[pct-l] stress fractures

[dencisco at eos.arc.nasa.gov (Dave Encisco)]

Hi all,

Just curious as to whether anyone else has been dealing with heel
stress fractures since switching from boots to lighter trail hiking
shoes. I've been using NB and Lowa trail shoes for about four years
now, but recently I've been suffering from heel stress fractures;
which I've never experienced before. It has nothing to do with the
wear and tare of the shoe, because I buy new shoes every spring and
the recent fracture occurred two weeks ago using a new pair of
Lowa's. My (new) podiatrist says he has treated a lot of heel stress
fractures of people carrying heavy loads and using trail runners. Well
my heavy loaded pack is only about 25 lbs. at the most and the only
other thing I can think of is I use my trail runners for mostly
x-country and peak summits now. My most recent problem did occur on a
trail, but the Austrian and Slovenia trails are closer to our Sierra
x-country routes. Just curious...it could be that I'm just getting
older.

Dave