No Support In Ski Boots

In the running community, lately, there has been a huge amount of talk of the problems which are caused by peoples running shoes.  The argument, which was spurred in the book "Born To Run" by Christopher McDougall, is that our footwear is creating all those problematic knee injuries and muscle imbalances.  A really important issue to address during the summer and fall cross training season, but what about applying the idea of non supportive footwear to ski mountaineering race boots?  This is a quite the taboo subject when it comes to ski boots, but we'll get back to that in a minute.

In his book, McDougall, found that since the invention of modern day running shoes we are seeing even more injuries than we've ever seen before.  And to add to this, there is no research that proves that the shoes we are running in currently, are even helping us.  The point to take from this is that when we are taking a stride and landing, the pronation control, angulation, cushioning, and corrective design, of the shoe is causing us to land in an unnatural position.  So why not run in a non-supportive, simplistic shoe, such as a running sandle or vibram style sock (even barefoot)?


He goes on to explain that it is in our history to be runners, and that the human body is designed for endurance.  As a matter of fact we are the only animal that is designed for endurance.  This point has been proved by centuries of ultra-running efforts of 50 miles and more, multiple days, and more with absolutely no supportive footwear.  The basic argument is that our anscesors and these various tribes are landing naturally while running, the way their bodies were intended to land, building muscle and sport-specific skill to protect their bodies from injury (for more detail read the book).

Now lets bring this argument to ski mountaineering.  Why should we have footbeds, and orthotics, designed to correct our stance?  With downhill ski racing a supportive and corrective stance is important. Footbeds and orthotics provide that.  It does add additional support and snugness to the boot, allowing the racer to maximize power transfer, edge better, and ski faster.  Combined with a tight/snug fit, this is does limit certain movements in the foot, such as plantar and dorsiflexion, but improves lateral precision and power.  These limitations are incredibly bad for ski mountaineering, which requires the most range of motion from the foot as possible. (Photo Right:  Jay Neil dropping in full downhill control, Chief Pascal, BC)

During a stride, for those of us who are pronated (and which most footbeds, orthotics, and shoes are trying to align/correct), the foot goes through a few stages of motion to pronate.  Pronation is when the arch of the foot flattens, and heel bone angles inward, as the foot first strikes the ground, this creates a shock absorbing effect when the heel hits the ground, and also assists in balance.  This is essentially the suspension or shock absorption for our body.  Now keeping this in mind, by correcting or re-aligning the foot, we are essential not allowing our bodies to do what needs to be done to cushion each step.  As a matter of fact, some studies have shown that people who wear cushioned running shoes actually experience a higher force of impact than those who wear nearly nothing at all.

(Photo Above:  James Minifie on the WC 2010 Relay Course, perfect downhill for knee injuries, ruts, depressions, all at high speeds with tiny little skis on.)

So while ski mountaineering, which is still a very low impact sport, if the foot cannot move properly the way it was designed to move, during training we will be opening our knees and joints up to a higher chance of overuse injury.  Not only injury, but when skiing off cliffs and landing, jumping, or skiing higher impact terrain, our bodies are less able to absorb this impact as efficiently while using corrective or pronation controlling footwear.  Adding to these problems, if our feet are being "corrected" into different angles and positions, we are less able to angle our skis in awkward or steep offcamber skin tracks, make hard rock/mountaineering movements while climbing, and get as much power and efficiency in our glide phase while skinning on the flats.
All of this put together equals minutes over even a short course, and limits range of motion while in the backcountry, exposing yourself by limiting your natural abilities.  Having a flat or natural platform to stand on, eliminates all these problems, as the foot can freely adjust inside the boot, and get the most natural bone/muscular motion it needs (even though the boot is still snug).  (Photo Below Right:  Jeff Van Driel with a full range of motion in his ski boot, climbing on the Misty Icefield.)

This does help us in the field to realize the potential problems.  While training, or even everyday life we can train our bodies to be stronger using this theory as well.  By wearing a slipper, vibram slipper, or going barefoot we can build the muscles in our knees just by walking around normally.  These muscles will translate into running, and you can eventually begin running in this footwear once your body has begun to adapt, which all protects the knee in the long run during hard training in the race season and cross training in the off season.  All you are doing is allowing your body to function the way it should, and not the way a brand of footbeds believes you should.  This allows your body to develop muscle to protect from injury, give you more power/speed, and spending less chance of being forced to take time off from a beaten up body.

Note:  This article is based on various different training and physiological theories.  Many people are having a great deal of success with it, but be careful starting out, its not for everyone, and ease into it.