Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire The agony of da-feet

I hope to get some advice from you back pack and mountain hunters. For the past year my feet have been killing me. The insteps feel like a horse stepped on them and the bottoms feel bruised. It's so bad I need to take ibuprofen daily.\
So far I've been to a podiatrist and gotten custom orthotics (not helpful) and dropped 12 % body weight (some improvement but I have a way to go yet). I spend my day standing on a concrete floor and I've tried all kinds of OTC shoe inserts without luck. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Doc Paul

Do you stand in one place on a concrete floor, like in front of machinery? Could you put down an anti-fatigue mat, they really work..

When my feet started hurting, 20 years ago, couldn't walk on stream rocks bare footed, five years later I was told I was a diabetic. Watch that blood count. Next time you are in the Doc get a A1C , insist on one. That will give a history.

I do exercises for my feet. I do foot shortening, 1 leg balances and other things to help my feet. I also lift and train bare foot. Doing this has all but cured my foot pain. It sounds weird but it really works.


https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-strengthen-your-ankles

Might be peripheral neuropathy; can be diabetes related or autoimmune disorder. Also possibly arthritis. X-ray and nerve conduction test would show either if they are suspected.

what a timely thread, I'm in the same boat

I sometimes spend 12 hours a day on steel floors wearing steel toe boots. Good gel inserts help, but my feet still hurt.

What you really need to do is install anti fatigue mats

I stand all geared up at a court house door. I'm having the same issues and I had them last year too. I use a 5 gallon bucket (with 3 gallons of water) with 2 frozen pop bottles in the water. I get my feet really cold and then let them warm up slowly. I then take a warm shower and go to bed. I also started taking Meloxicam (15mg) as an anti inflammatory before I go to bed. I wake up in the morning and after a few steps they limber up and I get to go back to the court house and do it all over again.
kwg

I wear orthotics to correct a giant heel spur and my flat feet. Standing on an anti-fatigue mat actually hurts my feet as it creates an uneven surface.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm a veterinarian and I usually spend the entire morning standing at a surgery table. I have always had fatigue mats down by the table. But the rest of the day I'm on my feet
either walking or standing in an exam room all with a wonderfully soft concrete floor.

I plan on talking to my doctor about this because diabetes runs in the family. I'll try working out bare footed now that it is above freezing in my garage.

Thanks again,
Paul

Has anybody actually diagnosed your problem? Maybe see a good orthopedist?

I require some really good arch support insoles. I like the Sof-Sol brand inserts...I use the high arch ones for me. The stores usually have a foot mapping device of some sort. I have used the Dr Scholl's before, using the mapping system to get the right "number." However, I prefer the Sof-Sol brand.

You can purchase an A1C test at the pharmacy for $30 or so.

I see you are a smart man Doc. Yes genetics does play a big part of diabetics and if it has run in the family etc.
You are losing some weight, great, now what about stress factors at work?
Don't know your age but please get the A1C at least once a year when you have your're blood work done.

I'd find a GOOD orthopedic doc. Have never met a podiatrist that impressed.

I have a nicer x-ray machine than my podiatrist. Anyway, going to see the "real" doctor in 45 min. I'll ask about the A1c, etc.

Paul

ariat boots cured mine after mutable shots of cortisone.

i am 69now, and at age 15 in a m/c wreck did the following:
right leg
crushed the ankle
broke the front lower leg bone
broke the back lower leg bone in two places
tried to stand up and pushed my ankle up where your knee normally is.
mageled the toe bones.
I have tried for years to explain that stuff to later quacks i have gone too. Scars showing even.
And still some screws in my leg.
They just don't get it
a ortho guy said well we can fuse your ankle. yeah sure.
it comes and goes, but i do use shoe inserts, good tennis shoes help, or good hiking type boots.
when it gets real bad i go to flexeril, and naproxin sodium.

maybe not just insoles, but good quality shoes.

Your a doc, so it may not apply for your application, but Thorogood makes some good boots, and shoes I think.

actually i have said to our family vet more than once, will she treat me too? I swear she is better with the dogs that the quack is with me.
I have diabetes, diagnosed in 95, but have never really had neuopathy. But bad feet is bad feet when you gots to stand on them.
One thing the ortho guy did say was unlike hip or knee replacements, not so much for feet ankles.

High arch boots, night splint, inserts, stretches.

I spend all my time at work on concrete and what has helped me are Asics Gel Foundation Workplace leather shoe and a dose of slow running each other day (for knees).

I was having the same problem. Turned out I wasn't getting enough vitamin D.

Have you been to Doc? Done blood work?

I started D supplements, feel way better.

