Foot Pain - Tight in Toe Box

[JKranz24 1]

Hey all, looking for some diagnosis/advice.

I'm currently wearing a CCM U+09, size 8.25ish (I stretched them from an 8) D width. While wearing the skates, I feel a little too much pressure on the outside of my big toe as it's rubbing against the side of the toe box.

I guess my question is, short of buying new skates, are there any remedies to this? Wearing thinner socks? Changing the laces so there's not as much pressure?

I can't physically stretch the toe box, right? That would damage the skate and I'd be SOL.

I don't really have a wide foot, but would a different skate be the solution? Like the new Supreme line, or something like that?

Thanks in advance!

[Barts66 0]

Hey all, looking for some diagnosis/advice.

I'm currently wearing a CCM U+09, size 8.25ish (I stretched them from an 8) D width. While wearing the skates, I feel a little too much pressure on the outside of my big toe as it's rubbing against the side of the toe box.

I guess my question is, short of buying new skates, are there any remedies to this? Wearing thinner socks? Changing the laces so there's not as much pressure?

I can't physically stretch the toe box, right? That would damage the skate and I'd be SOL.

I don't really have a wide foot, but would a different skate be the solution? Like the new Supreme line, or something like that?

Thanks in advance!

I am interpreting this as being that your skates are not wide enough? If so, see if the can be punched. This is not the same as stretching. Punching makes the skate a little bit wider in the toe area.

[Barts66 0]

Hey all, looking for some diagnosis/advice.

I'm currently wearing a CCM U+09, size 8.25ish (I stretched them from an 8) D width. While wearing the skates, I feel a little too much pressure on the outside of my big toe as it's rubbing against the side of the toe box.

I guess my question is, short of buying new skates, are there any remedies to this? Wearing thinner socks? Changing the laces so there's not as much pressure?

I can't physically stretch the toe box, right? That would damage the skate and I'd be SOL.

I don't really have a wide foot, but would a different skate be the solution? Like the new Supreme line, or something like that?

Thanks in advance!

Delete, double post

[JKranz24 1]

I am interpreting this as being that your skates are not wide enough? If so, see if the can be punched. This is not the same as stretching. Punching makes the skate a little bit wider in the toe area.

Yeah, I don't think that would work either because it's tight in the actual toe box. So unless I heat it up and then punch it out (is that even possible?), I don't think punching would work.

[kr580 2]

I had the same problem with toes rubbing on the sides of the toe box, and my LHS was able to bake my skates and punch out the toe box. You can't tell he even did anything by looking at them, but there's tons more width. He did slightly tear up the corner of one of the toe boxes from the outsole but I don't think it messed with the integrity of the skate. Plus those are my beat up cheap skates so I didn't care.

With heat it can be done.

[Barts66 0]

I had the same problem with toes rubbing on the sides of the toe box, and my LHS was able to bake my skates and punch out the toe box. You can't tell he even did anything by looking at them, but there's tons more width. He did slightly tear up the corner of one of the toe boxes from the outsole but I don't think it messed with the integrity of the skate. Plus those are my beat up cheap skates so I didn't care.

With heat it can be done.

Yeah, same here. I noticed a little spot where he punched it on the outside of my skates. It doesnt look like much, but it actually helps out a lot. Yeah, OP, take your skates to your LHS. They should be able to punch them if they know what theyre doing.

[Ogie Oglethorpe 14]

I have a pronounced bone spur on the side of my big toe so had similar problems. I tried the thinner socks and it was a LITTLE better, but in the end, not significantly in the long run.

I also tried having the toe-box punched out; they will heat the crap out of it until the plastic is practically soft (basically pliable when pressure applied). Then they take a special shaped tool inside of the skate and push it out in a specific area where the perimeter is supported and the center not (so that spot will "bubble" out). Looked like a dimple. Because the skate box on the pair I tried it with (1152's) was one of the old time skates with a very hard plastic under nylon it didn't give me much relief. I have heard some have had better results with the new plastic covers common on newer skates.

Ultimately, I ended up moving to an E width (CCM Pro Tacks). Unfortunately, the trade off for me was "ankle-slop" (little lose back there) but my forefoot feels better. I just tighten the crap out of the ankle area to try to keep my ankle in place (the lace-locks help). CCM also does have both ankle and forefoot measurements (at least they used to - you'll note something like D/A meaning the forefoot is a D width and the ankle an A width). I believe the E widths are typically also wider in the heel unless you order a special E/A skate (perhaps an expert can comment/confirm).

Should you find your skates are not capable of being punched out enough to provide you relief (as was my case), then you should look at CCM (e width), Nike's, and certain kinds of Graf skates as there is more area in the toe box.

[Larry54 243]

Do this little test. Sit down and put your skate on and lace it normally. Then with your skate on the ground, just press down on the top of the toecap with your hands to temporarily widen the toecap and see how your foot feels. That will give you an idea of how wide your LHS can get the toecap. I had to get some RBK toecaps widened a couple of years ago. Then I got some Bauer Flexlites whose toecaps were plenty wide.

[chihuahua 0]

Hey all, looking for some diagnosis/advice.

I'm currently wearing a CCM U+09, size 8.25ish (I stretched them from an 8) D width. While wearing the skates, I feel a little too much pressure on the outside of my big toe as it's rubbing against the side of the toe box.

I guess my question is, short of buying new skates, are there any remedies to this? Wearing thinner socks? Changing the laces so there's not as much pressure?

I can't physically stretch the toe box, right? That would damage the skate and I'd be SOL.

I don't really have a wide foot, but would a different skate be the solution? Like the new Supreme line, or something like that?

Thanks in advance!

I have the same type of feet. I just got a pair of graf 709's extra wide. They fit great other than the toe box. I've been back to the LHS and have done a few things but they toe cap is still a problem. I think they put a regular width toe box in the wide skate. I am going back tomorrow to see what we can do to widen the toe part of the skate. Might have to send them back and get a wider toe box put in.