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https://archive.ph/UoPOb https://archive.ph/UoPOb Not sure why this is getting front page attention but this is largely a fluff sales piece. > Dr. William Spi

https://archive.ph/UoPOb https://archive.ph/UoPOb Not sure why this is getting front page attention but this is largely a fluff sales piece. > Dr. William Spielfogel, a podiatrist in New York City and medical adviser to the Good Feet Store, has seen sprains and fractures in patients who don’t wear more traditionally appropriate hiking footwear. “If anatomically you have weak ankles, flat feet or a history of injuries, it would be better to add some arch support,” he said. Forget the arch support - if you are actually hiking and/or are not in the best shape or are in an area with Snakes and low brush you are much better off with the ANKLE support of actual hiking boots. And I'll add, since it is a sales piece, as I put <100 miles or less a year on my boots, I am on year 13 or 14 on my Salomon boots with zero evidence of stopping any time soon with them. Definitely worth the money.

julianlam 3y ago
+1, ever since I had a hairline fracture on my ankle it's been weaker and more prone to rolling. If I go hiking with sneakers I'm taking a chance that I'll roll it badly enough that I'll be in pain for at least the rest of the day. The ankle support in a proper hiking shoe will literally save me from that. Also the other weekend I ended up trapped in a torrential downpour for at least an hour. Only thing dry were my feet, so yeah. Merrell hiking boots rock.
livueta 3y ago
> ankle support I'm hesitant to get into the full holy war here, but at a minimum you should be aware that this is a hotly debated topic: https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/questions/13910/is-ankle-support-a-myth https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/questions/13910/is-ankle-... At any rate, I backpack and trail run high triple/low four digit miles per year in the pnw and am 1000% on the fuck boots train. At this point the vast majority of thru hikers advocate trail runners of some form, which isn't exactly new: Ray Jardine has been saying sneakers or barefoot since what, the 90s? Boots are nice for keeping crap off of your ankles in dense terrain, but the biomechanical ankle support thing is dubious.
- Fricken 3y ago
  Hey, the same Ray Jardine that changed rock climbing with his invention of the spring loaded camming device. What a guy, I had no idea his influence reached beyond the world of climbing.
- leetrout 3y ago
  I think biology has a lot to do with it. I pronate and seem to have weak ankles naturally and boots provide and immense amount of support on uneven terrain that I would not be able to get otherwise. I can see some level of athleticism overcoming this but I would expect a large portion of people to receive the same benefits (assuming they laced them all the way up, etc). For long distance and/or easy, clear trails I can see trail runners being great. I did all my hiking in college with sneakers of some sort and wanted boots quiet often in the mountains of east tn. But these were on clearly marked trails not necessarily clear trails. I did all my hiking in scouts with boots and my time in the fire service with boots (for obvious reasons) so perhaps I just developed a tolerance for boots.

julianlam 3y ago

+1, ever since I had a hairline fracture on my ankle it's been weaker and more prone to rolling. If I go hiking with sneakers I'm taking a chance that I'll roll it badly enough that I'll be in pain for at least the rest of the day. The ankle support in a proper hiking shoe will literally save me from that. Also the other weekend I ended up trapped in a torrential downpour for at least an hour. Only thing dry were my feet, so yeah. Merrell hiking boots rock.

livueta 3y ago

> ankle support I'm hesitant to get into the full holy war here, but at a minimum you should be aware that this is a hotly debated topic: https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/questions/13910/is-ankle-support-a-myth https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/questions/13910/is-ankle-... At any rate, I backpack and trail run high triple/low four digit miles per year in the pnw and am 1000% on the fuck boots train. At this point the vast majority of thru hikers advocate trail runners of some form, which isn't exactly new: Ray Jardine has been saying sneakers or barefoot since what, the 90s? Boots are nice for keeping crap off of your ankles in dense terrain, but the biomechanical ankle support thing is dubious.

Fricken 3y ago
Hey, the same Ray Jardine that changed rock climbing with his invention of the spring loaded camming device. What a guy, I had no idea his influence reached beyond the world of climbing.
leetrout 3y ago
I think biology has a lot to do with it. I pronate and seem to have weak ankles naturally and boots provide and immense amount of support on uneven terrain that I would not be able to get otherwise. I can see some level of athleticism overcoming this but I would expect a large portion of people to receive the same benefits (assuming they laced them all the way up, etc). For long distance and/or easy, clear trails I can see trail runners being great. I did all my hiking in college with sneakers of some sort and wanted boots quiet often in the mountains of east tn. But these were on clearly marked trails not necessarily clear trails. I did all my hiking in scouts with boots and my time in the fire service with boots (for obvious reasons) so perhaps I just developed a tolerance for boots.