Ankle Pain (Malleolar Bursitis) - Finding the right skate

[Ruhnie 1]

Hi all,

 

Hoping to get some help with this problem I've been dealing with for years. At some point after having my previous pair of skates for several years (Supreme 100s), I developed severe pain in my medial malleolus in both ankles. One of them is actually enlarged a bit and had my skate punched out to try and compensate. Eventually I bought the bunga malleolus sleeves and they help tremendously.

My skates finally broke down enough that I decided to get a new pair. I considered just going straight for True customs, but I was hesitant as I couldn't find any info on if custom skates could actually help with this problem or not. I spent an afternoon at my LHS and tried on every single top-end skate from every brand, and not a single one felt good on my ankle. Looking at where the inflammation sits in my boot it is very close to the eyelets where there is little padding, and kind of where the tongue meets it. Once the CCM 90-day guarantee came out I decided to just pull the plug and get the skates that overall felt the best.

This past weekend I bought a pair of AS1s that feel fantastic, and when I was baking them I didn't feel any pressure on my ankle. I had hoped my problem was solved but after skating today I realized it is not any better in these skates. I don't mind the bunga pads but I'm worried that it messes with the fit of my skates maybe? Can full custom CCMs or Trues help me with this? Thanks!

[Vet88 674]

Bunga pads won't interfere that much with the fit of the skate as you add them, it's when you add a lot of padding and then take it away after a while that you may need a rebake to tighten the fit back up.

Many years ago I had Malleolar Bursitis with some Mission inline skates. You have to get pressure off the bursa, I padded around the area with C shaped padding and a big punch that extended the ankle pocket forward, this kept me in skates till it healed (and I sold the Missions quickly and moved to Reebok pumps). I used 7mm closed cell neoprene foam to make the padding with and experimented with various shapes until I got one that worked well. 1/2" pipe insulation should also work well, I used that to make Forsberg pads.

As to customs, if they can extend the eyelet facing upwards, shape the boot outwards and put more padding in that area to give you more room then it should help. Anything that gets the pressure off the area will help. But if the AS1's fit you well everywhere else have you considered keeping them and punching in the area to relieve the pressure? You may need to tape padding to your ankle for the long term until things settle down.