Just completed the Camino Portugues in 11 days started at Porto. The weather was great between May 16 and 26, 2019.
In these 11 days, 380,016 steps were recorded. These steps included steps going to bathroom, grocery stores, etc. There were three occasions I almost tweaked my left ankle on the cobble stones.
Most of these steps were on boardwalk (10%?), dirt trails (10%?), cement/asphalt roads (60%?), squared-block of stones and cobble stones covered roads (10%?); up-rocky-hill and down-slippery hills (5%?), etc. Given these trail surfaces' condition and their impact on our feet, knees, hips, spines, etc. One has to prepare/train their feet/ankles/knees and even spine accordingly.
Due to aging or other physiological reasons, some of our feet's muscle mass is losing or has lost. As such, the bones in the feet do not have muscle/fat to provide cushioning and stability support.
In addition, some of us may have weak/rigid ankles and/or knees, as well as improper walking/hiking posture walking on these surfaces could cause foot pain too!
I think to help reduce the problem is to have strong cushioning shoes and do stretching of the ankles/knees to enhance their flexibility.
In these 11 days, 380,016 steps were recorded. These steps included steps going to bathroom, grocery stores, etc. There were three occasions I almost tweaked my left ankle on the cobble stones.
Most of these steps were on boardwalk (10%?), dirt trails (10%?), cement/asphalt roads (60%?), squared-block of stones and cobble stones covered roads (10%?); up-rocky-hill and down-slippery hills (5%?), etc. Given these trail surfaces' condition and their impact on our feet, knees, hips, spines, etc. One has to prepare/train their feet/ankles/knees and even spine accordingly.
Due to aging or other physiological reasons, some of our feet's muscle mass is losing or has lost. As such, the bones in the feet do not have muscle/fat to provide cushioning and stability support.
In addition, some of us may have weak/rigid ankles and/or knees, as well as improper walking/hiking posture walking on these surfaces could cause foot pain too!
I think to help reduce the problem is to have strong cushioning shoes and do stretching of the ankles/knees to enhance their flexibility.