Sounds like plantar fasciitis. Unreal pain and never seems to heal. I tried every brand of shoe and sneaker, custom orthotics, night splints, cortisone, ice, stretches. Nothing seemed to help....until I bought wolverine raider boots for working. 2 weeks of wearing them daily and I was feeling better. A month later....I was cured. Give it a try. It's only time and $130.

I'll second hunter4623 on the plantar fasciitis. I didn't know what it was earlier this year and kept training hard. I thought I had a badly bruised heel. I ended up with a ruptured plantar fascia. If I'd have known what it was there was a lot that could have been done to treat it and I'd not ended up rupturing it....but if you're not training really hard it's probably not going to rupture on you.

Really all those things and the boots are what fixed it for you? Did you stop doing all the other things ? After wearing the boots for two weeks ?

Maybe it's plantar fasciitis and maybe not. That's why seeing a good orthopedist is called for.

I had really crummy plantar fasciitis for about a year. Injections and all of that kind of treatment. A friend and now deceased podiatrist told me to get high arch support shoes. I went to an athletic shoe store where I first ran into age discrimination when none of the young folks there would even give me a moment. Then I went to a Danish shoe, as it had the highest arches I could find (then, not so much now) and the pain was gone literally overnight.

A friend had a somewhat similar pain and after seeing an orthopedist was diagnosed with a ruptured tendon in the foot. Totally different treatment, of course.

Feet problems SUCK. Plantar fasciitis turned my high-desert backpacking deer hunt into car-camping and limping around about 1 mile a day (max) for two weeks... it's finally resolving (I hope).

Don't let it get worse. Do not let it get worse. It'd be a mistake to let it get worse. Whatever you do, don't let.... you get the idea. Pull out all the stops and find a solution.

You might give Doc Martens shoes or boots a try. Those are the most comfortable I have found for being on hard surfaces for long spells. They have a thick, comfortable sole. Also, consider a good foot roller massager. I have a wooden one that works great. I find ice to be a great help with pain relief as another option to consider. For feet, I'd go an ice water soak for 10 minutes. Long enough for the feet or area of pain to go numb.

Watch posture too. A kinked back or hip will make pain in the leg or foot. Any decent massueses around?

I had plantar in both feet bad and tried this at the advise of a friend. Click on the link. I was cured in less than 2 weeks from 2+ years of pain. YMMV

http://www.goodfeet.com/

the stretching exercises and ball exercises really help me, but they're kinda like vitamins, not much use if you don't take them, exercises not much use if you don't do them.

Sorry to hear of your ailment Doc. Hurting feet really suck...

You notice in these hurting feet threads, there is every fix under the sun. Some are completely divergent from one another. After going through plantar fasciitas about 10 years ago, (it took a couple years to really go away, I went to 3 podiatrists, bought 2 sets of custom orthotics, had several cortisone shots, and a pair of custom Nicks boots. Nothing seemed to work until the last podiatrist sent me to a physical therapist who had me doing heat, ice, massage, stretches, strengthening exercises, and wearing good shoes. No more flip-flops or otherwise flimsey shoes until they got stronger and the inflammation was gone.

From my experience, you will have to keep trying to find what helps you. What works for some may not work for you... Once you get ahead of it, don't let your guard down and at the first sign of soreness stamp it out with ice, massage, stretching, etc... It can take some time to get better, but keep after it. It will go away, if you work at it.

Two types of people work on watches: jewelers and idiots. The same applies to body ailments, if you come to the Campfire for foot problems, you have just entered into the realm of idiots.

Well, my doc thinks its plantar fashiitis. He prescribed meloxicam and that has helped a bunch. I've been wearing my Mendl hiking boots at work and that has really helped. Also, my fatigue mats in the surgery room are 10 yr old, I figure I'll replace those, too.
Now all I have to do is drop the final 25 lb and I'll be in sheep shape. Man, I haven't seen 190 since the kids were born!!!

Thanks for all the suggestions. I figured correctly that this group would know a thing or two about foot comfort.

I work !2 hr shifts on cement and had much the same trouble as you described. Many of the suggestions above are good, one thing I would like to add, that really helps me, is to have at least two very different styles of work boots.
I have one pair of Red Wing Lineman boots, very high, supportive arches, and one pair of Timberline low tops with much less arch support but very thick, soft soles.
When my pain was at its worst I would start the day in RWs, then after a few hrs I would switch to Timberlines, and so on.
This helped me immediately and as I felt better, I would only switch day by day.
Avoid any amount of walking in flip flops, go barefoot around the yard when you can, and good luck with this. Sore feet really, really suck!