Preventing foot or ankle pain when skiiing

Contrary to popular belief it is not an essential to suffer with excruciating feet when skiing. Occasionally chilly and a little restricted perhaps, but not excruciating!

Here are some tips on how to avoid painful feet and ankles when skiing.

a)Well fitted boots

To avoid ankle sprains or horrible skin blisters around the foot and ankle well fitted ski boots are essential. They should not be so tight that they are painful or affecting your circulation (unless you are a pro and in which case you wear softies till the last minute and then ram your feet into impossibly uncomfortable boots for your few minutes of high performance). However, they need to be snug enough so that there is almost no movement around your heel and ankle whilst still being able to wiggle your toes easily.The extent to which you personalise your ski boots by buying your own, adding foot beds and adding different types of liners depends on how similar your foot shape is to each manufacturers idea of the average foot (which varies between makes) and how much you want to spend!

b)Look after your calves

Calf strains are common and will stop you skiing for a few days. If you have tight calves you are more likely to have this injury so if you think this is your case, then it is worth asking a boot fitter to put small heel raises (no more than a few millimeters) inside both boots along with regular stretching.

Please click on the link to learn more about stretching.