Skates and foot pain

pompeiii · October 23, 2012, 03:57:01 PM

I've been skating since February (am very much a beginner) and ended up buying my first pair of skates in March after dealing with terrible rental skates. I went to my rink's pro shop and ended up with the Riedell 133 TS. I've been mostly happy with them since.

However, a couple months ago I noticed I was having issues falling onto my inside edge (this issue likely existed all along but I didn't know enough to notice), in particular on my left foot. My coach and the pro shop guy checked the blades and everything looked straight so it was recommended that I purchase the yellow superfeet insoles for pronation. The insoles definitely help and I'm no longer falling on the inside edge. Unfortunately, since buying the insoles (I've probably only skated for 6 hours so far with them), I'm now dealing with horrible foot pain (to the point where I don't want to skate because of the pain). When the boots are on, I feel like I'm standing on cement. That said, I can deal with that. The problem is, the longer I wear the skates, the more my feet hurt. My left foot hurts a lot more than my right foot (I could probably deal with my right foot, but not the left) and the pain is in the arch and outside of my foot. At this point, it hurts to walk for a little while when I first get off the ice.

At this point, I'm assuming with the superfeet, the skates just don't fit? Perhaps they are too narrow, at least with the insoles? I'm not exactly sure, what, if any, options I have beyond buying new skates. I can put back in my old insoles and deal with falling in on the inside edge? I can revisit the pro shop and see what they have to say (unfortunately, I sort of got the feeling that my issues as a beginner skater were considered... insignificant?)? I can explore buying new skates, but it's probably NOT going to be in the cards right away--too many other expenses on the table right now.

Anyway, any ideas or suggestions?

hopskipjump · October 23, 2012, 04:07:04 PM

Can they adjust the blade slightly and remove the superfeet?
I would remove the superfeet and double check the mounting: from Kinzie's Closet:

* Find a clean patch of ice, gather some speed and glide on two feet in a
straight line keeping your body upright with your feet directly under your
hips. Try this several times, both backwards and forwards.

* Go back and look at the the traces. If the blades are set correctly you
should get a set of double lines for each foot. If one of the lines is
consistently thicker than its mate (or if there is only one line), it means
that your weight on that blade falls predominantly on the edge tracing that
line and the blade is unbalanced.

* If you are leaning mainly on the inside edge, have the blade shifted to the
inside and vice-versa. You probably only need a small shift so try moving
it by 1or 2mm and then repeat the test.

pompeiii · October 23, 2012, 04:18:00 PM

Quote from: hopskipjump on October 23, 2012, 04:07:04 PM
Can they adjust the blade slightly and remove the superfeet?
I would remove the superfeet and double check the mounting: from Kinzie's Closet:

* Find a clean patch of ice, gather some speed and glide on two feet in a
straight line keeping your body upright with your feet directly under your
hips. Try this several times, both backwards and forwards.

* Go back and look at the the traces. If the blades are set correctly you
should get a set of double lines for each foot. If one of the lines is
consistently thicker than its mate (or if there is only one line), it means
that your weight on that blade falls predominantly on the edge tracing that
line and the blade is unbalanced.

* If you are leaning mainly on the inside edge, have the blade shifted to the
inside and vice-versa. You probably only need a small shift so try moving
it by 1or 2mm and then repeat the test.

The problem with that is that they are PVC soles and no one really wants to adjust the blade. That's what my coach suggested initially though the pro shop didn't necessarily want to with the soles.

hopskipjump · October 23, 2012, 04:49:33 PM

Ah! If you do the skating tests without the insoles do you have any of those issues?

sarahspins · October 23, 2012, 04:55:37 PM

It could be a combination of things.. width being one of those (you can measure your feet and check against a size chart online for both width and length, to see if your skates match up to the size you measure), but you may just need more arch support in your boot than the superfeet provide, or you may need it in a different place than where the superfeet put it. I use extra arch supports in my skates, in addition to heel wedges under my insoles to correct for pronation, the ones I use are self-adhesive so I can stick them where I need them, and it's obvious if they're not quite in the right place, and I can just move them. Proper foot support can go a long way in "fixing" what are often perceived as blade alignment issues, but are really foot support issues.

How you are tying your skates could be a factor as well - if you are lacing too tightly over your instep (area above your arch) that will also contribute to pain, even if everything else is fine... the fact that your feet hurt worse when taking off your skates says maybe they're too tight.

pompeiii · October 23, 2012, 06:19:31 PM

Quote from: sarahspins on October 23, 2012, 04:55:37 PM
It could be a combination of things.. width being one of those (you can measure your feet and check against a size chart online for both width and length, to see if your skates match up to the size you measure), but you may just need more arch support in your boot than the superfeet provide, or you may need it in a different place than where the superfeet put it. I use extra arch supports in my skates, in addition to heel wedges under my insoles to correct for pronation, the ones I use are self-adhesive so I can stick them where I need them, and it's obvious if they're not quite in the right place, and I can just move them. Proper foot support can go a long way in "fixing" what are often perceived as blade alignment issues, but are really foot support issues.

How you are tying your skates could be a factor as well - if you are lacing too tightly over your instep (area above your arch) that will also contribute to pain, even if everything else is fine... the fact that your feet hurt worse when taking off your skates says maybe they're too tight.

I'll play around with different/more arch support as well as measure my feet.

As for my feet hurting after I take off the skates, the hurt a lot after the skates are off and it hurts to walk, but the pain is nothing compared to when the skates are on, if that makes sense?

As for no insoles, I haven't actually tried that yet. I can though.

AgnesNitt · October 23, 2012, 09:04:02 PM

Tell us about the pain. Where exactly does it hurt? If it hurts 'all over', how did it start?

sampaguita · October 24, 2012, 11:23:22 AM

If you are falling on an inside edge, it may be that your skates are too long/wide for you. This may be the reason why your coach recommended Superfeet.

Unfortunately, Superfeet doesn't work for all people, so you may have to create your own custom orthotics. It's not expensive, and I've tried it myself (thanks AgnesNitt!). What I did was to get cheap, thin insoles (I think I bought 2-3 pairs). Since you said you have some pain in the arch, try to cut some insoles in the shape of arch supports and see if it solves your problem. You may have to use more than one layer.

The nice thing about DIY insoles is that you can control the thickness of your custom insole: in my case, on my right foot, I have two layers: one full insole, and another that is only covers the inner part of my foot, going from the ball to the heel. This corrected the pronation due to incorrect sizing.

I'll be happy to help you in making DIY insoles. PM me if you need more details.

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Skates and foot pain