When I'm standing up straight on flat ground, either barefooted or in ski boots, in a stance that feels neutral and lets me extend my knees forward, my feet are pointing outward. Also, when I sit down with parallel thighs and extend my knee straight forward, my foot points outward. Basically, my ankle hinges in a plane that points outward relative to the plane in which my knee hinges.
The effect on my skiing is that, in order to point my skis straight, I have to rotate my femurs slightly inward at the hip joint. This causes either an A-frame or a really uncomfortable twisting sensation in my knees, depending on how much I actively try to push my knees away from each other. Either way, no matter how far forward I shift my weight, I find it extremely hard to make a clean transition into the next turn by unweighting the old outside ski and moving my legs sideways under my body while keeping my skis parallel. I think it's preventing me from effectively skiing powder or carving. This deformity also explains why I have so much difficulty squatting or deadlifting.
Barefooted, I can supinate my foot in order to get it to point in the direction of my knee. In fact, when I first realized I'm duck-footed, and I was trying to learn how to walk with feet pointed forward, I ended up putting all of my weight on the outsides of my feet, with the balls of my feet never touching the ground.
Which makes me wonder: what if my ski boot had a custom footbed that held my foot in an artificially supinated position, with equal support under the ball and the outside of the foot while supinated? Is it possible or even advisable to do that? My three main doubts are:
(1) if that's even necessary (or if I could strengthen some muscle to rotate my tibia medially)
(2) if that would cause foot pain because of awkward pressure points or because the shell isn't designed to fit a supinated foot (I'd hate to ruin the delightfully comfy-yet-snug fit of my current boots, in which I've never felt any foot pain or discomfort even after several full days of skiing in a row)
(3) if that would make my performance even worse by making me stand on an outwardly tilted platform when my feet want to stand on a flat platform
The effect on my skiing is that, in order to point my skis straight, I have to rotate my femurs slightly inward at the hip joint. This causes either an A-frame or a really uncomfortable twisting sensation in my knees, depending on how much I actively try to push my knees away from each other. Either way, no matter how far forward I shift my weight, I find it extremely hard to make a clean transition into the next turn by unweighting the old outside ski and moving my legs sideways under my body while keeping my skis parallel. I think it's preventing me from effectively skiing powder or carving. This deformity also explains why I have so much difficulty squatting or deadlifting.
Barefooted, I can supinate my foot in order to get it to point in the direction of my knee. In fact, when I first realized I'm duck-footed, and I was trying to learn how to walk with feet pointed forward, I ended up putting all of my weight on the outsides of my feet, with the balls of my feet never touching the ground.
Which makes me wonder: what if my ski boot had a custom footbed that held my foot in an artificially supinated position, with equal support under the ball and the outside of the foot while supinated? Is it possible or even advisable to do that? My three main doubts are:
(1) if that's even necessary (or if I could strengthen some muscle to rotate my tibia medially)
(2) if that would cause foot pain because of awkward pressure points or because the shell isn't designed to fit a supinated foot (I'd hate to ruin the delightfully comfy-yet-snug fit of my current boots, in which I've never felt any foot pain or discomfort even after several full days of skiing in a row)
(3) if that would make my performance even worse by making me stand on an outwardly tilted platform when my feet want to stand on a flat platform
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