Boots = plantar fasciitis?

[LilJen]

Anyone ever gotten plantar fasciitis (plain talk version: My heels hurt like heck!) from their skating boots? I've had really painful heels for about 2 months now. I got new sneakers a month ago, and that helped some (my sneakers are what I wear most often and they were admittedly old). I don't wear high heels, and the only time I experienced an absence of pain was when I was off the ice for 10 days due to illness. I only skate 4-5 hrs per week. . . any chance this could be caused by my skates? (I've been stretching a lot and keeping off my feet as much as possible. Helps a teeny bit.)

[jenlyon60]

I have had plantar fasciitis on and off for several years, to the point that whenever I got up first thing in the morning I could hardly walk until the fascii had relaxed/stretched out a bit.

Coincidentally, since I significantly reduced my skating time (due to knee surgery and post-op), the PF has been much less. So perhaps the boots were the problem, or my stance in the boots. My chiropractor had me put extra OTC arch supports in all of my normal shoes.

I finally decided that my current boots were so miserable and painful (arches/balls of feet) that I am making a major switch and ordering new boots from a different manufacturer. The current pair is so uncomfortable that I almost dreaded skating. I'll get the new boots in about another month, so I'll know soon after that if things are working out.

[doubletoe]

Interesting. I just looked up the condition on Wikipedia and this jumped out at me:

Patients should be encouraged to lessen activities which place more pressure on the balls of their feet because it increases tension in the plantar fascia. This is counter-intuitive because the pain is in the heel, and the heel is often sensitive to pressure which causes some patients to walk on the balls of their feet.

But it also says two things that help are stretching the achilles and arch and using arch supports (it sounds like even molded insoles like Superfeet or SOLE Slimsport could help). I suspect it also wouldn't hurt to get your feet re-measured to make sure your boots are the right width in both the ball and heel.

[patatty]

I suffered from really bad plantar fasciitis about 9 years ago from running on bad sneakers, and the podiatrist recommended stretching the calf muscles several times a day, as well as orthotics. The stretching helped immensely, and the orthotics have kept it from coming back. I have never had a recurrence. I don't put the orthotics in my skates, but I have custom skate boots, so I guess they molded them for my crazy arches when they were made. You may want to consult a podiatrist to see if orthotics or even over-the-counter arch supports may help. It's possible that your skates are not giving you enough arch support, especially if you have a high arch. The key with this injury is to keep the arch fully supported at all times, so that even on impact, it doesn't flatten out and pull on the plantar fascia.

[dbny]

I had plantar fasciitis many years ago long before I started skating. What seemed to help at the time was lacing my sneakers very, very tight over the arch. Luckily, it went away on its own after several months. DH just got it recently and when I told him about stretching the achilles tendon (which I didn't know when I had it), he began walking down stairs backwards every day, and that has really helped. Of course, that does place pressure on the ball of the foot, but maybe the stretching is more important. Any kind of shoe with an elevated heel is going to allow the achilles to contract, so why not skate boots?

[livestrong04]

Do you wear flip-flops or go barefoot a lot? I had plantar fasciitis years ago and the podiatrist said it was aggravated by not wearing shoes, or wearing flat shoes like flip-flops or very low heels. He recommended always wearing a shoe with at least a 1" heel, and plenty of arch support as well (I have a high arch). He also outlawed any shoe with a very flexible sole - rigid was better. And he said to limit stairs, although this was while I was healing. It is very painful, so I wish you luck in getting to root cause and getting better! (to anyone who has this)

[Isk8NYC]

I have heel spurs in both feet and Plantar Fasciitis in my landing foot. The "stay off the balls of your feet" advice was very true - it causes more problems. There were times where I was in agony trying to walk up the steep hill to my office, but forcing myself to use the whole foot helped. To me, it felt like using the ball of my foot to gimp kept the weight off the painful spot, but the entire arch and heel area (not the bones - the muscles/tendons/etc.) got sore and cramped right away. I think it actually made the heel spur rubbing worse.

I went the podiatrist route, got the injections, custom insoles, and recommended sneaker brand. Don Klingbeil remade my custom skates' insoles to match the expensive ones. All that helped, but there were times that just walking to my car hurt badly after I'd been on my feet for a long time. Exercising was painful.

