Stooch

I've been mentioning in other threads here, but I have had foot problems off and on, mostly outside of hockey (in my case, walking can be painful after about 30 mins of walking, but skating is generally pain free). After suffering off and on for a while, and then going over a year with pretty serious pain in my Achilles, I went to the doctor. They sent me for x-rays and ultrasound for my right foot (which was worse.. I should have gotten the left checked too though) and they said I have calcification in my foot, a bone spur, and a tear in my Achilles (from rubbing on the spur). They tried a steroid injection at first. That reduced pain temporarily, but didn't fix anything, per se. My doctor had suggested ESWT (Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy). I think I've gone about 6 times now. The pain throughout my foot has improved, especially in my left (they are doing both). My right heel still gets pain in it, and I'm thinking the tear is still there though. I wish I took pictures of my bone spur from before, but I think it has gotten smaller. I'm not really sure what the diff is between Haglund's deformity and a bone spur is.. perhaps location on the heel? But I wonder if ESWT works for that as well. I can say it hurts like hell. My doctor told me the steroid injection was painful and I am pretty sure he made it sound like ESWT was a walk in the park, but it was the complete opposite for me. When they hit my Achilles area with that machine.. hoo boy. I feel like this is working, and I've ordered some Bunga pads to try and prevent bringing the problem back again. I'll update here somewhere with how the ESWT goes. Hopefully it eventually fixes my issue.

Hmm, interesting.. I actually missed that you had heel pain as well.. just saw some other posts that eliminated plantar fasciitis being the issue. I personally do stretches of my achilles now. It's new for me though.. only about a week and a half, but I feel it is helping to strengthen the tendon. I get foot pain all over my feet too, not just in the heel. It still would be nice to have an xray and ultrasound in your case, but I'm no doctor. It just helped confirm the issue for me. Skate lace tightness definitely plays a factor and requires some experimenting too to find the right tightness for best comfort.

Sorry to necro this thread. I see it's been necroed a few times already, so I'm not sure if this forum frowns on that or not.. but I wouldn't have noticed this forum if not for this thread, as I was trying to figure out if my foot pain was possibly caused by my skates. Anyways, I just ordered a pair of these thanks to the recommendations here. I have calcification in both feet, heel spurs and a tear in my Achilles Tendon (right for sure, but never had the left tested.. think its OK). I have been getting Electro Shockwave therapy to fix some of the problems. That's gone quite well. My bone spurs seem reduced, and I can definitely tell the calcification throughout my foot is greatly reduced in both feet.. nearly gone in my left foot. Lots of work left to do on my Achilles, however, and I'm pretty happy that I googled this thread. I'm hopeful these heel pads will slow down or stop the damage I'm doing to my Achilles. I am not sure if it's my skates causing this, but I intend to wear these in shoes, even (that should be OK, right?). And since it was asked here, where we can get these in Canada.. I Googled that today, and ended up ordering from hockeyvancouver.ca . I'm not at all affiliated with this site. That was just the place I found that was quick shipping to me in Edmonton. I probably should have checked around town here too. But that's definitely one place. They have them on Amazon too, but at a much inflated price, for some reason.

A few bits of advice here, but let me give a little boring but useful background here first... I Googled this site yesterday, because I was wondering if the bone spurs I had (by achilles) were potentially a skate thing. That's how I found this forum. I know your problem is different, but I've gone through some steps now to get myself on the way to recovery, and I'd like to share some tips to help you, hopefully. Firstly, go see a doctor. I went and saw my doctor after having problems on and off with my feet for like forever. I foolishly put this off. I have Plantar Fasciitis (again, we all know that isn't your issue though), and I dealt with the pain every day for about a year straight before I decided to go in to the doctor (the problem has been off and on for way longer though, but I had a long bout with P.F. this year). The doctor looked at my foot and saw the spur. I didn't realize that's what it was. He also gave me x-rays as well as an ultrasound and that confirmed some things... the heel spur, and I had a lot of calcification all throughout my foot (something that may be a problem for you!) and that I had a tear in my achilles tendon (thank you, bone spur). So the first thing they tried was a steroid injection (Which probably should have been last or 2nd last, but I digress). It was to try and heal the tendon. It didn't help, although it relieved pain temporarily. Next thing I've done is Electro Shockwave Therapy, and that has been really good at clearing things up. My left foot seems to feel normal again. Might right foot is still being worked on though. The tendon damage will take time to heel. Anyways, I thought I'd Google about bone spurs and hockey skates to see if there was a correlation, and I found this forum, and learned there can be. I hadn't really thought it was my skates though, because until yesterday, my feet feel like they're in a cloud when skating. I'm still not sure it's my skates. I've had some bad shoes, so it might be caused by that instead, or something else. Some other tips, consider your skates (as you have)... are they sized right, or too big or too small? Either can be a real problem. I noticed you said you have an orthotic insert. Have you had this a long time? I got one years ago for my shoes, and I wasn't explained at the time that I need to slowly adjust to them.. 30 mins here and there, and build up to wearing them full time. I ended up throwing them out because my feet were in SERIOUS pain, especially in the arch area, while wearing them. A physiotherapist later told me I needed to adjust to them first. Also, I noticed you had Superfeet insoles + bauer insole + orthotic insoles.This may or may not be obvious, but I'll say it anyways.. make sure you only have one insole in there at a time, of course. I see you have Superfeet insoles already. I will say that they aren't all the same, so it's possible you need a different type. Mine are high in the heel. The Pro skate shop in my area recommended them, and I thought at first it's just "snake oil", but I bought them anyways, and I would never wear skates without them now. Consider a different type, perhaps. One last thing, I have had a couple pairs of skates in the first year. The first pair were some sort of Easton skate (no longer made). They were an expensive skate. Had them baked.. felt great in store. Not long after, I realized they were pretty damn uncomfortable skates. I had them punched out in areas where the pain was, but it never helped. I then eventually bought Reebok 9ks (also no longer made) and had those baked and it was NIGHT and day difference. It's like I'm wearing shoes when I skate. No pain at all (except yesterday, for some reason, but I just had shockwave therapy the day before that, so that could be why). I feel like those ones fit a lot better. I have wide feet, so that's a real issue for me, personally. So, sorry to ramble, but I hope something in there helps. TLDR version: - See a doctor and get them to refer for x-ray/ultrasound to understand if you have a foot problem or if it's just the wrong skates. - Consider different insoles again. Maybe your doctor or a podiatrist can recommend what to do, based on your foot type (high arch, flat foot, etc.) - Last resort, perhaps (due to expense), look at buying different skates. Understand your foot first, and understand the boot. Ex: do you have wide feet? Some brands are very narrow. I hope something in there helps, but I can really recommend a doctor visit. If I didn't do that, I wouldn't have known all the damage that was in my foot, personally. I thought it was going to go away, so I waited, and waited, and it just wasn't.