Skate suggestions to cure cramped feet

[Northshoremb 0]

I just joined this forum and have been reading all different skate size reviews and never k ew how many different aspects there are. Heres my rundown.

I played hockey for 14 years then had a 16year absence up u til 2 years ago so needed all new equipment and thought i ordered skates that fit and boy i was wrong. I walked into a hockey shop and tried on a few different skates and thought the Vapours felt good and sized them like back in the day where if i slid my toes to the front i could put 1 finger behind my heel. What i ended up with was size 10.5 and the D width felt good in the store. Once i got on the ice and had all that pressure on my feet they cramped up so bad due to what i believe was my semi flat foot flatening out and the D width was to narrow. (Didnt do any research on model and make boot sizes before hand) so. Eedless to say after 16 year absence my firat skates i bought were wrong so played the whole season with them which is just pickup hockey and work tournament which maybe put me on the ice 20 times. Last year i heard that Supremes were wider so i said screw it ill buy the 10.5EE and should be good and was wrong again. Still super cramped in middle of foot to the point that soon as i stopped skating i would be in agony. So again played about 20 times last year through the pain. Now yesterday was firat day back on the ice and this time was just a free skate with my 3 year old and i literally only lasted 5 minutes and toughed out 35 minutes so i would disappoint my son on his first skate with me.

So ive had it with choosing the wrong skate and have been researching on the internet about this problem and see im not the only one with this issue. I ended up doing the sit down and draw around my foot with a horizontal pencil and my foot measurements are 11.5" long and 4.375" wide with no weight on them. This seems to put me in a 10 not 10.5 like i have bought. Also seems right cause the 10.5 my toes dont touch the toe cup at all. I read about toe box width, mid width, instep and heel width. Heres a few questions.

How do i check if i need narrow, mid or wide heel cup?

Is to deep instep depth better then to shallow? Pencil test leaves me room between pencil and leg in my Supreme ONE.6

Should i be looking at Bauer Nexus 400 or RBK 9k-11k pumps or have a suggestion in grafs?

Would like to stay under $225ish seeing as you can get $400-600 skates lots of places on sale for under $200

I dont play competitive and only play pickup and probably start beer league next year. Im a defenceman and for years i always taped my ankle fully up to stop lace bite and at the time thought i was doing a good thing by making ankles stiff only to find out last year i was affecting my skating mobility. I stopped taping ankles and felt like my feet were wobbly in dressing room but liked the movement way better on the ice. Only downside was with the added flex my upper ankle leg area suffered bad lace bite and pressure points. So i bought gell pads they use in figure skati g to put beteen tongue and leg/ankle and feels really nice.

From my 11.5" length and 4.375" width with low arch foot and 230# what skates do you suggest i try out if i can even find the size here in town? I thonk i prefer a softer boot skate compared to these new rock hard stiff skates but will try out any suggetions. THANKS SO MUCH for reading

[jonesy9020 77]

http://modsquadhockey.com/forums/index.php/topic/67241-skate-pain-fitting-and-possible-new-skates-help/

Seems like you're having similar problems to the above poster. Read through that thread and see if you can glean anything from it. Issue I can't figure out from your post is that you seem to have no depth issues in the Supreme because you're passing the pencil test.

One thing you may be doing is just cranking down too hard on the laces and compressing your arch regardless of the boot having appropriate depth. Try an outside-in lacing pattern on the 4th-6th eyelets on the skate to lock in that area of the boot without having to crank down too hard.

Separate, but related question, how's the heel lock in the Supremes? I've seen that a lot of people whose heels are slipping in the skates tend to compensate for that by overtightening the laces to force the foot into the back/bottom of the skate. This trend seems to be especially prevalent with players who grew up during what I like to call the "tighter is better era" where our dads tied our skates tight like a vice in the early years of our playing careers, and then we never stopped doing that for years after. I'm not sure that that was ever the right approach, but in any case, you don't (or shouldn't) have to do that with modern skates if you're fitted correctly.

[Northshoremb 0]

Yes you are correct that i have no depth issue in the supremes but thats with non broke in skates with the eyelets facing each other and when i tighten down you can see them fold inwards so theres enough depth. I was born in 1978 so back then it was how you said with tighter is better. I tried tying laces from the 2nd eyelet to the bend loose and still bad cramp so believe i need wider then EE supremes which means the nexus in the Bauer line i guess. Only thing is im afraid with he nexus the heel will be to open and not lock in. What other brands models is yhere for say normal heel and wide mid and toe?

What CCM, Graf and RBK models come to mind?

I found the chart that shows skate width comparisons but that was just VAPOUR, SUPREME, NEXUS, CCM GENERIC, RBK GENERIC. No spefic models for CCM OR RBK OR GRAF

[IPv6Freely 2096]

I just started tying my skates more loosely and my cramping went away. I barely pull on my laces now until the last couple eyelets.

[jonesy9020 77]

One.6 and below shouldn't require much if any breaking in. I don't think this problem will go away just by toughing it out and skating through the pain. Just curious, have you baked the One.6? Not necessarily required for this level of skate but may help.

Older model Reeboks might be ok in an EE, but they tend to be about the same as a Supreme. The newer Reebok (Ribcor line) is apparently a narrower fit, so not for you. For a wide boot in CCM, look at the RBZs, though you may want to hold off as that line has had some durability concerns AND that particular line may be due for an update this Spring (no hard facts, just speculating based on marketing cycles). Tacks are about equal to the Supremes widthwise, but I found the arch is a little different when I tried on a pair recently.

