Are Double Boots Harder on You?

[Garn]

Since I ruptured my achilles last week, I've had plenty of time to think about things and what happened. I'm a right foot forward skier and I snapped my left achilles. So in my case, my rear achilles. The question I have been asking myself is did having a double boot help cause my achilles to rupture? Does having a rear boot put more pressure on your lower ankle then a tow strap would? Would this have happened if I had been in a toe strap and not a rear boot? Or not?

 

Garn

[Klundell]

I was talking about this with a friend yesterday that is having rear foot ankle problems. He thinks if he had the toe strap or the Goode heal lifting system he would have saved his ankle. My guess is that your double boots contributed but there is no way to know.

[Steven_Haines]

I like double hard shells but wear them so that my rear heel can lift. I've cut out a section of the heel of the boot to allow for more freedom of movement so I can transfer weight to my front foot better coming into the turn. Similar idea as the springs on the Goode boots but with no moving parts to break. I think This probably would have helped out in your situation. Hope you get better soon!

[Taelan28]

I dont knowuch about injuries and ive been blessed to be injury free. It appears to me that thing that injur you are the parts you exercise slightly but have to potential to be use heavily in a split second. Your calfs and ankles arent something that gets directly use in skiing the way your bicepts would or your forearm or your delts.

 

My recommendation, which is biased because its what i do, is to do calf raisers. Its super easy to stretch your calfs on a leg press and for me its the least painful muscle to work out and stretch by far. Putting stress on your calf and achilles systematically will save it from unusual movements.

 

For me ive noticed that doing curls has saved me a lot of pain and unusual pulls and twists skiing. Just yesterday i missed the rope and held on. Had i not exercised id be in some pain but since i do the muscle tissue and tendons were able to stay in one piece.

[Than_Bogan]

Don't forget safety involves a lot of tradeoffs. I switched to a double boot FOR safety because I came real close to pretty much destroying my knee by having just my front foot in while riding very out of control. Thankfully I got lucky and nothing happened. But after that I've been all dual boot and feel considerably safer overall. But there are definitely some injuries more likely in dual boot, and the one you are describing does kinda sound like one.

[Hayden]

After rupturing my achilles in a pair of HO Aproaches I went to Goode Power Shells and took the springs off the back boot so the back heel can come up as far as it wants. Takes alot of pressure off the back ankle and achilles while still keeping me connected with both feet in a fall. Has been working great for four years.

[eleeski]

Achilles tendons get brittle as we age. The same fall we could handle as kids tears us now. I don't know what bindings would be safest overall but a locked in foot does seem to put the achilles at a bit more risk. I personally use double boots but the rear boot has its top clip removed and replaced with a rubber band. But I wish I could go back to a toe kicker.

 

Eric

[RichardDoane]

@garn - how much stretching/warm-up do you typically do before skiing ?

[bkreis]

I switched from powershells to a reflex front and 1/2 boot, back. It works perfectly, and allows for rear leg/ankle movement w heel support.

[Garn]

@eleeski - You sound like me doctor who kept using the phrase "At your age...". *LOL*

 

@richarddoane - I'm pretty good at warming up/stretching before I ski BUT not my achilles. There are certain stretches you can do to stretch it. You can be sure that from now on (starting next year when I can ski again) that I will be warming up/stretching my achilles.

[Steven_Haines]

I'm going to say it before Marcus does. Mobility WOD. I tried some of the lower back stuff after he'd mentioned it in another thread and it works pretty well! I don't know what's there for the Achilles, but it's worth a try.

[Ham_Wallace]

I skied for 52 years with a rear toe strap before switching to double boots. I never had a problem coming out of the rear boot. BUT, the shorter set ups sent me to a double boot. I think that it has caused some torque on my hips that the kick-in never did. Some ask why I don't just stay with the kick in and get up with my rear foot in? Well, I always used the bad-ass sand paper type non-skid and kicking in in the water is not an option.

[liquid d]

Hambone, open the stance on the boots. I had been having that prob and it seems to help so far...

[Garn]

@steven haines ..... Mobility WOD?

 

[Steven_Haines]

Garn,

Yup.... Mobility WOD. I'm not sure what it stands for but Marcus has mentioned it a few times on here. Just google it. I tried a few of the stretches and they work!

[Texas6]

WOD- workout of the day

[Steven_Haines]

Thanks Texas! I was wondering what WOD meant.

[jipster43]

My rear RS-1 is so loose it's like a super deluxe RTP.

 

[whiteturn]

After tearing my rear quadraceps tendon on a fall in Approaches, I switched to the EXO releasable. It took a while to get used to, with way more ankle movement than the approaches, but it is much easier to adjust your weight fore and aft and thus stay centred on the ski. I have only come out of the bindings a couple of times, but both times I am convinced that the release binding saved me from potential injury. This is the future of water ski bindings that the snow ski industry went through 35 years ago. Stiff lateral ease of control with full release.

[OTF]

I've experienced a lot less pain and ankle swelling(from a old injury) since I switched from a double boot to a HO RTP. My feeling is that I am able to lift my heel and keep the stress off the front of the ankle.

 

I ski for MS's entertainment

[ScarletArrow]

@StevenHaines Been using mobilitywod.com to rehab from my ankle surgery. Started with Day 1. Site is killer.

 

I switched to a RTP this year for safety.

[Killer]

I moved away from the RTP years ago because of safety; my rear foot would come out if I got out of position, nothing less safe than a 1 foot in 1 foot out fall IMO. Maybe my toe piece wasn't fit properly, but I never trusted them after a few OTFs I can pull out of with double boots.

 

With that said, my RS1s have been nothing short of perfect. I had the Rail bindings for a season which twisted my ankle a few times. I contribute the large size range of those boots and the fixed liner to the problem; my foot would half stay in in some falls, where the RS1 liners pop right out or not at all.

 

nothings completely safe

[Steven_Haines]

ScarletArrow, yeah that's some good stuff isn't it!