Hi Guys,
We've been looking for a answer to this for over a year now. My wife got terrible fore-foot pain that forced us off-trail after getting to Front Royal. It got better after a month, however she still gets it after longer backpacking trips with major downhills.
What I am asking is if anyone else has had this problem, and more importantly, solved it! We plan of going to a specialist here in Boulder, but I'm looking to gather as much info as we can before we retry our hike (sometime in the next 4 years or so).
The symptoms as best as she can describe them:
Pain in the metarsal area (near the toes)
Painful ball of foot
Mainly associated with downhill
Clues:
She has a really high arch
She's tried superfeet custom footbeds, regular superfeet and Montrail insoles with no improvement.
Wears Montrail sneakers.
We seem to think that really cushiony shoes would help. Has anyone found any that work well? We were thinking something with airsoles in the front especially.
Thanks for any insites!
Gravity Man