Foot pain

stocago · Foot pain

I've been experiencing two different types of foot pain associated with long-distance pumping. During longer rides, my back foot, towards the front, tends to fall asleep or stiffen up. Changing my stance or moving my foot and occasional stretching seem to help, but it is recurring. I would've thought that I'd be getting stronger and building up an immunity or something by now! My main concern is my front foot, which does not bother me at all during the ride, but several hours later is hard to walk on without limping slightly. It can carry over to the next day or longer. It's worse in the morning and tends to loosen up. I did some searches and it might be plantar fasciitis. I ripped out the original insoles and replaced them with more supportive ones, but it doesn't seem to make much of a difference. I've also tried icing the area to relieve the pain, but it still comes back. Oh well. Does anyone else suffer from these symptoms? Any suggestions?

Parson Adams

If it is PF, I had it too after picking up skating again after a 12 year hiatus. This is a condition that goes away with time...lots of it. I stretch my calves and achilles tendon 2-3 times a day. This, after some time, will loosen the tendon and relieve any stress on the PF. Unfortunately, if it has been happening for a while, then it can take any where from 3-12 months to completely go away. PF is one of those things that quickly sneaks up on someone and remains for awhile. Don't worry, it goes away. I was told by my doctor to stretch my calves in bed before getting up so as to not aggravate the PF in the AM. Once you get moving, however, things do get better. Mine was so bad last October that I limped for 3 weeks and really thought about giving up skating again if I couldn't even walk correctly afterward. Luckily, all that it was was PF. It sucks, but it's your body's way of telling you to stretch. Now I stretch like I did back in High School and college when I played ball. It helps...a lot. What may also work is the Strassburg Sock.

http://www.thesock.com/

Good luck

dmccoach · Re: Foot pain

egret

I had it a few years ago and it is painful. Doctor recommended new insoles and better shoes. Took a while but it did get better.

As far as LDP goes (emphasis on LD), how concave the deck is has to have an effect on the tendons in the foot. A flatter deck would seem to be better for someone with PF. (but I'm no doctor)

stocago

Thanks for the replies! I've been stretching a lot more every day and it seems to be helping. I plan to get some even better arch supports soon. That Strassburg sock really looks like it would help, but at $40 I'll hold off a bit. My LDP deck does have a good bit of concave, so this might be causing/aggravating my problem. Maybe I should order that Galac LDP sooner than later. Smile

pavedwave

i used to get into a condition where after 20 miles without any break, stepping off the board my feet were in pain, almost cramped up, and essentially non-functional. i literally had to sit down and massage my feet for about 15 minutes before I could even walk again.

i think the muscles in your feet grow stronger over time, and the first thing I did was start moving around more on the board. not fancy footwork, but just moving the front foot an inch or so to the left, right, back, up, spending more time with that foot away from the front truck bolts (tons less vibration)

it also seemed to me that when doing a lot of shorter "ankle" pumps, where you're cranking the front truck back and forth faster, contributed to those foot pains -- so I became more conscious of pressing my feet out flat on the board, and concentrating on using the weight of my entire body to drive each pump, where the foot becomes an evenly distributed, fixed spot on the board and all the energy blast ends at the hips, shooting down directly to the board and into the pump.

i think a touch of flex in the board is a good thing for avoiding this as well.

and tight shoes, for sure, can make feet miserable. some new shoes I got as a present just a couple months ago I literally threw in my backpack after a mile, and rode the rest of the way home barefoot, and even through it shredded a little skin off some toes, it was a far more comfortable ride!! i'd forget any shoe that feels the least bit uncomfortable, make sure they're nice, wide and roomy for distance.

LD skater since 1971

I get this also but what I do is just take a couple pushes with my other foot. The pain goes away I also am using the Enties Calicuts they have a open throat lace system instead of closed. So you can adjust the laces were you want to. They also have internal Eva mid sole in them that helps with the impact.
I have been think about this for awhile it to bad we could not get a low profile eva midsole running shoe with a thick black rubber out sole or recycled auto tire outsole like the new Simple line of shoes. I would buy the Simple's but for some reason the leather strechs out of shape on my black chukka boots.

Foot pain

Re: Foot pain