Blisters

My girlfriends has big problems with blisters developing on the back of her
heels when cross country skiing. This is chronic problem repeating every
season, year after year. She tried many remedies, padding, layers of socks
and materials, many different boots, lubricants, etc. Nothing seems to help.
Blisters starts to develop after first 5-10 km and in about 20-30 km her
heels are bloody mess.

This must have to do with hep physiology. Her heel is probably narrower that
the average.

Did anyone experienced this kind of the problem to such extent? Did anyone
find some reliable solution to this?

I am thinking about the very radical attempt. I want to remove the
back-of-the-heel part of her ski boots completely (with the help of the
shoe-repairman). It could be quite expensive trial-and-error attemt, but we
have to try. Do you think this could work? Won't it only move the problem
higher, i.e. from the heels to the ankle area? Wouldn't her feet get too
cold with the hole in the back of the boot (she would be using neoprene boot
cover)? Wouldn't this cut weaken the boot considerably so that it would not
last more than 1 or 2 weekends?

Thank you,

L

In article ,
Lester Kovac lkovac_at_rogers_dot_com wrote:
This must have to do with hep physiology. Her heel is probably narrower that
the average.

I've also got very narrow heels, as well as high arches.
Fitting ski boots and running shoes is a real problem. The
only ski boots I've found that fit pretty reliably are
Rossignols. What's been a real help is to put in modest
heel lifts. I wouldn't lower the heels, and the thought of
turning ski boots into slingback sandals skeers me.
--
Melinda Shore - Software longa, hardware brevis -

All you need to know about Social Security "reform": Your
in-laws are going to have to live with you

On Mon, 7 Feb 2005 11:09:46 -0500, "Lester Kovac"
lkovac_at_rogers_dot_com wrote:

My girlfriends has big problems with blisters developing on the back of her
heels when cross country skiing. This is chronic problem repeating every
season, year after year. She tried many remedies, padding, layers of socks
and materials, many different boots, lubricants, etc. Nothing seems to help.
Blisters starts to develop after first 5-10 km and in about 20-30 km her
heels are bloody mess.

This must have to do with hep physiology. Her heel is probably narrower that
the average.

Did anyone experienced this kind of the problem to such extent? Did anyone
find some reliable solution to this?

I am thinking about the very radical attempt. I want to remove the
back-of-the-heel part of her ski boots completely (with the help of the
shoe-repairman). It could be quite expensive trial-and-error attemt, but we
have to try. Do you think this could work? Won't it only move the problem
higher, i.e. from the heels to the ankle area? Wouldn't her feet get too
cold with the hole in the back of the boot (she would be using neoprene boot
cover)? Wouldn't this cut weaken the boot considerably so that it would not
last more than 1 or 2 weekends?

I would not suggest hacking up the boots. You will trash them, and not
solve anything. The heel cup is sort of an essential part of the
framework.

Similar issues come up with hiking boots, and similar fixes may help.

Assuming that the boots otherwise fit her feet, this problem is caused
by up-and-down friction from her narrow heel moving up and down.

Here are some fixes to try:

A thin slick synthetic sock, with the regular wool or synthetic sock
over it. Friction is sock on sock rather than sock on skin. Avoid
cotton socks, which tend to keep the skin moist and vulnerable,
besides the frostbite and hypothermia concerns..

Alpine ski shops sell various pads to help with bootfitting. Look for
a butterfly shaped one which sticks to the inside rear of the boot,
and cups the narrow heel better. There are also pads that go under the
tongue, to reduce the overall volume of the boots. Even if you make
your own, at least look at the commercial ones first.

Also look at insole heel pads, which go under the foot, and
essentially hold it in the "up" part of the up and down cycle.

Trying different techniques to tie the boots, to really tighten them
down better at the lace hooks at the midpoint of the instep (roughly a
45 degree angle up from the heel cup) may help, but watch
overtightening.

There are ways to toughen up the foot skin, such as rubbing them with
rubbing alcohol (don't waste the good stuff). Foot powder may also
help. I assume you have used Moleskin or Molefoam in advance as well
as after the blisters start.

These suggestions have a much greater chance of helping, and will not
destroy the boots. If the boots turn out to be a bad fit/model for her
feet, you can sell them and roll the money into a new pair.

HTH,
Happy trails,
Gary (net.yogi.bear)
------------------------------------------------
at the 51st percentile of ursine intelligence

Gary D. Schwartz, Needham, MA, USA
Please reply to: garyDOTschwartzATpoboxDOTcom

to say "me too" to a couple of points already made:

Try Rossignol boots (for fit - don't just buy a pair without trying on). My
daughter also has narrow heels and Rossies are the only ones she tolerates.
She has had hell blister problems in the past also. Not so much with the
Rossies.

Use a slick synthetic inner/liner sock covered with a wool or polypro sock
of your choice. My system (for hiking, not so much for skiing) is to do
this and along with suggestion #3 below, I never have blister problems. As
another poster said, most if not all the slipping/friction/heat is between
the inner liner sock and the outer wool sock, not against the skin, thus
minimizing blisters.

Just put a patch of mole skin on the heel each time. Very minor hassel and
will probably totally prevent the blisters.

Cam

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In article ,
Lester Kovac lkovac_at_rogers_dot_com wrote:
My girlfriends has big problems with blisters developing on the back of her
heels when cross country skiing. This is chronic problem repeating every
season, year after year. She tried many remedies, padding, layers of socks
and materials, many different boots, lubricants, etc. Nothing seems to help.
Blisters starts to develop after first 5-10 km and in about 20-30 km her
heels are bloody mess.

