Foot pain when skating

[stormrunners 0]

Im a new player to ice hockey but have played ball hockey and all kinds of other types of hockey off the ice ice but i want to get into ice hockey.  Ive tried skating for a few months now and can only stay on the ice for about 10 min before i have to be helped off the ice because i am in to much pain.  I got a pair of ccm 4052 tacks and they are fitted and baked.  I went to a podiatrists and he told me the tendons in my ankles are hypermobile so when I'm on skates they are doing to much work which is why the pain comes so quickly.  Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated.

[marka 518]

Howdy,

I'm no pro skate fitter but...

Where is the pain?  Does something specific seem to cause it?  If you just wear your skates around the house for 30 minutes, do you have the same pain?

Sorry to hear you're having the pain.  It sucks.  I started skating around 2 years ago and I went through 3 pairs of skates, getting a little better each time, before I ended up in some where my feet were comfortable. 

Mark

[stormrunners 0]

Pain is the whole bottom of the foot and yes whenever i have the skates on and yes i can get if i stand up in the skates no matter what. i got custom insoles from the podiatrist but I've been scared to try it because it has been a long and painful process so far.

[IPv6Freely 2082]

How tight are you lacing them? Try the laces a bit looser. Also definitely try those insoles. 

i hate to say it but it's very possible the skates just aren't for you. I went through about 5 pairs in two years before I found something that didn't hurt. 

[RickDC 24]

I agree with IPv6... it took me a while to find skates that worked.. then I got some CCM tacks and had excrutiating pain around the middle of my foot as well. Just took them back for a refund.

What really worked for me was Mako's.. I've messed around with footbeds, SuperFeet Yellows, Bauer speed plates, CCM, you name it. But the stock footbeds work great (as the boot is already angled pretty aggressively).

As Easton went under, it will be harder and harder to find them - I managed to pickup 3 pairs of Mako 2's for 150 each. That will do me for a very long time. There's a few threads here on the Mako's and I would really recommend them as they're EXTREMELY mouldable and so works with most foot types

[IPv6Freely 2082]

24 minutes ago, RickDC said:

I agree with IPv6... it took me a while to find skates that worked.. then I got some CCM tacks and had excrutiating pain around the middle of my foot as well. Just took them back for a refund.

What really worked for me was Mako's.. I've messed around with footbeds, SuperFeet Yellows, Bauer speed plates, CCM, you name it. But the stock footbeds work great (as the boot is already angled pretty aggressively).

As Easton went under, it will be harder and harder to find them - I managed to pickup 3 pairs of Mako 2's for 150 each. That will do me for a very long time. There's a few threads here on the Mako's and I would really recommend them as they're EXTREMELY mouldable and so works with most foot types

Makos are where my foot pain ended also.

[marka 518]

Howdy,

Also in Makos.

But a whole TON of people aren't and they don't seem to be having trouble with foot pain.  If I were you, I'd start by making sure my skates weren't tied too tight over the arch area.  If you haven't already, just barely snug up the skates all the way along the arch / "flat" part, and then tighten them more on the last two or three eyelets.  I really like skate lace locks to do this, but you can also do it with waxed laces and/or an over to under lacing pattern instead of the traditional "shoe" lacing pattern.

And I really mean "just barely snug"...  The laces in the flat / arch area of your foot should be able to be easily shifted around with your finger after your skates are tied.

 

Work on getting them comfortable on your feet just walking around at home first.  When I was first on the ice (which wasn't all that long ago, as I said, so take all these comments with a LARGE grain of salt), I'm pretty sure some of my foot pain was due to me clenching up my feet in an attempt to prevent falling / dying / whatever as I was trying something new.  :-)  You want to try and separate those two phenomena, as fixing the 2nd one has nothing to do with your skates and everything to do with just getting better at skating.  :-)

Good luck!

Mark

[Cosmic 178]

I had some foot discomfort too until I got into Makos.

[Fat Buzz 70]

Mark basically covered what I'd say.

i used to be absolutely miserable in skates- pain that would start in my feet, that would eventually start causing pain and fatigue through my whole ankle and shin by the end of the game.

turns out, I was tightening the laces more than needed and it was straining my arches.  

I take the slack out of the laces, and get a good tightening at the 4th eyelet from the top... then just take the slack out of the top three.

if your skate is correctly fitted, that 4th eyelet will keep your heel locked into place is all you really need (although some people like the top 4 tight, or other variations of personal preference)

definitely put in your new insoles, adjust your lace tension, and most importantly... don't let frustration get the best of you.  If it turns out these skates are actually not right for you, you can always get something else.

[Cosmic 178]

And in order to lace properly or in any sort of custom manner, you need waxed laces. 

[Vet88 673]

As long as the podiatrist knew what he was doing with regards to feet in hockey boots, use the custom insoles. These will help to support your feet and ease the tension on muscles / tendons that are been forced into different positions when the foot is in the boot. Other posters have given good advice for lacing. If the feet still hurt go back and see the podiatrist and with your skates in hand, sit down with him and get him to do his job.

