When do the aches stop?

imported
#1

When does the aching every morning when you get up stop, after finishing your hike??

Do your feet ever go back to normal size, or am I going to have to get a new foot wardrobe?

Are my toenails EVER going to grow back?

bearbait

#2

Lost toenails take many months to grow back. I lost one on my big toe once and it took over six months to come back in!

Alligator

#3

My feet are now almost a half size bigger. Yes, I have had to buy new bike shoes, running/walking shoes. I basically lived in my Chacos this summer and my Merrill snow mocs last winter, I am slowly replacing much of my footwear.
The aches stopped pretty quickly for me, but I didn’t have knee problems on the trail or anythign other than sore feet. The calluses in my feet took a bit longer to disappear but they did, which is almost a bad thing. They were smooth and tough like leather. I never lost toenails or had them turn black.
YMMV

Bluebearee

#4

Toenails can take up to a year to grow back. I lost mine last November and just now am able to clip them again.

Nooga

#5

The aching when you get up in the morning is likely plantar fasciitis. This used to be called heel spurs but that was a misnomer because it is a ligament problem.
http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/fact/thr_report.cfm?Thread_ID=144&topcategory=Foot
I had it pretty bad, it lasted at least 4 or 5 months, but got progressively better during that time. If I tried to jog or walk a lot during recovery though it would flare up again in the mornings. It lasts longer or shorter for different people. They do make funny foot holsters to wear in bed if it is a big problem; you can ask your doc. But my feet seem to be 100% now from just resting them.
There’s conflicting reports on the causes, but in general the suspects are: overpronation, inadequate heel or arch support, tight calf muscles, inadequate training before undertaking a lot of excersize, and just plain overuse.
You can tell if you overpronate if your shoes wear faster on the inside.

My feet are just barely bigger now, some of my old shoes still fit within a month or two after the hike. But my husband gained a full size.

Jitterbug

#6

It took about about 8 weeks for both my feet and my husband’s to stop complaining after we got out of bed post hike.

As for the size change so many people experience, it varies. My feet are about half a size longer one year later (I hiked in sandals, so that might have contributed), but Jeff’s never changed. He started out with relatively flatter feet, however, and I am (was) high-arched. I think it’s pretty permanent if it does happen, though. I was hoping they’d shrink back down so I didn’t have to buy new shoes, but…

I can’t help but wonder if hiker feet continue to gain size with each long distance hike. Anyone out there have any info??

Chipper

#7

I suspect that the increase in hiker’s foot size is for the same reason that pregnant women’s feet also grow. It’s your body’s response to carrying more weight on those tender tootsies. When I had my first child, my feet went up a size. Second child - no change. I think once they go up, they stay up, and they should not get any larger unless you increase your pack weight substantially. Just my humble guess…

Jonna

#8

I still have three toes numb (two on one foot) after a year. I have no problem walking. Shoe size went up 1 full size. Flame’s feet were better in a month, mine took about 7 months. Of course my feet were already 55 years old!! so what should I expect. Happy Trails.

Papa Smurf

#9

Does this mean that we can assume that all clowns or even Ronald McDonald are habitual long distance hikers???

Israel

#10

Hi Bear Bait,
Tomorrow will be two years since I finished my thru. I had flipped and I finished my hike in central PA. I did the rocks with a pair of boots that were completely worn out. My feet ached for about three months after I finished. They still don’t feel the same as they did before I hiked. The bottoms are very tough and I can now walk bare foot on anything.
My shoe size increased by 1/2size.

Grampie

#11

Some people never recover. How fast recovery occurs depends on many factors: how well protected your feet were during your hike, pack weight, miles per day, nutrition, days off (recovery time), shape you and your feet were in before you started, etc etc.

Some folks have done permanent physical damage to themselves (feet, knees, etc) by doing a thru hike. Long distance hiking is one of the most physically demanding exercises in the world-----that’s why I do it and love it so.

I think you will heal, it just takes time, in some cases years. Broken bones in joints take years of recovery and often the recovery in never 100% complete as loss of some range of motion often occurs. Also above info/advice given is good. Clowns are hiker wannabes and they artifically inflate the preceived size of their feet using oversized footware, giving folks the false impression they have some long distance hiking experience.

Hang in there. Healing takes time. And take it easy. You’ve done what few have ever attempted to do and even fewer still have actually done. :cheers

Maintain

#12

Maintain is so right.There are so many factors you have to look at.In 2000 my partner and I picked up our mail drop at Fontana.Pack weight went up,and started across the dam to enter the Smokies.Felt a twing in my right foot while I was walking on the cement.Continued on until Pecks Corner,where I left the trail.Xrays showed 3 stress fractures.Doc told me had I continued on hiking,I could have severly damaged my foot.I’ve returned each year since,doing section hikes.

Bill Harris

#13

Three years ago when I started running frequently I developed
a bad case of plantar fascitis. The doctor recommended custom
insoles, and explained that I wasn’t getting proper arch
support from the insoles that you get in shoes. After 1 year
with my custom insoles my feet feel just wonderful.

I think every thru-hiker should consider these. These
stories of how your feet grow during a thru-hike indicates to
me that your arches are collapsing under the loads you are
placing on them. With insoles that match the shape of your
foot you will never have that problem. Your arch cannot
collapse because the insole is taking the weight.

Your feet will be much happier if you do this. A caution
though - you need to wear these for several months before
your feet feel comsortable walking in them all day. Don’t
get them the day before your thru-hike. Another thing - my
insurance wouldn’t cover them. They cost me 300$. It was
the best investment I’ve ever made though.

Cheers,
Chris.

Chris

#14

I had the custom jobs and my feet didn’t get better until I took them out. Everybody must have different feet. Mine didn’t feel better until I got rid of the boots and took a steroid pack (pretizone?). When I got up during the night at the Bears Den Hostel near Harpers Ferry and crawled to the bathroom, it was time to change the “system”. I did and things got a lot better. Funny thing is, I never got the first blister from Springer to the Big K. Flame never had the first footache, but she lost her toenails and got blisters… go figure!

Papa Smurf

#15

Jonna is right on. The feet of a thru-hiker frequently increase because of the extra weight being carried and being on your feet so much. Actually, what happens is that the arch collapses and the feet tend to spread.

As others have said, this can be mimimized with a good footbed. For me, the solution was Superfeet.

My story. In 2001, I hiked 1/2 of the trail. Afterwards, my feet ached for months. Before I started the other 1/2 in 2002, I bought Superfeet. No knee problems in 2002. No foot ache. In fact, I was back to running road races within a week of finishing the trail.

Peaks

#16

your toenails grow a little faster then a millimeter per month, i think lee press on nails might stick to the skin with help of duc-tape. When women get pregnant they usually end up with bigger feet, due to the extra weight they carry, so look on the bright side once you decide to have little bearbait’s your feet are morelikely to stay the same size afterward. As far as the pain, spurge and go to a spa!!! Just don’t go hiking the day after for you might slip, break a pole and end up with a concusion (okay, that one has some experience behind it, I wish you better luck though)

buttercup

#17

My feet started aching in NC/TN from what I believe was plantar fascitis. They ached all the way to PA and then rather suddenly stopped aching. I had been on a steady diet of vitamin I (pretty much one advil per hour of hiking) for nearly 4 months then I didn’t need it anymore. Since then, my feet have been fine. Maybe I should’ve tried walking on pointy rocks all day back in NC.:tongue

Wedding Singer