razors-chazIts a little off the main topic but can you explain how and why they differ and a little as to why its more important in ski boots than in shoes as i've heard people saying "if i dont need them in my shoes then why should i need them in my ski boots?"
Yeah for sure. For shoes the actuall shape of the footbed will be identical to that of a ski boot footbed. What changes is the surport under the arches. It inportant to remember that the shape of the footbed comes from your foot. We just mimic the have of the base of the foot. We don't try to raise arches or change the shape. It's this reason that the footbed will be the same shape no matter what footwear it's intended for.
The he surport for a shoe will require the foot to be able to slightly supernate and pronate every step. In our normal step we start with the foot supernated and plant on the outside of the heel. As we step we pronate the foot to propel our selves off the big toe. ig the footbed is made so stiff that this moent can not occur then walking would be harder with the footbed.
In a ski boot the only way we want to move is the shin forward and back. You want to keep the foot completely Neutral as you don't want the foot pushing I the shell anu where. So in a ski boot we make the footbed in general very stiff to stop the foot moving. We sometimes even fill under the 1st met to even more lock the foot down.
So hopefully that gives you some ideas of the difference. Ski ones hold the foot still where as shoe ones surport the foot but still allow some movement so we can walk.
As as for people saying they don't need them in shoes all I can say is they should try it. People always complain about back or knee pain and they never equate the lack of surport to te foot as the possible cause. so often people will benifit a lot but won't realise the foot may be the problem. As for ski boots I really do believe you can not trully fit a ski boot unless you do it with a custom footbed.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
