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Fitting sports orthotics in alpine ski boots

Discussion in 'Biomechanics, Sports and Foot orthoses' started by Jeff Wolter, Sep 18, 2017.

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  1. Jeff Wolter

    Jeff Wolter Active Member


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    I recently saw an article posted on a Facebook page. I did not want to criticize it there. But it needs to be reviewed.

    *being new to the site it will not allow me to post the link until after I make ten posts??

    I would just like to point out that it mistakenly claims that a sports orthotic with a deep heel cup can't fit well into most all alpine ski boots. I don't know where they came up with their hypothesis for that claim? A claim which then seems to imply that only a custom medical device could work correctly in a alpine ski boot??

    Most all alpine ski boots come with a pre made generic insole which is intended to be removed and replaced by a better quality device for those that want to increase their performance.
    After 30 years of fitting most every type of alpine and touring type of ski boot in shops all across western US and in the Alps I have not found one boot that cannot except a sports orthotic with a deep heel cup.

    Their are a few after market liners that when are paired with a low volume shell make it more difficult to fit an orthotic in because of their thicker materials but it not impossible because just about all ski boots have a removable bootboards which can be made thinner to accommodate the thicker materials of the after market liners.

    Had to laugh at this artical written by two doctors. ??
    Not sure why they made a claim like that when their are many OTC devices designed for use in alpine ski boots that use deep heel cups.

    We do like thin materials in our ski boots. But, most of the modern ski boots don't require it based on their initial fit. The thin material choice is a matter of feel, not a requirement of fit.
    We usually fit performance ski boots too small to start because it is not an exact science when you are attempting to slightly compress the foot without causing pain over the course of many hours of use.
    The liners (made of soft mateials) pack out quit a bit after use and so the initial fitting for a performance skier may be a bit too tight to start, but after only a day or two they grow bigger. We start tight and have the customer use the product to properly determin our starting point before making adjustments to decrease the compression or increase the amount of space inside the shell of the boot. We chose our adhusents to the foot/boot fit based on the customers feedback after their use of the product. Different types of feet compresss and move inside the alpine ski boot environment in different ways that static measurement can't revel during the initial fitting process.
    The fitting of a ski boot works best through trial and error.
    Even with the initial tightness we can still substitute a custom device with a deep heel pocket into the new boot very easily because we gain less rotation of the compressed foot, as well as much less splaying of the width and lengthening of the foot when we use a better made custom or even a better matched OTC device.

    So I'm just posting this article here so others don't think for some reason that an alpine ski boot cannot accept a custom device with a deep heel pocket. That stated "fact" in this article is proven to be false tens of thousands of times each ski season.

    It was hard to read the rest of the article because of this glaring mistake presented as a "fact"of fitting ski boots. The doctors who wrote this kinda lost my trust in their judgment after making that false claim. Not even sure why a doctor who may have never been trained correctly to fit alpine ski boots is writing a piece like this??

    The way a foot functions on the most restrictive footwear a person could find is not even close to the training given in walking gait activities. The biomechanics of the function of the foot inside a rigid alpine ski boot is not even close to a walking gait movement. They just both happen to have feet involved. That's about the only similarities. Most all of the movements assaicated with a walking gait are severely reduced when the foot is buckled down and compressed into a ski boot.

    Fitting a custom sports device into a ski boot is not a complex issue for a foot which does not function anything like it does in an ideal walking gait.
    The ski industry has one of the highest success rates of custom device uses (for our intended purpose of increased performance and skiing comfort) in the whole sports world. We have to beg our customers to throw their eight years old devices away and replace them with new cudtom made devices to better fit their new boots.
     

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  2. Jeff Wolter

    Jeff Wolter Active Member

    I would also like to note that when all ski boot fitters come across customers that have foot problems that persists outside of the use of their ski boot we are all trained to refer that customer to a doctor for the proper diagnosis and treatment. We do not ever treat general pain issues, we just fit ski boots for better on hill skiing performance.
     
  3. GarethNZ

    GarethNZ Active Member

    Nice post Jeff - we see a lot of skiers in Queenstown, NZ and echo your comments!
     
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