Hiking Boots problem - sore ankle

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Nicolas

Forager
Jun 2, 2008
110
0
49
Dublin
hi all,

My girl has this weird problem,
She has a pair of ok hiking boots that were so far fine and did a good job, however since two times now these boots seem to give a lot of troble on the left ankle region.
There is nothing on the boot to rub and in fact it is more a bone pain than a blister, it only happens on the left food and gets so bad that at times she has to switch to the backup runners.
It mostly happens when walking down.

There seem to be nothing wrong with her ankle as such but it still hurts a lot.

Does anybody has experience the same?

I'm obviously worried that we can buy what ever good or excellent boot and it will still be the same.
 

loz.

Settler
Sep 12, 2006
646
3
52
Dublin,Ireland
www.craobhcuigdeag.org
Hi Nicolas,

Maybe the ankle amterial of the boot is still very stiff, and when it gets a crease or fold this presses into the foot. This can be very painfull, have a look at how the boot folds/creases when she moves, adn you may see this. - I had this on old boots,

many cures - vasoline, wet newspapers, manipulation, a hammer !

either that or shes lacing too tight and pressing a nerve etc on the ankle ??
 

Nicolas

Forager
Jun 2, 2008
110
0
49
Dublin
Hi Nicolas,

Maybe the ankle amterial of the boot is still very stiff, and when it gets a crease or fold this presses into the foot. This can be very painfull, have a look at how the boot folds/creases when she moves, adn you may see this. - I had this on old boots,

many cures - vasoline, wet newspapers, manipulation, a hammer !

either that or shes lacing too tight and pressing a nerve etc on the ankle ??

These are the boots i'm talking about guys:

V-LITE-FASTHIKE-MID.jpg



Where about on the ankle is the pain? Is there swelling or inflammation?

A bit of swelling when taken and a little sensitive to the touch, but barely.
 

malente

Life member
Jan 14, 2007
894
2
Germany
I'd suggest to go to the shop where she has them from and ask for professional advise (take her, the boots and the socks she normally wears).

Maybe there's a fault in the production (unlikely but possible)

A lot can be accomplished with lacing.

Good luck!

Mike
 

Mikey P

Full Member
Nov 22, 2003
2,257
12
52
Glasgow, Scotland
Hi,

Is the pain on the sides or the back of the ankle?

Sometimes, the achilles cut-out at the back (the notch at the top of the back of the shoe) can actually press against the sides of the achilles tendon and cause localised pain.

Loz also makes a good point on boot folds. If this is over a nerve, it can get very painful but with virtually no swelling or marking.

You could experiment with lacing configuration - different methods of lacing can either relive local pressure on nerves or provide more support by pulling the heel of the boot in more firmly.

Check the footbed in the sole of the shoe as this may have collapsed, providing less support to the ankle on one side.

Finally, it may even be worth checking the tread at the heel of the boot for abnormal wear. If the boot is heavily worn on one side of one heel but not the other boot, there is a problem!!!

Hope some of this helps. The only other thing I can think of is to take it to somewhere like Cotswold Outdoor and speak nicely to the boot-fitters there - they may have better ideas.
 

Nicolas

Forager
Jun 2, 2008
110
0
49
Dublin
I'd suggest to go to the shop where she has them from and ask for professional advise (take her, the boots and the socks she normally wears).

Maybe there's a fault in the production (unlikely but possible)

A lot can be accomplished with lacing.

Good luck!

Mike

with lacing you mean how tight it is?

I actually told her that she shouldn't lace the boots fully up and it was ok for a minute or two but than neverless started to hurt again.
 

malente

Life member
Jan 14, 2007
894
2
Germany
Lacing has a large influence on the fit of the boot.

Tightness, as well as how high and where the knot is located, e.g. she could try lacing all the way to the top and then double back to go down (if the description makes sense) so that the knot is located lower down.

Having a tighter lacing around the ankles is often a good idea, as well as lacing all the way to the top. That is because most of us don't do enough ruggy walking in big boots to build up the muscles to protect the ankle.

Hope this helps.

Mike
 

andy_e

Native
Aug 22, 2007
1,742
0
Scotland
Has she ever torn the ligaments in her ankle, I did on my right ankle once and still occasionally get a deep throbbing pain if I load up too much and walk too far in certain boots/shoes.
 

leon-1

Full Member
Hi,Check the footbed in the sole of the shoe as this may have collapsed, providing less support to the ankle on one side.

Finally, it may even be worth checking the tread at the heel of the boot for abnormal wear. If the boot is heavily worn on one side of one heel but not the other boot, there is a problem!!!

This is good advice, I have had this happen on boots and approach shoes(more the wear side of life than collapsed footbed).

Could your daughter be suffering with collapsed arches, the raised inside of the footbed would push the inside of the foot up and out stretching and aggravating the muscles on the outside of the ankle.
 

crazydave

Settler
Aug 25, 2006
858
1
54
Gloucester
if they are new boots it might be an idea to wet them and walk them out to allow them to stretch and settle around the foot. as to lacing if she tries a surgeons knot after the eyelets and before the quick cleats (just wrap the laces around eachother so it grips) she can be gentler in the ankle lacing. you should be able to walk in a good fitting boot without laces and not rip your feet to shreds

sometimes when one leg is longer than the other it can mess up hips, knees and ankles when you naturally try to compensate similar the tendons might not be a well stretched on one side, the stiffer heel and sole shank might be changing the foot articulation compared to trainers and may take some getting used to. try some activity shoes instead of boots maybe.

also historical foot injuries like sprains or missed hairline fractures can mess things up for a year or two as can regular footware like high heels or trainers. try gently applying pressure to the joint to isolate the areas its even possible for a sliver of bone to have come away in the past and never been noticed.

When I did my basic we were given boots to break in which was easy as we all wore school shoes so boots 11 hours a day was fine. I went back to the depot to work in the med centre 4 years later and I saw mainly foot injuries due to recruits raised in trainers, the boots were breaking them in so now they do the first month mainly in trainers with an hour or two in boots.

our feet were definately harder as pt was in plimsols :)
 

marcusleftthesite

On a new journey
Sep 28, 2006
250
0
64
I had the same problem and found taht by switching to Superfeet insoles it sorted itself out within a couple of weeks,they help to re-align the feet and knees.
 

Glosfisher

Tenderfoot
Feb 22, 2007
92
0
60
Cotswolds
Superfeet insoles are excellent; sorted out my Achilles problem.

I'm afraid with boots it's a case of you get what you pay for and I decided a long time ago that as we're a bipedal species caring for your feet comes pretty high up the agenda.

Consequently I spend quite a lot of money on walking boots (I tend to spend a lot of time in them) and I use Altberg in Richmond who make their own boots and have their bootmakers fit you with the appropriate size at the factory shop.
 

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