Real relief from the pain came from little article on Woman's Day Magazine's Good Health page. It was a stretching exercise specifically for PF. I started doing it every morning and night, as well as after exercise/skating. Within a month, I had very little pain.

Best to do this sitting down with your calf resting on the other thigh.
"Point" the foot so that it's straight and the arch is, well, arched.
Keeping the foot arched and pointed, gently press back on the toes.
Don't flex your ankle and don't flatten your foot.
Hold for 30 seconds, then release and point/flex several times.
Repeat five times.

It's very similar to doing "heel ups" on the stairs (http://health.yahoo.com/musculoskeletal-resources/stretch-plantar-fascia-and-calf/healthwise--zm2603.html), but it's not weight-bearing, so you can stretch more. It feels great to massage the instep to loosen up the foot muscles as well.

[LilJen]

Thanks, everyone. My coach said last week that it's very possible the plantar fasciitis is at least partly due to the boots, on which I've pounded my non-pixie body (5'3.5" and 135 lbs) for a good 2 years now. In general I'm also getting more fed up with not having the boots fit around my ankle bones. It's good enough and not terrible, but there are times when it hurts or puts undue pressure on the bones while not hugging the area around the bones, and it'd be nice to have a good fit there.

So now the dilemma is: go with custom Klingbeils for about $600 or more, or travel to Chicago or Cleveland for slightly cheaper stock boots (and I do have very average, very fittable feet for which heat molding would probably give a good fit) but with the added travel expenses?? :roll: Not sure I can wait until I go to Cleveland in January.

[Query]

I don't know much about p.f.

But, when taking a class where we were encouraged to keep our heels down (e.g., back crossovers with two feet on the ice at all times), I definitely started to hurt. I had used tape to carefully balance the pressure on different parts of my feet for normal skating - but pushing that heel down for this exercise was not the foot position I had balanced everthing in, and it created pain in the middle and back part of my foot. I decided I did not like the exercise!

It is easy enough to try putting more or less pressure on the heels and ball and toes, by sticking a little athletic tape under the various parts of the insole. If there isn't room and this squishes your feet to much, cut yourself a new insole out of thinner material (like felt). You may have to experiment a bit to get rid of pains. I think that generally speaking, normal stroking should produce no pain at all. Purely as an example, the shape of the bottom of your boots and insoles might be such as to force your feet into too flat or (conversely) too high a position, which hurts. Changing the insole shape can make that pain go away. It only takes a few minutes to try different things with tape, so it's no big deal to try to find an arrangement that works.

On the other hand, I don't do any high or complicated jumps, and it is hard to guess what they might do. Since skating boots are generally made with incompressible insoles, and we use such tight fits which pretty much force the foot to take the shape of the bottom of the boot, there is a lot more pressure on your feet and body that would normally be partly taken up by the natural collapse of your arches under weight. In theory you could use compressible material (like foam) under your insoles, especially under the arches, but that would create motion and possibly blisters inside your boots - probably the reason skates don't have normal compressible insoles.

Another factor could be the high heels we all have in our figure skating boots. That creates an abnormal pressure distribution on the foot, and an exagerated bend in the middle of the foot. Putting tape under your midfoot and toes will effectively reduce those heels - again you might need a thinner insole to make room. Greater changes would require more ambitious changes like sanding down the heel, and probably reshaping the inside of your boot in a big way, so they still fit in the new foot position.

When we jump off-ice, we do a lot of things to spread the push and impact throughout our bodies. E.g., you start with horizontal feet, then push into a pointed position as you take off to spread the force of jumping, then land with toes pointed, and let them go horizontal to take up the shock again. (Remember there can be just as much or more pressure on the foot on take-off as on landing.) It is hard to do those things in really stiff boots, though I've heard coaches say it should be done anyway. Your coach should be able to tell you whether you are jumping right.

(On the other hand, pointing your toes to spread push and shock does briefly put pressure on the forward section of your feet, the opposite of what other people are telling you to do. Experimentation to see what works for your own body makes sense.)

