Backpack Training: Foot Problems
When hiking or backpacking, the most important thing to take care of is your feet. We are learning this again the hard way. Due to various foot problems, we have taken a couple of months off from backpack training, but should be getting back into the swing of things again soon.
The first foot problem was blisters. Right Buddy (RB) has a history of getting blisters on the back of her heels when she hikes, probably due to needing to buy really wide shoes for the rest of her foot, but not needing that width near her heel. The last time she bought hiking boots at REI, the kind staff in the shoe department demonstrated how to lace the boots using the Heel Lock method to try to prevent the heel from slipping. The technique in the video shows two surgeon knots in the technique, but the REI staff only showed her a surgeon knot at the top. RB eventually eliminated the surgeon knot at the top because it tended to cause the rest of the bow to come undone.
RB also switched to Wrightsock (WrightSock Mens Coolmesh II Crew - paid link) which are double layer socks that are guaranteed to prevent blisters. When RB was playing tennis while growing up, she remembers using thin sock liners to try to prevent blisters. However, the sock liners liked to bunch up sometimes. So having the two layers sewn together in one sock sounded like a great idea. Wrightsock really seems to help a lot. However, on one of our long snow shoe hikes, she could feel her right boot loosening up a little, but instead of stopping to tighten it, she just kept on going. It was cold, there were gaiters and snow shoe straps in the way, and, probably partly due to the snow shoe strap pulling on her heel with each step, a small blister started to form on her heel. RB knew better. Always stop to adjust your boots when you start to feel something wrong! Thankfully, the blister cleared up quickly and was not a problem.
A couple of weeks later, during a long hike, RB felt her right boot loosening up again. This time she stopped right away and tightened her boot, perhaps a little too tight. She could feel that it was too tight, but, doggone it, she was not going to get a blister! Well, the top of her foot was tender and really started to bother her. She tried to grin and bear it for a couple of weeks and kept hiking. The pain seemed to get worse, so she stopped carrying a pack on the hikes for a couple of weeks. The foot pain was still not getting better. For a few more weeks, she stopped hiking or going for walks. The pain seemed to lessen with less time on her feet, but would increase again when she was on her foot for longer periods. Reluctantly she made a doctor’s appointment to make sure it wasn’t a stress fracture. An x-ray indicated there were no fractures, but an appointment with a podiatrist resulted in a diagnosis, a bone spur on the top of the foot.
In the mean time, Left Buddy (LB) developed a painful corn on his foot. So he did not mind taking a break from the backpack training. A corn pad cleared up his foot issue within a week. RB’s issue is not that simple.
The options for the bone spur were pretty slim, either try to manage the pain or have surgery to remove the spur. Since our plan is to start traveling near the end of June, if RB is unsuccessful in trying to reduce the irritation and inflammation to manage the pain, then she would just have to live with it until after the Grand Canyon trip in September. The other option was to have surgery now, before leaving town, to give her time to recover and get back into training. It is outpatient surgery and the instructions are to wear a boot for three to four weeks while the incision heals, then slowly work back up to walking, hiking and backpacking greater distances. There will be pain and swelling as the foot heals, but surgery now seems like the better and more permanent solution.
The podiatrist also showed RB another shoe lacing technique to take the pressure off of the top of the foot: Window Lacing, which RB started using right away before the surgery and has found that it helps. She plans on continuing to use the Window Lacing technique on both feet after the surgery to try to prevent any future issues. The podiatrist did say there was also a bone spur on her left foot, but not as bad. Since her left foot is not bothering her now, she wants to make sure it stays that way.
RB is reminded of the catch phrase she used to tell our kids while they were growing up “No excuses, only solutions”. While she has been laying off the walking, she has tried to be creative about still working in some exercise. Before the surgery, she was swimming laps. Other exercise has included lifting weights, calisthenics and yoga, doing what she can that doesn’t irritate the foot.
We’ll keep you posted on the recovery process!
(RB)