Having just got rid of a leg problem which plaueged me for four months I was annoyed on the last 2 days of my recent hike to discover that I have now developed a feet problem.
As I walked towards the end of the trail I started to notice that my feet were 'burning' and felt really uncomfortable under the ball of each foot, at the point where the bone is taking weight on my Sorbothane inserts. I've never experience this before, caused by getting older perhaps?
At first I thought I was developing blisters so I kept stopping, looking at my feet, wetting them, drying them, wiggling the skin around, changing my socks and so on, but I soon discounted this. Eventually, I realised it was the bone at the base of each foot, they felt 'bruised.' When I pressed my finger on each bone I knew, because of the increasing tenderness, that I have developed a new problem to overcome. I couldn't solve the problem there, I just had to walk on to the end, but now that I am home I'm thinking about what the answer might be?
My boots are well shaped now and fit me like a glove, so at the moment I'm not thinking that they are the culprits so for the moment will not be replacing them.
I met a farmer a few years ago who told me that due to his, from birth, poor feet bone layout he always bought inserts and then drilled 1cm holes throught them at the bone point to create a small gap between the surface of the insert and the surface of the boot sole. He was always on his feet and claimed that this solution worked for him. I might consider giving this a try?