If you want to better support your ankles, because the current boots don't touch them enough, the solution is easy. Get some moleskin and stick it to the boot there, so there is pressure from the boot to your foot. It is also possible to heat mold almost any leather boot to your feet, more than once if needed. A good bootfitter could do it with a well controlled oven, or you could do it yourself with a hair dryer if you are brave. Heat molding could make the boot better fit your feet, so they are well supported. If you are having a fit problem, that might well be the first thing to try.

[Query]

In general I'm also getting more fed up with not having the boots fit around my ankle bones. It's good enough and not terrible, but there are times when it hurts or puts undue pressure on the bones while not hugging the area around the bones, and it'd be nice to have a good fit there.

Oh shucks, I didn't read you close enough. ANY bootfitter worthy of the name could punch out (stretch) your boots at the bones.

It's your choice - $600 for new boots, or $20 to the bootfitter to stretch the leather. Same effect. Though I don't see how that problem could cause p.f.

[LilJen]

Thanks for all the info, Query. Yep, I've had 'em punched out. In a way, fit and pain are only two of the reasons I've been thinking it may be time for new boots. In fact, they *are* beginning to break down (beginning to crease in the wrong places, having to lace tighter and tighter, etc). I have all of a toe loop and salchow (wimpy and uncertain, at that) so it's not like I'm pounding them with triple jumps. But still, two years + very old boots (they were secondhand, nearly new condition at the time, but definitely an oldermodel!) = hmmm. Plus, I guess since my skating skills and body awareness have improved, I am more aware of what doesn't feel quite "right."

The pf may have also come, it occurs to me, because I'm finally getting off my toepicks and skating more on the rest of the blade/foot in the last few months. So, additional stress on the whole foot that it's not yet used to.

Still, I'm not rushing out to spend a bucketload of dough before I've tried everything else.

[doubletoe]

Still, I'm not rushing out to spend a bucketload of dough before I've tried everything else.

Get new boots and make sure they fit in both the heel and ball (split widths are available in most stock boots and many people have narrow heels). You'll easily go through $600 in medical bills otherwise, so why not spend it on the boots. ;)

[Query]

Yep, I've had 'em punched out.

You need repeated punching, because leather likes to go back.

In fact, they *are* beginning to break down (beginning to crease in the wrong places, having to lace tighter and tighter, etc).

It sounds like you want new boots, and presumably can afford them, so splurge. While you are at it, go to the factory for the initial fit and for adjustments.

The rest of this is only if you are brave and ambitious. Without some guidance, the procedure I describe below is kinda complicated without guidance, requires a fancy tool, and takes a fair bit of time and experimentation. I figured it out myself - I don't know if anyone else has tried to reverse creases.

Creases occur partly because there is space for them to occur. Stretch outwards the places the crease goes inwards, then fill the space with moleskin. You can buy your own boot leather stretching tool, like a "ball and ring pliers" (also called "hoke and ball pliers", or "leather stretching pliers" or "bunion stretcher"), e.g.,

http://www.topsocks.com/featured/101-051-00.html

There is a somewhat cheaper looking tool available too, with just a nut on the outside, and some really expensive ones for pros.

Leather stretches slowly - wet the area inside and maybe out with boot stretching oil (e.g. Lexol leather conditioner - BUT oil destroys suede), carefully heat the leather with a hair drier, tighten the stretcher as much as you can and let it sit for an hour, reheat and retighten, leave it 8 hours, retighten and leave another 8. This is a longer lasting stretch than a bootfitter will probably use. Some people use water and/or alcohol instead of oil, and it stretches better, but the leather may crack. (I think bootmakers use low temperature steam - 160 - 180 degrees F? - and a boot press to form boots, but I can't afford that.)

BTW, if it's gone too far already, the leather will be too soft around the crease to keep you happy.

P.S. I think one of the advantages of some newer models is weight - it may be easier to jump, and less hard on your body if you use lighter boots, as long as they still provide the support you require.

P.P.S. This sounds crazy, but is there any possibility the pain comes from a chemical irritation of the skin? The chemicals in leather are toxic. You could try wearing socks (if you don't), and wash the socks (and maybe the feet) after every skate.