diagnosis and AT boot punching (Scarpa Maestrale)

without seeing your foot difficult to tell exactly if it does need to be stretched, first thing i would look at is how much space thee is in the shell at the area of pain (and opposing areas)  also how much pronation is there going on with the foot as a good footbed will stabilize any excessive movement and possibly negate the need for the stretch 

as for stretching pebax, yes it can be done, without too  much difficulty so long as the fitter has done a few before and is not using your boots as the test one....., you need to get the boot very very hot very very SLOWLY and then leave the boot on the press until it is completely cold, so be prepared to leave the boot with the fitter for a while (i normally like to leave pebax boots overnight on the press to cool naturally)

whereabouts are you, we may be able to recommend someone

good luck getting sorted

please don't think pronation is a disease it is a natural motion that you need to be able to walk, run and ski, excessive pronation is something we need to control but not eliminate and over 80% or people excessively pronate. even the slightest bit of spread of your foot could cause the pressure

i would try something like an off the shelf footbed superfeet, or similar to get an idea of how it changes the position of your foot in the shell, Superfeet offer a 60 day money back guarantee so you have't got a lot to loose other than your sore feet! 

pronation is in basic terms a rolling inwards of the ankle causing the arch to collapse, part of that motion is the abduction (external rotation) of the foot, there is also a level of spread of the foot involved, some of the spread could just be the foot spreading under load, some of it can be attributed to pronation, but as said right at the beginning, impossible to say exactly without your feet.

the fact that the foot is hard up against the shell would indicate that you are most likely going to need some stretching of the shell, a decent footbed should reduce the spread of the foot though and this brings the foot back to close to its non weight bearing size, so with the right support the stretching required will be minimized

do you surf as well as ski? we often see surfers who's feet spread loads from years of barefoot on the beach and on a surf board, it can make fitting a boot to the foot "interesting" as the foot likes the freedom but the boot wants to constrain it

no worries, good luck getting sorted

Do Surfers feet adapt and become as you describe because of surfing? Or does this particular foot variation lend it'self to surfing, thus we see many that "surf"? discuss. xx

good question Steve, maybe lots of time spent barefoot on the beach allowing/causing the foot to naturally spread out more, wish i had a definitive answer

Surely a particularly "tight" "Immobile" foot wouldn't spread? It's true to say that as we're based in a very cosmopolitan/international town, we see many "Surfers" those with a "mobile" joints, perhaps a dash of "Pacific Island" DNA, they all have typically broad, colasped feet, clearly and evolutionary benefit, when standing on a hard, wet, waxed Plank for pleasure. I believe that a "ridgid" one could nod towards a "supinated" foot, would have minimal contact on such a toy and thus reduce the success one may need to encourage that person to pursue Surfing, beyond a couple of trys and smashes into the bottom of the deep blue sea sea sea.