_ What kind of boots are you using? If she's getting blisters
that fast, then they really don't fit very well. What kind of
boots/skis are you trying to make work? It sounds like she is
either really hard to fit or doesn't understand how ski boots
should fit. IMHO, there should be little or no heel movement
in a boot. It sounds like you might be trying solutions in the
wrong direction, ie. less pressure on the heel. You want a
snug fit with no pressure points.


This must have to do with hep physiology. Her heel is probably narrower that
the average.

_ I would try something like a Ladies model T3 with a custom fit
liner, custom insole and one thin pair of socks. Unless you are
skiing in very cold climates that should be warm enough and the
better fit you can get with less socks, the fewer problems you'll
have. If you're looking at lighter NNN style boots, try and find
a pair with a heat mouldable cuff and someone who knows how to
do the heat moulding.


Did anyone experienced this kind of the problem to such extent? Did anyone
find some reliable solution to this?

_ Well, I had one pair of NNN/BC boots that I had pretty constant
heel blisters with. Since the selection of beefy NNN/BC boots is
so minimal I didn't have the option of switching boot models. My
solution was a combination of two things.

1. Using a custom insole with a lot of heel lift.

2. These socks

http://www.techspun.com/

_ That's a direct quote from my review of the socks on the front
page. I haven't even got a free pair of socks out of the deal.
The price on the socks is not outrageous so it's worth a try.


I am thinking about the very radical attempt. I want to remove the
back-of-the-heel part of her ski boots completely (with the help of the
shoe-repairman). It could be quite expensive trial-and-error attemt, but we
have to try. Do you think this could work? Won't it only move the problem
higher, i.e. from the heels to the ankle area? Wouldn't her feet get too
cold with the hole in the back of the boot (she would be using neoprene boot
cover)? Wouldn't this cut weaken the boot considerably so that it would not
last more than 1 or 2 weekends?

_ This is the wrong approach, you don't want the heel to move
more, you want it to move less. I would try and find a good
bootfitter somewhere, he will have a lot of tools and techniques
to help resolve this problem. Mostly they work with alpine skiers
and boots, but they can generally help with any boot. Once you
have the heel fixed in the boot, then you work on relieving
an specific pressure points. If you try relieving the pressure
by making the over all fit looser, it just makes the problem
worse instead of better.

_ Booker C. Bense

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I've had several pair of Rossi boots that I like except for this very
problem. If I ski in them for more than an hour I get rather bad
blisters on both heels, a bit toward the inside. On examining the
boots carefully I saw that there was a spot where the cuff is hinged
that protrudes a bit into the lining. I've had success with two
alterations:

(1) Taping my heel before every outing. I've done this for many years
and it's worked 100% of the time. I used to use moleskin, but
eventually found it much cheaper to just use normal white athletic tape
-- for me this worked just as well.

(2) Putting several layers of duck tape inside the boot covering the
problem area. When I did this I found I no longer needed to tape my
ankles.

Jim

Lester Kovac wrote:
My girlfriends has big problems with blisters developing on the back
of her
heels when cross country skiing. This is chronic problem repeating
every
season, year after year. She tried many remedies, padding, layers of
socks
and materials, many different boots, lubricants, etc. Nothing seems
to help.
Blisters starts to develop after first 5-10 km and in about 20-30 km
her
heels are bloody mess.

This must have to do with hep physiology. Her heel is probably
narrower that
the average.

Did anyone experienced this kind of the problem to such extent? Did
anyone
find some reliable solution to this?

I am thinking about the very radical attempt. I want to remove the
back-of-the-heel part of her ski boots completely (with the help of
the
shoe-repairman). It could be quite expensive trial-and-error attemt,
but we
have to try. Do you think this could work? Won't it only move the
problem
higher, i.e. from the heels to the ankle area? Wouldn't her feet get
too
cold with the hole in the back of the boot (she would be using
neoprene boot
cover)? Wouldn't this cut weaken the boot considerably so that it
would not
last more than 1 or 2 weekends?


Try putting some duct tape directly on to the skin of her heel *before*
she develops a blister.
I know it sounds too cheap & simple but I have never seen it fail to
work!

Armin

Jim Grau wrote:
I've had several pair of Rossi boots that I like except for this very
problem. If I ski in them for more than an hour I get rather bad
blisters on both heels, a bit toward the inside. On examining the
boots carefully I saw that there was a spot where the cuff is hinged
that protrudes a bit into the lining. I've had success with two
alterations:
Be very careful on 'solving' this problem. I've got one high school
girl who now has tendonitis (and probably a torn sheath) on her achilles
from her boots. They fit fine, but the hard edge on the back of her
Xium classics bit into her achilles and inflamed it in a couple of
outings. We switched her over to Salomon due to their softer heel
counter, but she's still having pain. Not something a master's skier
should be dealing with.

Marsh

(1) Taping my heel before every outing. I've done this for many years
and it's worked 100% of the time. I used to use moleskin, but
eventually found it much cheaper to just use normal white athletic tape
-- for me this worked just as well.

(2) Putting several layers of duck tape inside the boot covering the
problem area. When I did this I found I no longer needed to tape my
ankles.

Jim

-Are these classic boots?
-Are the boot flexible?

Some classic boots are too stiff in the sole, and that will cause
blisters. I like my classic boots to be very flexible, like a tennis
shoe.

Jay Wenner

I'm sure they probably thought of this too, but is the last gender
specific in her boots?

June

"Bjorn A. Payne Diaz" wrote in message
oups.com...
-Are these classic boots?
-Are the boot flexible?

Some classic boots are too stiff in the sole, and that will cause
blisters. I like my classic boots to be very flexible, like a tennis
shoe.

Jay Wenner