Leaderboard

So I finally found the courage and put a 1 1/8" on the XC runners after normally skating on a 3/4" FBV and the transition was pretty much seamless. I just went on the ice and it felt completely normal, but I noticed some extra bite during tight turns (although that could be placebo). In general though, much less weird to skate on than I thought it might be.

My problem with orthotics is - they don't work "properly" in ice skates. The reason is because there is no gfr (ground force reaction) available to support the orthotic at the sides of the boot. Therefore the boot has to be as close to a perfect fit as possible so it can provide the gfr needed for the orthotic to work. So in a simple one foot glide in a perfect fitting boot an orthotic can provide some assistance, there are a couple of studies by podiatrists working with figure skaters that prove this (the test subjects all had brand new custom fitted figure skates and the control drill was a one foot glide). Great if you are a figure skater but for hockey players, put some power thru the foot whilst deep on an edge and your orthotic is next to useless.... And shimming has the same issues, it just doesn't work when on an edge and under power.