Heel lift for ski boots: yay or nay?

A snowHead

When I got my first fitted ski boot about 3 years ago, the boot fitter added a 4mm heel lift. It is glued inside the liner, under this high arch insole.
I kind of forgot about it, and now I'm wondering if I should remove it. I remember he added that because he said it would help me keep my weight forward when skiing. My stance is much better now compared to 3 years ago, but sure it's not perfect, I still find myself in the backseat from time to time.

Do you think I should remove it and get used to a more neutral stance? I can just remove it and see how it goes, for sure, but I probably won't be able to glue it again onde I remove it... unless I use some hot glue to do the job Laughing

Any thoughts?

A snowHead

I'd be sceptical about using boot adjustment like this to compensate for a poor stance, TBH. As you say it isn't going to stop you getting thrown backwards if you're not using your toe-shin muscles to hold yourself forward and may in fact simply hide the problem for much of the time.

The potential problem with removing it is that your position in the boot and the liner will then change slightly, so you may find tight or loose spots which previously were not there.

So probably better to address the stance issue first with some targeted lessons and/or exercises; the heel lift, while it may help at the moment, will not stop you improving. Once you get the feeling of holding the shins against the front of the boot, rather than pushing them there, you may find you no longer need the extra help.

Unless, of course, there's a physical issue that the boot fitter had identified. I recall at one point my wife had something similar in her boots, but these were advised by the surgeon who was performing a knee reconstruction of some sort. She doesn't use them any more, having had a full cartridge replacement some years ago now.

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It depends why it's there. If you have poor dorsiflexion and the lift is there to help your ankle joint then removing it will hinder your skiing. In general, with specific questions like this, I'd suggest consulting a bootfitter rather than the internet hive mind.

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What's your dorsiflexion like? Did they measure it on fitting? They should have also checked if you had any achilles tendon issues. Heel wedges are a boot fitters "fix all" trick but if it's working why worry, take em out and do a run or two (keep hold and put it back in if you don't like the "new" feel)

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Heel lift could be as much a personal physical issue as it could be equipment .

Do you do any ski specific exercise .

You should be asking yourself why you needed that lift in the first place. It is usually employed when there is poor ankle dorsiflexion. It is a much better idea to work on some targeted exercise to tackle that first.

A good test is to sit in a chair bare footed with your knees bent at 90 degrees and lower legs perpendicular to the floor. With good posture and a straight back, keep your heel planted on the ground and try and lift your toes as high as you can. Working on some exercises to improve how much dorsiflexion you can achieve will have a positive effect on your stance and skiing in general.

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@AndreSilva, thing is if you had a technique deficiency that meant you skied "in the backseat" it's not really the job of the boot fitter to correct this IMO. He should have said I am going to fit the boot assuming you are working on this and are going to get better. Because naturally if the boot is correcting it for you (as much as it can I guess) then you are not going to correct it. Hope that makes sense.

Now, if as mentioned above, you have some sort of physical limitation - again maybe correctable but let's assume not - then yes, maybe installing the heel lift is logical. But it doesn't sound like that was the case.

I think removing the heel lift will test your statement "My stance is much better now compared to 3 years ago". Further improvement of your stance may be required precisely because you don't have the lift. Either way, if there is no physical or boot fit reason for it and it was purely to overcome defective technique then yeah, get rid of it.

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Surely it's a simple case of trying with and without the heel lift and seeing which you prefer. If the heel lift does improve your stance and allow you greater ankle flex, then keep it. I put heel lifts in my sons boots at Christmas so he could see if it improved his ability to get forwards and it worked, so he's kept them. Since then an instructor told him to try putting pads between the back of his boot liner and shell, again to help him to get forwards. Again he feels like they have improved his skiing, so he's kept them in. A boot fitter has never mentioned either of these things to him, but at the end of the day they are more concerned about comfort and finding the right boot for the right shape foot.

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@doddsie, Ankle flex, delta angle and full geometry testing is 1st port of call in a ski boot. Fitting the boot after should be a doddle, if this is not a priority then you're in the wrong shop. Once this is correct we can then move to the back of the boots and work on the finishing of the turn.

@CH2O, just a question from me, do you do that stuff as standard or only if the client asks or mentions they have flex issues?

You know it makes sense.

It's the first thing we do, absolutely, measuring dorsiflexion is critical. Think of the flex of your ski boots as pushing down your brake pedal in your car, it requires a stoke with progressive resistance. Now, what's the first thing you do in a car, adjust the seat so you can comfortably apply pressure to the pedals, too close and your shin aches, to far and you can't finish the braking. Ski boots are the same, setting this angle, which is absolutely fundamental to their use is first job. All the rest of the nonsense; measuring, choosing the right model, range and shell work is childs-play. I say that because we have children in the shop all winter doing work experience that manage it within 5 days. #demystifybootfitting

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Adding forward lean, being more "aggressive" sic, is in 9/10 cases the last thing you should do, despite it appearing logical to most, we hear it 5 times a day, and the solution is almost always the opposite. That said the rearward support is supper important for finishing the turn, that is why your ski boots are set at an angle, however it is way too much for many, the testing phase of a ski boot is almost always carried out by professional skiers, which by definition have the right amount of ankle flex in the first place, those that don't suffer and is why they don't make it to being professional, it simply hurts too much, or they just can't get it right, unless they get it sorted early, it's relatively new to bootfitting, interms of it's order of priority. Too many entunsiastic fitters trying to master other less important factors before they start with rule number 1.

A snowHead

A snowHead

Quite honestly a quick glance at your body shape and type should be enough, after foot shape and type should help confirm it, and finally an isolated test of the achilles will work out what's needed. I spent years, possibly my first 15 not accounting for it, endlessly stretching the width of boots, selling stupid products to eleviate shinbang, padding liners to stop heel lift, to varying degrees (pun intended) of success. Once we started doing this our return customers reduced massively. It's the benefit of working in a resort and being able to see your purchases return daily, and of course being a lazy man, wanting a more successful solution. It worked and it's still working almost perfectly to this day. Happy to have worked it out.

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@CH2O, understood, thanks for clarifying

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No more shin bang, no more stretching endlessly the width of boots, no more heel lift, perfect balance to "tip and tail" the ski without the upperbody compensating. Simple, basic geometry prescribed to each individual every time! That said you need a boot range to accomodate the increased height of the instep, but as mentioned before, our 12-14 yr olds get it, they we're key to understanding it if i'm honest, they're learning geometry in maths at that age, and messing about with modern plastics is teenage lego at best.

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My experience with CEM 10 years ago, dorsiflexion was the 1st thing measured, I was only in the shop 2 minutes as mine was too bad and he sent me off to Dale boots.

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@doddsie, sounds like a cop out, he knows so much better than that, so easy to sort out, like super simples.

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@AndreSilva, I’ve bent a couple of boots a few times.

Help!!

Heel lift for ski boots: yay or nay?

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