High instep - advice?

smcgui

Hi all, I have a high instep on both my feet. Recently my left instep has been causing me a bit of pain when running. It feels bruised, sore and seems to be causing a pain around my big toe as well now. Has anyone had trouble running wih high instep feet? Any advice? I tried loosing my shoe laces but that didn't make too much of a difference. I was thinking of maybe getting a padded plaster and put that on my foot to try stop it rubbing off my runner.

Or perhaps are there different runners out there that are made for people with this problem? At the moment I wear New Balance 768.

Racing Flat

People who have high arches, ie high instep, tend to have 'rigid' feet and so their feet don't work very well as shock absorbers. Hence shock absorption happens elsewhere in their body, shins, knees or spine, so they can get repetitive impact injuries at those areas. Not necessarily though. The majority of high arch people probably aren't even aware that they are this 'type'.

They also tend to be 'supinators' - they may land on the outside border of their feet and then their foot roles out. Normal would be to land on the outside of your heel (if a heel-striker) and then for your foot to roll inward until you push off your big toe. This roll inward is pronation and during this action the arch of the foot collapses a little as the plantar fascia stretches a little. During this collapsing of the arch and stretching of the plantar fascia some of the shock of impact is absorbed, so this is an important injury protection mechanism. So pronation which has a bad name is a good thing, although you don't want too much either.

So high arched runners generally want to try and reduce the amount of impact they receive seeing as they don't get much shock absorption from their feet. Cushioned runners are probably the best bet for this, as opposed to motion control shoes. A cushioned runner will hopefully take some of the shock of the impact saving your foot. I know Asics have shoes for a neutral runner, some for a pronator and some for a supinator (high arch/instep) but I can't remember the names. I presume the other shoe companies also have these 3 different type of shoes. So the one for the high arch, the cushioned one might be suitable for you, but who knows if they actually do what it says on the tin?

But you're problem doesn't seem to be an impact thing - more of a rubbing thing? So maybe this is more of a fitting issue? Perhaps you need a shoe type with a lot of room/depth? Or just a slighlty bigger shoe? Not too sure really.

smcgui

The runners I have now are cushioned and are pretty new. I did find a suggestion online about a different way of lacing my shoes so I'm going to try that. I went out yesterday for 10k and put a padded paster type thing over it which definitely helped...for the first 5k, after that it got pretty sore again. Also I read somewhere that those stretchy laces could help but then again (as was pointed out to me) these laces can make you more prone to go over your ankle.

Anyway going to try the new way of lacing my shoes tonight along with the padded plaster and see how that works. In the meantime if anyone else has had a similar problem or advice that would be great?!

smcgui

Just to give an update for anyone in the future who has this problem...changing how you tie your shoelaces solves the problem!!! http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/news/article.asp?UAN=482

Such a simple solution to what seemed like a complicated problem! Just shows how much the little things count!

smcgui

.....problem is not solved afterall I went for my longest run so far yesterday and it was great, I had my left foot padded as well as it was giving me a little niggle...by the end of the run my other foot was sore with the same problem and pain as my left foot. Today it is really sore :mad:

So can anyone recommend a podiatrist who works well with runners or a physio with a specialism in podiatry in Dublin? I think at this point I need to get it looked at. Please help!!:(

Woddle

I can recommend Elaine Aherne on Sundrive road, she's done a few marathons herself and knows feet. She has been my life saver.
01-4907067

smcgui

Thanks a million Woddle, I'll give her a call. Is she a physio or a podiatrist? How much does she usually charge? (Excuse my ignorance - I haven't been to one before!)

Woddle

She's a physio but would alter alot of runners shoes, back in 02 I had trouble in both my knees after going to see her she put a wedge in my shoe, no more knee trouble but since then I have found a shoe that has sorted me out.
It's normally 50 euro but it could be less/more based on what your getting done, I don't really know. She's brill though and make sure you ask for her.

smcgui

Ok will do thanks! I will let you know how I get on!

ike

I have incredibly high arches and my footprint would look exactly like the one on the right - 2 years ago I suffered from shin splints but got my gait analysed and changing my type of runner solved the problem. So it could be worth considering for yourself. Its acutally quite shocking to see the way every thing from you knees to your feet move when running barefoot.

Generally I have to keep the laces a bit looser around the top of that arch also.

I did get a severe pain in my foot back in Sept with very similiar symptons to plantar fascis but the problem was cos my calves were too tight thus causing a pull on the foot/arch. This was diagnosed by my physio, proper stretching solved that in a few days.

Thats my experience - but definately take the route of the physio - hope you get sorted!

smcgui

Hi all again,

So I ended up going to my housemate's physio (sorry Woddle) as she looks after the AAI teams. Since I last posted the pain had moved up into my left shin (had a worrying moment of shin splints but apparently its related to my foot problem). I've seen her twice so far and she's great. She gave me new temporary insoles so I could run for a few days whilst I got used to them but when out for a short run last night and....they didn't work In a lot of pain again today.

Going back to the physio tonight but so far I couldn't do the John Davis Run at the weekend, looks like now I won't be able to do the Great Run and it's beginning to look like I'm going to have to kiss goodbye my big goal of the Wexford half marathon as I'm just not getting the mileage in. The furthest I've ran in 15km and that was once. Am I kidding myself in thinking I can do a half marathon on the 19th?

...sorry I realise this is quite a miserable post!

Mr Freeze

Sorry for digging up an old post, but did you ever solve your high arches problem smcgui?

I have the same thing, got gait analysis done on saturday, had to buy new runners as a result, and going to physio this week too to loosen my calves before running again.

Just signed up for the Gaelforce last week, cant run at the moment, my legs are so sore after one week of training.

nellocon

Hey,
Just thought i'd share my advice with you. I'm very new to the running scene and have only just started. I decided to buy a pair of cushioned shoes online as i determined i had a high arch (wet test).
Anyway i would already be quite fit. So to try out the new runners i went for a 4 mile jog. Nothing hectic for me.
The next the i had a blinding pain in my arch, very similar to plantar fasciitis, only in my left foot.

My opinions on this are a few things really:
1. I didnt stretch properly before running, as a result my thighs and calves were probably very tight, which is a strong implementer of plantar fascitiis.

2. New runners. These ones i have (Saucony triumph 6), have an arch lock in the shoe. I reckon because the shoes were new and not broken in to kinda fit the shape of my foot, the arch lock might have put too much pressure on my arch causing an inflammation of the arch (or the plantar).

So to sum up, new runners and lack of proper stretching is what i think may have caused me the pain, which by the way i still have after a few days.

Obviously, i am not a physio or doctor by any means so this is not meant to be medical advise in any way. Your problems may be far different to mine.

I have not tried the laces 'trick' yet, so i cannot determine if this works.

Anyway best of luck with the running, and let me know how the injury works out for you.

Cheers

smcgui

CKWPORT wrote: »

Sorry for digging up an old post, but did you ever solve your high arches problem smcgui?

Hiya! Sorry for the delay in replying to this! Just to clarify a bit I don't actually have high arches but I have high insteps on both my feet (bit confusing I know). I went to a physio aboutit and she said that the pain was due to a number of things;

1. The shape of my foot, which she gave me temporary orthotics for
2. A weakness in some of the muscles in my foot which were caused by the shape of my foot
3. And finally weak glutes so she gave me exercises for these and my feet.

Now I think all this should sort my problem but unfortunately I had to stop running for almost a month now due to some operations I had (not related to any running injuries!) so I'm not 100% sure yet if it is fixed.

So I went for my first little run during the week and that went fine...apart from my total lack of fitness! I will update when I start doing some proper mileage!