Topic: sore little toes (Read 5950 times)

theharve01 · « **on:** March 09, 2016 »

hi,
when i go on long haul hikes i get sore red little toes.

what i tend to do, to stop blisters and to stop it hurting is to keep on putting extra pairs of socks until there is completely no movement. but then the skin between all my other toes goes numb for a few weeks/ months, depending on the duration of the hike. this is from my feet been squashed in my boot.

i was going to try wrapping tape, flexi plaster tape around my little toes to stop this. i have never tried it before and was wondering if anyone else has used this and did it work.

thanks

Ed · « **Reply #1 on:** March 09, 2016 »

Sounds like you need a slightly wider boot.
My advice is to go to cotswolds and get your feet professionally measured up for an appropriate boot. Perhaps a wide fitting boot from the likes of Asolo for example.
Sometimes my wee toe rubs in my trail shoes, I just duct tape over it, but thats not ideal and not a long term solution.

RedLeader · « **Reply #2 on:** March 10, 2016 »

You might need a specifically wide soled boot. Like Ed says, getting your feet measured by someone who knows what they're on about would be best. Cotswold Outdoors will measure them for you for nowt! They could recommend a wider boot too, there are a couple of manufacturers that make their footwear specifically wider but I can't remember who they are.

theharve01 · « **Reply #3 on:** March 10, 2016 »

i bought a pair of scarpa boots for €180 in 2014. i would hate to see them going to waste. i got them in 53 degrees. they really should measure peoples feet before they sell them expensive boots.

i see that the only cotsworld is in belfast, im living in the meath area.

but i will get someone to measure the feet and see if i can get another decent pair of boots that will fit better.

thanks guys

Ed · « **Reply #4 on:** March 10, 2016 »

Thats a shame mate!
Scarpas are notorious for being narrow fitting.
Sometimes you can have success with stretching the toebox out a bit using a pair of these Shoe stretchers
Be careful though, over-aggressive use of these can cause issues with the goretex membrane.

In the meantime until you get sorted, so long as the skin isn't broken, duct tape can do wonders!

theharve01 · « **Reply #5 on:** March 10, 2016 »

hi, thanks ed.

the skin has never actually broke on my toes, and its usually the left one that gets it the worst, the side of the toe get all red and tender, almost shiny looking.

so usually i swap out the socks to a fresh dry one and throw an extra sock on.

but instead of the duct tape, would the elstoplast tape be better.

when you use duct tape does your toe ever blister

Ed · « **Reply #6 on:** March 10, 2016 »

The elastoplast tape is a good job, but sometimes the outer can be a little too rough and can grip the boot and transfer the friction a bit. Rubbing some vaseline on it sorts that out tho!
Ive never once blistered when using the duct tape approach, but I wouldnt use it on tender skin at all, itd be rough taking it off again!

Rich.H · « **Reply #7 on:** March 16, 2016 »

I would wager that you are trying to fix symptoms of a problem rather than the issue itself. You say your toes are getting a little squashed and your little toe then ends up rubbing, and you then stuff layers of socks on top further squashing all your toes. My personal opinion is that you really do need plenty of space for your toes to fully splay in any footwear, if you are getting any kind of rubbing or squashing then either your boots are too small, you have too many socks on or the boots are just still new and unbroken. I recently switched to using Salomon boots having had experience of their running shoes, knowing in advance that they have a narrow toe box I did not simply squash myself in but instead went up a full size for them over my standard footwear. While this does mean the heel cup is perhaps not as snug a fit, it does mean the front of my feet have plenty of room, since the majority of walking/running is done with only a tiny quick touch on the heel anyway then space for the fore foot is more important than the heel.

If you have boots that fit you correctly (not meaning tighter than nessies wallet), then you should only ever need a single pair of good quality socks, unless you happen to be a person that prefers a two layer thin sock approach.

As stated above get into some stores and start trying on various brands to see how they feel, don't let the store persons fit them on you as they have a tendency to pull the laces so tight to give a false snug secure feeling and thus cutting off blood flow. Get a feel for how different brands fit different feet and work out which sort of feet you have, find something that feels good and then ensure you have fore foot space and you should find your issues suddenly vanishing. Unless your on something like a multiday 15k+ per day in wet conditions hike then using tape of any kind sounds like warning bells that something somewhere is very wrong.

theharve01 · « **Reply #8 on:** March 21, 2016 »

hi Rich, thank you for the reply.

my toes are ok for space when i start off hiking, they are nice and comfy with room to move, thats the only reason why i load up on the socks is because i thought its due to the free movement and space that my toes do have is why they are rubbing/moving in the boot.

so when i load up on socks then that is stopped to a certain degree because there is less room/space for the toe to move.

i always start off with a liner pair of socks and a good pair of hiking socks.

should i remover the liner socks and just try hiking with one pair of decent socks, then there should be even more room in my boot.

Rich.H · « **Reply #9 on:** March 27, 2016 »

Sometimes two or more pairs of socks can make things worse as you now have more things moving causing friction, some folks find they work some don't. Also are you certain your boots fit properly? A badly fitted pair of boots will not cup the back of your foot nicely thereby meaning all of it has the potential to slide around which then means when descending your toes take the brunt of everything. The last possible reason I can think of is a lack of conditioning on the skin itself, now only you really know the answer to this based on how much walking and what type you do, and again folks have differing ideas on what works for them. some folk like to allow a small amount of hard skin build up to act as a buffer, I find for me what works is to always remove any and all hard dead skin and moisturise the hell out of my feet twice daily.

I would say look carefully at your boots first and see if there is a possible problem there, then move on to playing around with variation on socks and foot care regimes as what works for one person may not suit you. Just ensure you stick the rose glasses away before looking at the boots, I have in the past had to have a serious talk with myself where I was trying to come up with reasons to keep a pair when all it really boiled down to was I had spent money on what was not bad gear, but bad for me gear.

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Author Topic: sore little toes (Read 5950 times)

theharve01

sore little toes

Ed

Re: sore little toes

RedLeader

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theharve01

Re: sore little toes

Ed

Re: sore little toes

theharve01

Re: sore little toes

Ed

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Rich.H

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theharve01

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Rich.H

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