[pct-l] Arch pain

Fri Mar 22 15:39:14 CDT 2013

Not a doctor and not sure what caused your pain, but if I had a guess I'd
say your pain came from wearing superfeet. I  am a big proponent of natural
foot wear. I have EXTREMELY high arches and have always found my feet to
become fatigued unless I had a very neutral flat shoe with low drop which
allowed my gait to account for itself. THe most heel to toe drop I'd allow
for a shoe is 6mm.

my .02

-marty

On Fri, Mar 22, 2013 at 4:34 PM, Scott Williams <baidarker at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hey Casey, and thanks Brick, that was a great thread with a lot of
> different perspectives shared.  It's such an individual experience and
> there seem to be a number of ways people get over different foot problems.
>  I began the transition from my old heavy Vasque, vibrum soled boots to
> lighter shoes in the early nineties when I got my first copy of Jargine's
> PCT Handbook and I read that folks were hiking the High Sierra in tennis
> shoes.  Scared me to death to give up those old boots, but I transitioned
> from boots to lighter boots, then to trail shoes and finally trail runners
> and I'll append my story from that thread in case you haven't read it, but
> that whole month had a good bit on your issue.
>
> I broke in and learned to hike in the lighter stuff over a long period.  I
> remember at first that my soles were sore, just from the constant sensation
> of walking on rocks and being able to feel them.  Now, I love the feeling
> of the rocks under my worn, thin shoe soles.
>
> You are attempting a pretty dramatic change with not much time to build and
> strengthen the new foot muscles you may need to be able to walk, day after
> day, 20 to 30 miles and not end up with an overuse injury.  That is not to
> say it can't be done, but my recommendation would be to start really slowly
> and be very cognizant of how your feet feel all day, every day for the
> first month.  I'd start with 10 mile days for the first week or two and
> then begin to edge up as you become confident that you're not aggravating
> something.  With a slow start you can still finish the trail, but a serious
> overuse problem can knock you out of the box for the whole season.
>
> I love the light shoes I hike and run in now, and have for years, but I
> didn't really get it right on the PCT which was my first long hike, and I
> ended the trail with terrible PF.  This year on the CDT however, I finished
> the trail and felt so good, I could have kept waling the Divide up to Banff
> and Jaspar.  For me the solution was less, not more, but everyone is so
> different where their feet are concerned.
>
> I'll copy in my foot story, so if you've already read it, or skipped over
> it before, just skip over it again, but it'll give you one person's story.
>
> Good Luck out there and have a wonderful summer!
>
> Shroomer
>
> Hey Diane,
>
> I've actually been up skiing for a bit and had time for a few short replies
> but didn't have the time to tell that whole story again.  So, many of you
> may have heard my shoe saga before and can just tune out if you want to.
>  But let me start with the caveat that everyone is different and what works
> for one, may be deadly for someone else.
>
> I first had Plantar Fasciitis 20 years ago, an injury from walking on
> pavement with dress shoes.  I'd do anything to get some exercise at noon.
>  It was healed with orthotic inserts and years of walking on trails only.
>  Pavement just killed me.
>
> More recently I'd been training on our local mountain for several years
> pain free and while prepping for the PCT, I thought I'd better upgrade my
> inserts as everyone was raving about Superfeet.  So I got fitted and
> slipped them in my old shoes and within a week, could barely walk.  This
> was a month before setting out and I had a case of PF that did not go away
> even when I took out the Superfeet.  I didn't know if I'd be able to make
> it.  I added some foam cushion and set off on trail with a big bottle of
> vitamin I.
>
> Early on in the desert section I met and began hiking with Mango who was
> also suffering from PF.  He taught me to sit upright in my sack in the
> morning and use a bandana to pull my toes toward me to stretch out the
> plantar before getting up and putting any weight on my heals.  I also
> learned to stretch and strengthen the plantar by standing on the edge of a
> stair tread and lowering my heal.  Walking hurt, but both of us just kept
> hiking and living on Ibuprofen.
>
> When I got to the High Sierra, the walking on soft snow, constant wet
> shoes, and icy stream and river dips seemed to be the ticket and the PF
> went away on it's own.  It was like I was walking with constant ice packs
> on the inflamed part and it really helped.  Northern California and Oregon
> were a breeze, even knocking out consistent 28 to 35 mile days.  But the
> trail in Oregon is easy and when I hit WA it got tougher again.  The young
> folks I was walking with didn't slow down at first, and the stress of 28 to
> 32 and 33 mile days finally took its tole and the PF came back gangbusters.
>  When I crossed into Canada I was living on massive doses of Ibuprofen,
> probably doing real stomach damage, but it is all that got me to Manning
> Park, and I wasn't going to quit so close to the finish.
>
> I took a break after the thru hike and vacationed, but the PF didn't lessen
> a bit.  Two months after finishing, it was mushroom season around here and
> my chanterelle hikes were killing me, as was the Ibuprofen.  Then I read
> "Born to Run," by Christopher McDougall, a wonderful sports/medical
> anthropology/personal overuse injury recovery story.  It's a can't put it
> down, fast paced read.  When my 20 year old daughter picked it up, she said
