce box) in case you need them (or 
> you can attempt to buy a larger pair in Idyllwild or Big Bear if you 
> decide you need them). You can decide on what your final shoe size is 
> on the trail.
>
> -Miner
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Check my 2009 PCT Journal out at www.postholer.com/Miner
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-- 
Sincerely
--------------- --------------------------------------
Hiro    ( Yoshihiro Murakami )
HP:http://psycho01.edu.u-toyama.ac.jp
http://picasaweb.google.co.jp/CompleteWalker/
Backpacking for 30 years in Japan
2009 JMT, the first America.
------------------------------------------------------