I remember coming off an alpine day about four years ago andwondering if I would be able to keep climbing due to the pain in my feet. I went to a foot doctor and told him I was having problems but refrained from telling him my profession until he briefed me with the diagnosis. The treatment: wear loose shoes, nothing to tight and make sure to have flexible bottoms. I then told them the problem… “My job requires me to shove my size 43 feet into 40.5 shoes and then stand on small little edges or walk miles to some remote place in shoes that have a very stiff sole as to support the spikes that are on the bottom.” He didn’t know what to tell me other than what doctors typically say which is, “well you will probably have to change professions.”
Needless to say, when I was in Boulder a few weeks later and a friend of mine recommended that I go to Neptune Mountaineering and talk to Bob about my foot problem, I was skeptical but intrigued, so I went. Bob is a super busy guy who has been in the world of making feet comfortable for a long time. He is a pedorthist, which really means he knows about feet and can fix them! Bob will take prints of your feet and then make molds the help with the problems that he can see with your gate. I remember thinking that he is going to a awful lot of trouble, and I am going to feel bad when this doesn’t work. It took him about an hour of tweaking the insoles until he was happy, and I was on my way back to the mountains.
Low and behold, I am calling him six months later to get another pair so that I don’t have to keep switching them between shoes. I just visited Bob a few weeks ago; it has been two years since the first appointment and no toe pain. Yes, I got two more pairs because I totally wore out the old ones. My feet are my job; Bob keeps my feet happy; I keep doing my job!
Check out Boulder Orthotics for happy feet.