[pct-l] Foot Expansion

[A.C. Scott]

I would like. To add one more thing thru -hiking equals sore dirty feet. Really just no way. Around it. Just to what. Degree of sore is the question 

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Patrick <meta474 at gmail.com> wrote:

>On the issue of foot expansion:
>
>The PCT-L has a funny seasonal rhythm that I've always watched from afar,
>as I haven't contributed here regularly since I realized the cyclical
>nature of it and the redundancy of topic. However, I have been thinking on
>a few, oft-repeated issues of the PCT-L over the course of my 5-year
>thru-hiking "career" -- including Foot Expansion. Please excuse any
>detected tone of superiority because that is not my intent, I'm just trying
>to lay it out all in one e-mail instead of piecemeal to later be
>misunderstood.
>
>The concept of foot expansion as portrayed by the PCT-L, postholer, yogi,
>and other PCT authorities is two-part. One, you have actual foot expansion,
>as in the foot physically becoming larger. Two, you have a new desire for
>room in the toebox and elsewhere of a hiking shoe. These things are viewed
>as one unit, I think, when in reality they are definitely separate,
>especially when relating this idea to new or pre- hikers.
>
>Physical foot expansion does happen, but it is not as pronounced as one
>might assume. I've noticed a perhaps doubling in foot width due to fluid
>retention or "muscle pump" while hiking, usually on a daily basis. In the
>morning my feet are free of swelling, slender and normal looking with
>tendons, ligaments and bony protrusions clearly defined. Starting sometime
>in the early afternoon they start to take on a puffy appearance. By the
>time I camp, they are noticeably swollen (although not painful, unhealthy,
>reddened, or anything of that sort). And, over time and especially on my
>first thru-hike, I noticed an increase in overall volume due to changing of
>the muscle build of my foot. This is largely a width and height increase
>and not very much length.
>
>In addition to normal foot expansion, I notice that some people (not myself
>in this case) will notice a very slight permanent increase in length but
>this is uncommon. Not having experienced this myself I'm not sure why it
>happens. I've heard some suggest flattening of the arch but I doubt that in
>healthy hikers. My guess is that it is due to issues of cartilage in the
>foot, perhaps an increase in bloodflow or use results in thicker cartilage
>or joints.
>
>Now those two size increases are much less than the overall wisdom makes
>them seem. I've never, first-hand, seen people who's feet physically became
>much longer and larger. I'm pretty safe in saying there is no new bone
>growth so I don't see how they could actually get that much bigger. This is
>only one part of a two-part process, but when lumped together I can see the
>~12.5 size difference in pre and post hike shoe sizes.
>
>Part two is the desire for more room in the shoe. I've noticed that when
>trying to help a new hiker select shoes they are not comfortable with
>large, loose-fitting toe boxes and extra-wide sizes. I think this is
>something that the average person prefers - snug fitting but not
>uncomfortable shoes. This works fine if you only walk a mile or two a day
>in the course of your life but when you're going over 20 miles and
>experiencing slight foot swell as well as extended periods of rubbing you
>realize that you don't actually want any significant contact between your
>toes and the inside of the shoe, or especially your toes contacting the
>other toes.
>
>However, something that some people experience and blame on large shoes --
>heel blisters -- is not a process necessarily of a shoe that has too roomy
>of a toe-box but instead a shoe that is not well-laced around the mid-foot.
>I find the best shoe for me is one that I can slip easily into without
>untying but still remains snug (but not death-grip tight) around the middle
>of my foot. In a ring around the middle of the foot, just forward of where
>the tendons meet the top of the foot, just behind where the toes join the
>front of the foot. Directly above the arch. If my shoe is snug here but
>loose in the front my heel will stay back and I will not experience heel
>blisters or toe blisters, leading to a comfortable hike.
>
>So what this novel-length e-mail comes to is:
>
>Get shoes that are mostly wider than your normal daily shoe and only longer
>in as much as they become wider with length to find the correct fit, over
>all, that is snug around the mid foot, very loose in the toes and capable
>of being worn so that the heel does not excessively slip. If this means
>going from a D (normal) width to a 4E width (extra-wide) with no increase
>in length, that may be fine. It may also mean going from a size 12 2E to a
>size 13 2E, as long as it yields a good amount more of toe box room without
>letting your heel slip around or having the middle of the shoe, under the
>laces, not fit snugly around the center of your foot.
>
>This is all, of course, from my experience. I have always heard second and
>third hand tales of people who like vice-like shoes or people who get
>terrible blisters from having loose toeboxes but from first-hand sources I
>can say that this is a fair assessment on my part, although only my opinion.
>
>I look forward to seeing this discussion next year!
>
>Joker
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