Is Shimming Necessary for A Pronated Skater and What Does It Do?

[krisdrum 233]

So you already have custom orthotics in your boots. Are they specifically made for skating and designed to eliminate the tilt of your foot (align your ankle and heel)?  Not all orthotics are designed to correct alignment.  You often see these types of inserts for ski boots as well. If they are designed to align your foot, then maybe there is something else going on that is creating the issue, since you didn't see a big difference.  If they aren't designed to align your foot, maybe get yourself some wedges you can put in your boot, just to see if that makes a different.  Would be a relatively cheap experiment.  I'd look at something like these: https://www.bikefit.com/p-98-in-the-shoe-its-heel-wedges.aspx

Or even these: https://www.bikefit.com/p-9-8-pack-speedplay-cleat-wedges.aspx

You would cut them to shape to fit under your heel. 

I started experimenting with these, https://www.bikefit.com/p-15-its-f-wedges-size-6-7-4-pack.aspx cut to the shape of my boot heel.  The thicker side of the wedge goes on the side of your foot that you are tilting towards. 

There is a decent amount of overlap between cycling, skiing and skating from a foot perspective.  All three have rigid soled footwear that can highlight foot alignment issues that can create performance barriers or discomfort/injury if not corrected. 

[Fiveholeonly3555148 0]

Thank you Kris for responding and yes the orthotics I have are super feet not specific one’s crafted for my feet.  It aids in arch support and we have an internal wedge underneath that raises the inside of my foot to pronate less or not as quickly while skating.  Good news though I am going to see if I can have a local podiatrist can make the one Dr. Humble had showed in his article.  If that does not work (fix it entirely) then I will shim and use everything I have gathered from trying to fix my pronation that is effecting my skating to fix it once and for all to the best of my abilities.

[krisdrum 233]

39 minutes ago, Fiveholeonly3555148 said:

Thank you Kris for responding and yes the orthotics I have are super feet not specific one’s crafted for my feet.  It aids in arch support and we have an internal wedge underneath that raises the inside of my foot to pronate less or not as quickly while skating.  Good news though I am going to see if I can have a local podiatrist can make the one Dr. Humble had showed in his article.  If that does not work (fix it entirely) then I will shim and use everything I have gathered from trying to fix my pronation that is effecting my skating to fix it once and for all to the best of my abilities.

Superfeet are hardly what I would consider "orthotics".  They may not be providing sufficient arch support.  The internal wedges you are using may not be providing sufficient correction.  There are a lot of factors that could be impacting your balance and stride. 

Find a physician (podiatrist, orthopedist, etc.), familiar with the needs of skating and have them assess your structures and biomechanics to determine proper interventions. 

[Fiveholeonly3555148 0]

Okay sounds good I’ll do that then.

[Vet88 674]

On 1/6/2021 at 4:16 PM, Fiveholeonly3555148 said:

I have been calling people and people either seem to not know or be mixed up about solving the problem for pronation.  I spoke with the guy who wrote the article for aapsm skating alignment and he said if it’s minor pronation you move the blade and get a custom orthotic.  When my dad and I were talking to him he mentioned minor but, believe me I have taken pictures and it seems more moderate or severe.  Probably not severe or I wouldn’t be at the level I am considering it’s harder to skate with pronation.  So I don’t know why but it just irritates the _ out of me for why he thinks that my problem is only minor and a orthotic will fix it on its which I already have had done and does not make a huge difference.  So to get him to configure getting something done ASAP because it is always seemed to be denied and held off saying I need to move my feet and drop my butt, is shimming the best option plus internally an orthotic to also help it from the inside as you cannot move the blade.  Also I do move my feet my coach last year would yell at us for everything so I was forced to skate 110% full speed.  To be honest I almost hung up the skates but that was a short thought as I knew something was wrong and besides that I wanted to keep on working harder.  I will keep reaching out but should I shim like it’s the bigger priority that will make a huge difference in alignment over the blade.  I have found a place in Windsor, Canada that says they shim but we already bought skates at the beginning of the year (hockey season) and right now Canada is on lockdown from movement across its borders from other countries.  It just makes me mad because I work so hard (still am and will be) and I know that this will help me (a lot at least from what I researched because my dad says it won’t do me a miracle.  I know it won’t but I am sufficient in every part of make game besides the parts where pronation effects it) so I really want to get this done with out him rambling making excuses while I have been trying to solve this problem for so long.

Welcome to the world of podiatrists, everyone has a viewpoint on pronation and there isn't a lot of consensus / knowledge wrt to feet in hockey skates. At least you recognise that orthotics aren't the only answer so that weeds out 99% of the bs artists that want to sell you an orthotic so they can make money from it. There are NHL players that pronate and skate really heavily on their inside edges, pronation isn't the only limiting factor to you becoming a good player. And your dad is right, there is no miracle or quick fix, orthotics, shims, wedges, holder movement are just band aids on the problem. All of the research that I have been / still am involved in consistently proves that there is a long term viable solution to fixing pronation in skates, learn to skate laces untied / lace free. Yes, you take a hit in your development over the next year or so as you learn the base skills to do it and then over the next year as your body learns to control the skates at high speed and then even another year as you learn to refine all that has come before to a consistent high level but... at the end of that time you will not pronate in skates, ever again. Period. You said you "wanted to keep on working harder" then this is what you have to do, it WILL fix your pronation and at the end of the process you will have the skill base to be the best skater you can possibly be.

[BenBreeg 493]

 Google Darryl Evans pics, that guy could mount blades on flip flops and still skate.  It tells me that as Vet88 said, if you work on it the body will learn to align everything correctly, it’s not just the ankle.