Bushwalk Australia

I have finally found a reason to put up my first post.

I have a condition known as post tibia tendinitis which requires me to wear thumping big orthotics and wear shoes that are classified as “stability” shoes, or at least that is the term I keep hearing.

My podiatrist is able to recommend shoes for daily wear but when I ask about shoes that are suitable for hiking, bushwalking I’m met with a distant stare. So my question is does anybody know of bushwalking shoes/boots that would fit my needs? I also forgot to mention that I have a stupid size bunion on one foot that means I need a shoe with lots of room in the toe box.

So in desperation I thought I would see what comes up here. Any advice is appreciated.

Cheers
Ken

G'day Ken. Sorry I can't help you on the shoe front, but hopefully someone else has some ideas. Getting the ol' feet shod well for bushwalking is an increasing challenge for me too. Welcome to the forum, anyway. It's a great one to be part of.

Hi Ken. I'm not a podiatrist but I did find the following website useful when looking for hiking shoes for my arthritic feet. They do a bunch of tests on hiking and running shoes, including toe box room and stability.

https://runrepeat.com/

If you need a big toe box, Altra's come to mind, but I found they were also narrow in the heel area. Good luck with your searching.

Not a foot fitter but

My local advice? Get some cardboard, say a pizza container, and a pencil. After a nights sleep to let your feet relax and before you put on shoes draw the outline of both your feet. My left foot is fractionally wider than my right, check yours. Take the widest outline to the shops. Pull out the shoes insole and lay that over your foot outline. There is no argument about feeling with the outline. You do still need to try on the shoes as the outline only checks 2 dimensions, you need a volume check too.

I have standard size 8 UK feet as confirmed by a custom boot maker in the UK! If you do visit the UK and have a month or more there then you can get custom boots from them. First visit to get your size and they start building them. Once built (~2 or more weeks depending on the queue) you then go in for a fitting, if more adjustment is required you go back for a 2nd fitting 1 or 2 days later. very rare to get a 3rd fitting. This is for leather shoes/boots. They do non leather shoes/boots too and those don't require fitting ... but you need to know your accurate size. https://www.altberg.co.uk/boots

In this country I have to ask for size 43 wide...
I have found Salomon XA Pro 3D size 43 to be ok, they do a 'wide' version of them but they are no wider possibly more volume but no width increase.

Not certain what your feet require in a shoe? Some shoes are very flexible and you feel the earth/rocks under your feet, others can be very rigid ... I prefer something between the two possibly more towards feeling the ground.

Hope that helps

Hey Old Bloke, try posting again. Your last post isn't showing up in the thread - only listed in the active topics. It's a recurring problem.

Thanks Tortoise but can’t really remember what I said. I just wanted to thank those who responded. I might make contact with some companies overseas to see if they have any answers.