> it was the first book since Harry Potter, she just couldn't put down.  This
> is the book that has begun to challenge what Nike and others have done to
> our feet over the past 40 years and the reason all big shoe manufacturers
> now have "barefoot shoe" lines.  The gist is that we've padded and
> supported our feet so much that we now have a culture of people with weak
> feet, a society prone to PF and a host of other injuries that were nearly
> nonexistent before Nike introduced the arch support in 1970.  We are
> designed to have an arch that supports our whole weight over thousands of
> miles and many years, expanding and contracting and supporting our upright
> posture much as a Gothic Arch supports a cathedral, no extra support
> needed.
>
> Two months after finishing the PCT, and with no relief in sight, I tried
> what McDougall had done, and pulled out my arch support.  Instant relief!
>  I went a few days and pulled out my extra foam pad, even more relief.
>  Eventually I pulled out the insole itself and have been hiking on the flat
> inside of my Montrail Sabinos now for over two years, pain free, except for
> a short recurrence on the CDT this summer when I overdid it on Mount
> Taylor, simply pushing too far, too fast, early on in the hike.  In that
> case the PF was very mild and was gone by the time we entered the Weminuche
> Wilderness in Colorado.
>
> When I crossed into Canada at Lake Waterton this fall, my feet felt so
> good, as did the rest of me, that had it not been for missing my wife, I'd
> have just kept walking the Divide across Canada.
>
> "Born to Run" also introduced me to a completely different way of walking
> and running, a different gait, that keeps my knees, ankles and hips from
> hurting and suffering overuse injuries, and one that will be taught by Big
> Foot at the ADZPCTKO this year.  Big Foot is another person who has
> overcome Ibuprofen addiction by a change in how he walks and runs and what
> shoes he wears.  I've had serious knee injuries 20 years ago, and now I can
> run trail for hours, downhill with a pack with no pain, day after day.
>  I've learned to "shuffle" on trail with no heal strike and therefore no
> shock to the ankle, knee or hip, a gait practiced by the Tarahumara in the
> Copper Canyons of Mexico and the Bushmen of South Africa.  Knees slightly
> bent, body straight above my feet and not leaning forward appreciably, my
> feet land on the fat pad on the side of each foot and roll to the balls and
> toes before pushing off.  My heal barely touches.  I kick up a lot of dust,
> but I run and walk pain free.
>
> Anyone who walks or runs long distances should read "Born to Run," as it
> goes way beyond just the issue of foot pain, and delves into the very
> nature of humans as a species, and the primal need many of us have for, and
> the joy to be found in, long distance running.  I extrapolate from that,
> the great peace we have in long distance walking.  Our joy on trail is
> genetic.  We're built for the long haul like no other animal on earth, and
> we love it.  The bone marrow, human rightness I felt when I hiked the PCT,
> is not an anomaly, it is what we are built for.  We did it for 4 million
> years barefoot, carried forward by the inherent strength in the feet nature
> gave us, without padding and arch supports.
>
> Now, all that being said, if you are pain free with your Superfeet, or any
> other orthotic insert or pad, by all means keep using it.  Everyone's feet
> are different.  Boots, trail runners, or the incredibly light "slippers"
> Marcia Powers uses for thousands and thousands of miles, are all just fine
> if they get you from camp to camp with feet that don't blister or hurt.  I
> was in great pain, and seem to have found a way to walk a few thousand
> miles pain free, so I keep walking unpadded and unsupported.
>
> As I hiked the CDT this summer, I came to like my shoes better the thinner
> the sole got.  I lost traction in the rubber that was worn away, but my
> feet worked more like hands, feeling the trail, the rocks and roots, my
> toes grasping and flexing inside my shoe.  Feeling the ground used to make
> my feet sore, now it just feels good and maybe someday I'll have the guts
> to try Marcia's "slippers."
>
> Shroomer
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Mar 7, 2013 at 6:47 PM, Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes
> <diane at santabarbarahikes.com
> <http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l>> wrote:
>
> >* Shroomer must be out hiking or something. I believe he suffered a
> lot*>* of Plantar Fasciitis. He discovered that removing all the insoles*>*
> from his Montrail Sabinos was the answer. Nothing inside his shoes*>* but
> his socks and feet. Minimalist like the whole barefoot movement*>* but with
> all the benefits of decent trail shoes. He has hiked pain*>* free ever
> since, including a thru-hike of the CDT last summer.*>**>* On Mar 7, 2013,
> at 10:00 AM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net <
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l> wrote:*>**>* >
> Plantar Fasciitis and KT Tape *
>
> >
>
> On Fri, Mar 22, 2013 at 10:27 AM, Brick Robbins <brick at brickrobbins.com
> >wrote:
>
> > On Fri, Mar 22, 2013 at 6:56 AM, Casey Mangnall <mangler06 at yahoo.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > I'm wondering if anyone has had problems with their arches due to
> > wearing trail runners and carrying a pack.
> >
> > See the recent Plantar Fasciitis thread (Plantar Fasciitis is the
> > medical term for the most common type of arch pain)
> >
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/2013-March/thread.html#66055
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-- 

Martin M. Clark