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[pct-l] Re: Feet Expansion



Strider,

My feet grew one size after the Appalachian Trail.  I
wore all leather mid-weight Asolos, but no arch
supports.  I never suffered blisters of any importance
and had what I considered the normal foot pain.  On
the PCT, of which I hiked about 700 miles, I wore the
same boots (tried NB running shoes, but they caused me
severe foot pain), and I had similar results, but no
gain in foot size afterwards.  Maybe I didn't hike far
enough that time....but I've always been curious about
why the feet expand.

When I returned to home and to a regular job, I had
the opportunity to ask a colleague who is one of the
top foot experts in the country why he thought the
thru-hikers foot expands.  Immediately upon asking, 
he said, "undoubtedly, damage to the ligaments and
tendons."  I had always thought it was bone
deformation, but he said it was soft tissue reforming.


He also said that arch supports should halt that
progress.  I don't know if the shoes used to have that
in the earlier days...but it's a thought.  

By the way, a lot of AT hikers I know never had foot
expansion.  And a lot did.  Seemed to be half and half
to me.

Nocona

I'm not aware of anyone who hiked the trail in the
early years to have 
complained of, or experienced any problem with, foot
expansion (perhaps 
it is simply 
a perception, without merit).  We carried more weight
than is common 
today, 
yet foot expansion is a common malady of today's thru-hikers.

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