Modify shoes to reduce heel rand tension?

i might give this a try on my too-aggressively sized scarpa maestro mids. after a few weeks of breaking them in, a full session in the gym with them had my heels pretty raw. maybe if i can find a shoe tree whatever that is, i'll give mike's suggestion a try first. i'll be sure to report back.

Greg,
After retiring a pair of Anasazi VCS due to the achilles pain, I decided to try it out. It was a game changer, I can actually wear these for a really long time now. I imagine it would be similar on the pinks. I did the same cuts on the other side as well. Good luck!

Jake Risch wrote: Greg,
After retiring a pair of Anasazi VCS due to the achilles pain, I decided to try it out. It was a game changer, I can actually wear these for a really long time now. I imagine it would be similar on the pinks. I did the same cuts on the other side as well. Good luck!

I'll do it tonight, thanks Jake

It worked! thanks guys it's been months since I've been able to wear climbing shoes or most shoes for that matter

The Square cut-out over the bone spur is a game changer!

In case you're talking about bone "spurs" on your heel or Haglund's I would definitely recommend the mod shown at the bottom of p1 on this thread: mountainproject.com/forum/t…

I grind the rubber off this region of all my climbing shoes and it does wonders!

Nate Tastic wrote: 30 minutes? An hour? 12hours!?

I got 5 minutes out of a pair of Mocs before my toes were bleeding blood. I know, real blood!

I've since sized up or found better fits for my foot. Either way, my feet had to get broken in by a lot. Some of those older shoes that made me bleed I can now wear.

People say you can wear them through the pain until they break in. Personally I think they're nuts but, it's worked for me in the past too. I don't know, maybe they are on to something. 

I used to wear through the pain but got calcification so be careful folks

First post, just to contribute that I also did this to my Katanas after trying a lot of shoes in the store, all of them that had a good fit had a super high heel tension, unbearable, probably tendon damaging. Tried higher sizes, still same tension. So I took the ones that fit the best (Katana) and did the modification too, and it was totally worth it. I wouldn't be able to break them in without it. Maybe this is a sign that heel fit is also something that should vary more between models to accommodate different feet? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

EDIT: Sorry to resurrect the topic, just wanted to contribute :)

tot dits wrote: First post, just to contribute that I also did this to my Katanas after trying a lot of shoes in the store, all of them that had a good fit had a super high heel tension, unbearable, probably tendon damaging. Tried higher sizes, still same tension. So I took the ones that fit the best (Katana) and did the modification too, and it was totally worth it. I wouldn't be able to break them in without it. Maybe this is a sign that heel fit is also something that should vary more between models to accommodate different feet? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

EDIT: Sorry to resurrect the topic, just wanted to contribute :)

I just brought some of these and the heel pain is insane.

Would you recommend both cuts, or would just the upper part of the heel rand work?

When I got my Katanas, I tried on a bunch of sizes. I found sizing down reduced the heel pain. If your foot completely fills out the shoe, there is actually less pressure bearing down on the achilles because its tight higher up, pushing your foot forward, where as a loose or baggy heel that rand is bearing down right on the base of the heel. After a  few climbing sessions, zero heel pain. My guess is the rand breaks in and loosens a bit as well. Its a great shoe but personally I would worry about reducing its amazing edging power by cutting the rand like that. Id probably find a different shoe. 

Zac Bruce wrote:

I just brought some of these and the heel pain is insane.

Would you recommend both cuts, or would just the upper part of the heel rand work?

I would recommend that anyone having a problem try the shoe tree trick I mentioned (pg 1 of this thread) before going irrevocable with the razor blade.

rocknice2wrote: Yup I've got Haglunds deformity. It took me quite lot of experimenting to find a solution. Tried everything from padding with silicone, didn't really work well. Buying sloppy beginner shoes, didn't hurt but didn't climb well. The best solution was to grind away the part that was pressing against the lump.   mountainproject.com/v/achil… So after this mod the slingshot effect was lessened somewhat but the pressure on the lump was reduced dramatically. Prior I was only able to wear the shoes for a single pitch max. Afterwards I was able to wear them all day long.

Hi, sorry I know this post is ages ago but I am starting to feel pain in my Haglund's deformity on my R heel. I use the Scarpa Drago, didn't used to cause me problems till recently. 

How did you make this hole in your shoe? What tools did you use? 

Eu-Nise Yeowrote:

Hi, sorry I know this post is ages ago but I am starting to feel pain in my Haglund's deformity on my R heel. I use the Scarpa Drago, didn't used to cause me problems till recently. 

How did you make this hole in your shoe? What tools did you use? 

Link to post

Basically I used a pneumatic die grinder

Try a ring and ball stretcher!!!  It will help with those little hotspots. You can also just sand the rubber to make it thinner rather than completely cutting it, I've used a belt sander to do this but a dremel could even be used with some patience.

Scarpa and LaSportiva have very pronounced heel cups on most of their shoes.  Have you tried any Evolves out yet?  I have a friend who has no heel cup on his feet and tried cutting the back of his LaSportivas with mixed luck but he swears by his evolves now.

Having a pair that are shaped like your foot out of the box are going to be better than trying to work with a shoe that just doesn't fit you right.

I don't have a pneumatic doe grinder or a ball and ring stretcher but I have a blade and am very tempted to cut the rand like how others and Karla Hopp has done as the pain on my haglund's deformity is unbearable   

Eu-Nise Yeowrote:

I don't have a pneumatic doe grinder or a ball and ring stretcher but I have a blade and am very tempted to cut the rand like how others and Karla Hopp has done as the pain on my haglund's deformity is unbearable   

Just slicing the rand is enough relief for some people, but I've had to completely remove the rand on several sets of TC pros and others as well. A heat gun and a pair of plyers does resonably well if thats all you can get your hands on.

Jason Eberhardwrote:

Scarpa and LaSportiva have very pronounced heel cups on most of their shoes.  Have you tried any Evolves out yet?  I have a friend who has no heel cup on his feet and tried cutting the back of his LaSportivas with mixed luck but he swears by his evolves now.

Having a pair that are shaped like your foot out of the box are going to be better than trying to work with a shoe that just doesn't fit you right.

Thanks for that! Any specific Evolvs shoes that you would recommend? :)

I also have Katanas that I have been using for over a year with no real problems (a little bit of heel pain but not much). Then suddenly they became excruciating on both heels! Yikes! Maybe from doing some slab climbing?? But after that I could barely put them on without intense heel pain (yes, Haglunds).
I borrowed a rotary grinder tool (Dremel https://www.dremel.com/us/en/p/3000-f013300000) and sanded off the rubber like @rocknice2 (thank you for the idea!!!!), but a lot more of it (see photo). Not sure that I needed to do it quite that much but they are comfortable now and I haven't been able to discern much difference in precision (but have only used them once since). So thankful for these posts and to hear what others have tried!!!