SHIN BANG
What is the favorite pain of skiers? SHIN BANG! Everybody loves it. Do you? I am quite sure that you don’t. Here we take a look at causes shin bangs and how to prevent them from happening.
DO make sure that:
-Your boot is the right length. Extra space will cause your foot to slide back and forward.
-Your boot is the right volume. Having the right security at the instep will ensure your held back.
-Your cuff matches your lower leg. If the cuff is constantly in contact when flexing with the lower leg you will have no shin bang.
Since we dealt with the size, we move on to:
Footbeds
The foundation of your whole body and the key to comfort. Ther purpose is to provide you a good arch support and prevent sliding of your foot. The footbeds should have a deep enough heel cup so it will lock you in place and get your foot into a neutral position. Make sure you give your feet the love they deserve, support with premium footbeds.
Oversized Cuffs
Having extra volume in the cuff is a huge cause for shin bang. Reducing the volume is an option if you want to prevent any further shin bang. Remedies are:
Spoilers- inserting a spoiler in the back of your lower leg will give you the contact and better forward lean to prevent shin bang
Tongue shim – by putting a shim to the tongue of your liner, you will reduce the volume in the front of the cuff.
Power straps- The sole purpose of the power straps is to keep your boot and your leg locked in. You should always tie it up properly so the power strap can do its job.
Eliminator tongue- This is a great solution if you have extra skinny legs
Put on your socks carefully, or you will be ripping at them hairs!
The liner
Having a soft liner like an intuition will ensure you that the shin impacts will be absorbed by the liner. The softness won’t prevent the shin bang by itself, but it sure helps!
Another thing you should look out for is the excessive cupping that a lot of liners have. You can alter this cupping by heating up the plastic ,allowing you to remold it and flatten it out.
Lastly, you can soften the tongue of the liner and make it more flexible with a technique called fluting the tongues. It involves making a series of channels into the plastic tongue. This technique is for the extreme cases only. Be sure that the boot fits correctly. The channels should be approx 1.5mm deep. Be very careful while conducting this process to make a neat job of it. But the result can be a game changer for whoever needs it done!
And remember, a shin spared today, is a healthy shin tomorrow.