Went to Utah for five days of downhill skiing at the beginning of January. I have been having worsening PF for the last several months; bad enough that I was afraid it was going to derail my run plans for the year. On the plane ride out I mentioned to a friend who was flying with me about the PF. She told me that her PF had gone away in the past after a week of skiing and that she personally knew of two other people that had been “cured” of their PF after multi-day ski trips.
I was skeptical but it had gotten so bad that I was having pain with walking, running, moving…
After day one of skiing, pain much better in my foot. Day two, better still. By day five, I was essentially pain free.
Flew back to Michigan and took two more days off from running and then got back to it. The headline is a little misleading because it isn’t completely gone but 10 days of running since my ski trip and I am dramatically better than I was before. I am considering sleeping in my ski boots intermittently to try to continue my improvement (only slightly pink). I’m sure that will do wonders for my love life…
Do you think this is due to the plantar-flexed position during skiing? Essentially a day of skiing is like a day-long stretching session for your PF? I find stretching and massage really helps my niggles, so I wouldn’t be surprised.
Do you think this is due to the plantar-flexed position during skiing? Essentially a day of skiing is like a day-long stretching session for your PF? I find stretching and massage really helps my niggles, so I wouldn’t be surprised.
That is exactly what I think happens. It is also why I think wearing the boots at night would be beneficial.
I have tried the Strasbourg sock in the past and it is way too uncomfortable for me to sleep while wearing it. By contrast, my ski boots have been custom fitted to my feet and I can wear them for 6-8 hours without any issues. I’m not sure how well I would be able to sleep in them. If I decide to find out I will check back in and let you know.
Do you think this is due to the plantar-flexed position during skiing? Essentially a day of skiing is like a day-long stretching session for your PF? I find stretching and massage really helps my niggles, so I wouldn’t be surprised.
I’m confused… So an active day of pointing your toes downhill (plantarflexion) seems to help? When every other stretch/treatment/etc focuses on pulling your toes up (dorsiflexion)?
Do you think this is due to the plantar-flexed position during skiing? Essentially a day of skiing is like a day-long stretching session for your PF? I find stretching and massage really helps my niggles, so I wouldn’t be surprised.
I’m confused… So an active day of pointing your toes downhill (plantarflexion) seems to help? When every other stretch/treatment/etc focuses on pulling your toes up (dorsiflexion)?
Huh.
I think you may be confused (or am I?) When skiing, you lean forward a bit, so dorsiflexion is occuring.
Went to Utah for five days of downhill skiing at the beginning of January. I have been having worsening PF for the last several months; bad enough that I was afraid it was going to derail my run plans for the year. On the plane ride out I mentioned to a friend who was flying with me about the PF. She told me that her PF had gone away in the past after a week of skiing and that she personally knew of two other people that had been “cured” of their PF after multi-day ski trips.
I was skeptical but it had gotten so bad that I was having pain with walking, running, moving…
After day one of skiing, pain much better in my foot. Day two, better still. By day five, I was essentially pain free.
Flew back to Michigan and took two more days off from running and then got back to it. The headline is a little misleading because it isn’t completely gone but 10 days of running since my ski trip and I am dramatically better than I was before. I am considering sleeping in my ski boots intermittently to try to continue my improvement (only slightly pink). I’m sure that will do wonders for my love life…
knock on some wood PF can be very very stubborn and you don’t want to jinx it. I don’t ever take PF for granted. Although I do think stretching is important for the PF, I think it has more to do with the stretching of the calves and then the calves not pulling on the PF.
Do you think this is due to the plantar-flexed position during skiing? Essentially a day of skiing is like a day-long stretching session for your PF? I find stretching and massage really helps my niggles, so I wouldn’t be surprised.
I’m confused… So an active day of pointing your toes downhill (plantarflexion) seems to help? When every other stretch/treatment/etc focuses on pulling your toes up (dorsiflexion)?
Huh.
I think you may be confused (or am I?) When skiing, you lean forward a bit, so dorsiflexion is occuring.