Nexus definitely worth a shot, especially with lots of retailers clearing out old stock. Can't know if you'll get a good heel lock until you try them on and walk around the store.

It's hard to get a skate that is super wide up front/through the arch but with a narrow heel on retail. Your best shot at retail may be to try to get Easton Mako in EE width and then pinch the back of the skate while molding to narrow the heel area. Other than that you're looking at customs, which is obviously a tough pill to swallow pricewise.

Not much knowledge on Graf skates, but they have a pretty wide array of fits, and it may be worth a shot. Someone else can chime in here.

Other options include trying out orthotic footbeds such as superfeet, CCM, SIDAS, etc. Sometimes these do the trick, and other times they take up desperately needed volume in the skate and cause more problems.

[Northshoremb 0]

Yes i tried baking the ONE.6 twice but at home not at store. Heated up with low heat like youtube videos suggested and cranked them down to mold but no luck. I have Green superfeet in them right now but no luck there as well. I just read how to "punch* stretch out your own skates so in a last chance effort i may try this and see if possible to loosen up the mids and toe area to relieve pressure. Does anyone out there use 2 sets of laces to keep zones seperate or skid every second or third hole through the top of foot? I tried keeping loose but just weird. Thank you so much for that insight and if i do have narrow heel do you think when the NEXUS are baked i can pinch in the heel area to tighten them up? To test proper heel tmfit do you tighten to a comfortable fit then walk and make sure heel stays seated and not come up?

[jonesy9020 77]

That's exactly the test for proper heel fit. Do it before bake as you don't want to walk in a baked boot and you want a skate that fits as well as possible pre-bake. Heel lock is affected by more than just your heel precisely fitting the heel pocket widthwise, as the rest of the boot also can put your heel in the right position in the boot to get a lock. Example: I have a pretty thin heel, but Vapors, despite their rep as a thin heel skate, aren't as good of a fit for me as Supremes because Supremes put my arch in the right position and have the depth that gets my foot back in the skate best. In comparison, the narrow arch area of the Vapor never allowed my foot to fully settle in the boot and my heel never locked as well. Like I said, you can't know how lock will be until you do the walking test.

Other questions: Yes, people do use the two sets of laces method, and it does work for some people. Having lace locks installed in the eyelets is another approach to get the same general effect. People also skip eyelets, but I'm not a fan of doing that especially near the top of the boot and especially in a midrange skate as when you lean forward it puts an uneven amount of stress on the eyelets you do lace through and can lead to very premature creasing and breakdown of the boot. You can try to do the heel pinching on a Nexus boot, but the molding in Bauer boots is a lot more about getting ankle pads to conform and getting a wrap plus maybe some widening of the forefoot, rather than changing the overall shape of the boot. The Mako is MUCH more moldable by comparison. If you do try to pinch a nexus, one method I've seen used is to tightly wrap the achilles area of the boot with hockey tape around the front of the boot to push the sides together.

[Souldriver 64]

Small question, have you ever had your foot measured at a LHS or gone to a shop to try on many different models and compare in person.

For my feet I use waxed laces and go loose down low and tight around the ankle.

[Northshoremb 0]

Ya they measured length and said 10-10.5 in my firat set of Vapours so i picked 10.5 cause i used old 80's thinking of better have 1/2 size longer then sore toes. Now i read everywhere your toes should just brush the end which i never knew. They never measured my width so i just tried on the D size and felt good but then again i didnt walk around and when i did wear tgem at home i thought i was sore cause they needed breaking in. My whole life from 3 years old till i was 20 i always had used skates never a new pair ever. Just pawned it off as these were new

[Hockey11 4]

I had the same issue with pain in the arch area of my foot with supremes. I tried several brands and models (CCM, Easton, Bauer) at the LHS. Some felt pretty good but just a little "off" in the arch area. I finally went to the Bauer Nexus line because of their reputation for being wide. I thought I would need the EE width, but ended up with a D width. They were plenty wide enough. Had them baked at the shop I bought them at and have no regrets. I've skated on them about 20 times and they are very comfortable. I bought the 5000 model. They have plenty of support, but not too stiff. Should be able to find them for 200 bucks or less brand new.

[Northshoremb 0]

I had the same issue with pain in the arch area of my foot with supremes. I tried several brands and models (CCM, Easton, Bauer) at the LHS. Some felt pretty good but just a little "off" in the arch area. I finally went to the Bauer Nexus line because of their reputation for being wide. I thought I would need the EE width, but ended up with a D width. They were plenty wide enough. Had them baked at the shop I bought them at and have no regrets. I've skated on them about 20 times and they are very comfortable. I bought the 5000 model. They have plenty of support, but not too stiff. Should be able to find them for 200 bucks or less brand new.

So the EE supremes were to narrow and you ended up with D in Nexus size? Or were the supremes just right but arc was giving issues?

[Hockey11 4]

So the EE supremes were to narrow and you ended up with D in Nexus size? Or were the supremes just right but arc was giving issues?

The Supremes were D also. They felt pretty good until I skated for 10 minutes. Then they were hurting in the arch area. When I went to the Nexus line, I thought I would need EE, but D in the Nexus line is fine. The best thing would be to try the Nexus if your LHS carries them.

[strosedefence34 176]

Something to keep in mind

Supreme D= E/A width

Supreme EE= EEE/B

Nexus D= EE/A

Nexus EE= EEEE/B

and just because

Vapor D= D/A

Vapor EE= EE/B

[zbrownsyuk 0]

Rbz 60s w/ low, medium, or high arch..$200