[stormrunners 0]

wow thanks everybody i never thought that i could be lacing my skates up wrong,  thank you all for the advice and i will be sure to try the insoles with some looser laces around the arch.

[Goonsquad 209]

One of the best threads on this forum. 
 

 

[stormrunners 0]

AN update i gave the orthotics a try and tried to keep my skates looser but still the pain was there and i had to stop after 15 min. I'm getting pretty discouraged, it it possible that all this pain is just because i have never skated before in my life and if so how long before this pain goes away or at least gets better? 

[IPv6Freely 2082]

14 minutes ago, stormrunners said:

AN update i gave the orthotics a try and tried to keep my skates looser but still the pain was there and i had to stop after 15 min. I'm getting pretty discouraged, it it possible that all this pain is just because i have never skated before in my life and if so how long before this pain goes away or at least gets better? 

First, yes its definitely going to be painful for a while because you're using your feet in a way they definitely aren't used to be using used. Could be a couple weeks, could be months. 

Second, it's likely if you have brand new skates that aren't Mako or VH they are going to take some time to break in. Again, weeks to months depending on frequency of use. 

Finally, it's very much possible that the skates just don't work for your feet. Even if they fit size-wise, we all have different shaped feet and nothing everything works for everyone. 

 

So keep all three of those possibilities in mind when you're considering the problem and how to fix it. Believe me, I understand the frustration. Like I said earlier, I bought 5 pairs of skates in two years trying to find something that didn't hurt. For some people, they never skate pain-free. Also keep in mind that skating at public skates is generally very different from skating for hockey. Most people are much more upright at public skating, and turning left over and over again can certainly also cause some people pain especially if you're not using your edges etc. 

[puckpilot 312]

Where is your pain exactly? Is it in the arch?

If it's the arch, IMHO it may be because you're just not used to used to skating.

Long story short. I've been skating pretty much all my life, but a few years ago, I had health problems that made me lose over 20lbs of muscle. When I finally got back on skates, I could barely stand. I couldn't even take a full stride. Max time I could stay on the ice 15 minutes before I was exhausted. Had pain in my quads and the arches.  Didn't have enough strength/muscle to support my movements properly. And what muscles I had were being put to the limit.

So maybe that may be the case with you.

[stormrunners 0]

the pain starts in the arches but than quick spreads through the whole foot and up into the ankle. I want to be able to fully break in my skates but i am unsure how to do that when i have to literally have be help off the ice after only 15 minutes.

[boo10 323]

Some foot pain is to be expected when first learning to skate, but the level you're describing is extreme, so I suspect something else is going on. Some additional info might help the community point you in the right direction.  We can start by trying to determine if you're in the correct size/model skate.

What size running shoe do you wear, and what size skate did you buy?

Do you have a wide foot, medium or narrow?

Do you have a high instep?

Do you have low, medium or high arches?

[stormrunners 0]

i wear a size 9-10 in regular shoes after being fitted into many brands and sizes i went with the ccm tacks in 7.5.  i have a medium sized foot with more of a higher arch.

[boo10 323]

22 minutes ago, stormrunners said:

i wear a size 9-10 in regular shoes after being fitted into many brands and sizes i went with the ccm tacks in 7.5.  i have a medium sized foot with more of a higher arch.

Ok, so you're at least in a reasonable sized skate.  There's a couple cheap things you can try to see if it helps.

1) Get a pair of compression socks.  Specifically something with some compression around the arch. This will help with foot fatigue. 

2) Get some of those cheap foam insoles from the drug store or Walmart. Put them in the skates, underneath your orthotics.  It will likely make the skate tighter, so make sure you don't lace up too tight and compress your arch. This isn't meant as a permanent fix, just to see if your feet respond well to a softer footbed.

Lastly, be aware of your feet when you skate.  Are your feet relaxed or tense?  Are you gripping the skate with your toes?  Does your foot move at all inside the boot?

[stormrunners 0]

my feet are super tense because it just a weird feeling in case you haven't noticed i am a total bender on ice skates. my feet don't move inside the skate but i can't keep the skate up straight and i can't even bend my knees it like my knees lock up and i can't move them its very odd.

[puckpilot 312]

So are your feet like this?

[IPv6Freely 2082]

Maybe a skating lesson or two would help? If you're skating with your foot and toes clenched then yeah that's going to hurt pretty quickly also. 

[stormrunners 0]

i plan on getting skating lessons next semester (i am at a college that has an ice rink which is how i got interested in starting ice hockey). and my feet are not constantly inwards like that but they do sway back and forth quite a bit.

[kmfdm86 112]

1 hour ago, stormrunners said:

i plan on getting skating lessons next semester (i am at a college that has an ice rink which is how i got interested in starting ice hockey). and my feet are not constantly inwards like that but they do sway back and forth quite a bit.

A lot of the back and forth is probably an ankle strength thing. It'll get better the more you do it and they get stronger. Some of it is knowing how to properly align your center of gravity while moving on a damn near frictionless surface. Haha.