Do you think this is due to the plantar-flexed position during skiing? Essentially a day of skiing is like a day-long stretching session for your PF? I find stretching and massage really helps my niggles, so I wouldn’t be surprised.
I’m confused… So an active day of pointing your toes downhill (plantarflexion) seems to help? When every other stretch/treatment/etc focuses on pulling your toes up (dorsiflexion)?
Huh.
I think you may be confused (or am I?) When skiing, you lean forward a bit, so dorsiflexion is occuring.
Yes, apologies, I meant dorsiflexion!
Of course, you would want to bend your knees, right? (Clearly, I don’t ski downhill!)
Do you think this is due to the plantar-flexed position during skiing? Essentially a day of skiing is like a day-long stretching session for your PF? I find stretching and massage really helps my niggles, so I wouldn’t be surprised.
I’m confused… So an active day of pointing your toes downhill (plantarflexion) seems to help? When every other stretch/treatment/etc focuses on pulling your toes up (dorsiflexion)?
Huh.
I think you may be confused (or am I?) When skiing, you lean forward a bit, so dorsiflexion is occuring.
Yes, apologies, I meant dorsiflexion!
Of course, you would want to bend your knees, right? (Clearly, I don’t ski downhill!)
Yes – the ski boot itself, though, angles forward. So it’s actually putting your knee ahead of your foot, and you end up keeping your knees bent just to stay balanced.
here’s one of the things that make me scratch my head. it is exactly the same process, exactly the same product, same blank, same everything, to make custom footbeds for cycling shoes. so i call retail stores like burlington ski rack in vermont, which is a great ski shop and a great bike shop. they do almost no custom cycling footbeds (according to the person i spoke to). why?
i know ski shops that will almost refuse to sell you a boot if they don’t also sell you a custom footbed. footbalance. masterfeet. sidas. something. but bike shops? nope.
here’s my question: if you spent all your cycling miles in a cycling shoe with a footbed such as you have in your ski boot, do you think you’d have plantar fasciitis? i know you don’t know the answer to that question (neither do i). but i find the question interesting.
My PF seems to flare more when I push my run miles higher. Perhaps I should be looking at some sort of custom footbed for my running shoes. The thought doesn’t excite me but the idea of no longer having PF would make it worth it.
FWIW, running in stiffer shoes seems to help make my PF less troublesome. I am logging quite a few miles in an old pair of Hoka Stinsons that would normally never make it in to my running rotation. I know from past experience that these particular shoes help cool things down in my feet.
“Perhaps I should be looking at some sort of custom footbed for my running shoes.”
i ONLY run in custom footbeds and i’m really picky about the kind, and about who casts my foot. that said, i think it’s worth a try to see whether superfeet or currex sole or other custom or semi-custom footbed would work.
just, this is a different product. in both skiing and cycling you’re not accelerating only to come to a sudden stop, as you do when your foot hits the ground. it’s like holding a hammer up to the wall and pushing on it, versing swinging the hammer and hitting the wall. which is the wall going to feel more?
so the run footbed needs to absorb the blow, and support the arch, and the shoe needs to absorb the blow and support the footbed. so, to me, both the footbed and the choice of shoe is very specific to my needs.
this is entirely, 100 percent antithetical to natural or minimal or barefoot. fine. for those who are minimalists and who are offended by my view, blow me. and i mean that in love. i’m simply telling you what has worked for ME (that is, it has worked more often than it has not worked). i do get running injuries. i just do NOT get plantar fasciitis.
“Less weight on the foot during cycling? Peak pedal forces are often about half bodyweight.”
i think i broached some of this in the post i wrote just before this one. it seems to me what’s happened here is the OP had plantar fasciitis running, and the act of skiing cured it, almost like skiing itself was physical therapy for the running injury.
that’s intriguing. you can’t argue with success, especially because others in this thread seem to have a similar experience. i therefore posit whether cycling might perform a similar function under the right conditions.
… Although I do think stretching is important for the PF, I think it has more to do with the stretching of the calves and then the calves not pulling on the PF.
