How tight should laces be?

[Paulie86]

Lately when I have been skating my feet have be in a lot of pain. It's always over the arch of my foot, or to the top of that area. I have to do my boots up fairly tight at my ankles otherwise they're too loose. Sometimes when I re-lace them, the pin goes away, but my elements are not all that good because my boots are too loose around my ankles. It's getting to the point where I can only akte for about an hour before the pain gets too much.

Should I look at getting something like bunga pads for my ankles so I don't need to do them as tight around my ankles? Or should I just loosen all the laces?

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
:) Paula

[tidesong]

Arch pain for me is because of not lacing tight enough in the front of the boots! So I am not sure, maybe you can try lacing tighter in front as well.

[Award]

If your skates aren't custom fitted, then that could be one reason for the problem. Feet can differ from person to person, and can even differ in the same person...eg left foot different sizes and shape than right foot etc. Also, companies that make boots need to make various shape boots to cater for a wide range of people. So it often helps to go to a foot specialist or a really good skate shop where people know something about feet and boots.

But, at the moment, maybe you can try loosening the laces of the boots, and then wear the boot, and use a lace tightener to do up the part near the toes reasonably tightly....just the part near the toes. And the part around the arch can be done with moderate tightness. And then see if you can do the ankle area reasonably tightly. If it can't be done, then it's possible that you might need different kinds of boots...ones that will better suit your feet.

[flippet]

Lately when I have been skating my feet have be in a lot of pain. It's always over the arch of my foot, or to the top of that area.

Whenever I had arch pain, it was usually because I'd laced too tight over the mid-foot area.

You want to lace moderately snugly around the toes, lace barely snug over the mid-foot (essentially, so the laces aren't loose, but are just lying there), then yank it as tight as is comfortable at the last couple of holes around the ankle, and the first set of hooks or two, then get slightly looser as you go up (so you can fit two fingers into the top of your boot).

Another reason I've had arch pain is when my boots are too narrow in that area.

[Sessy]

I was lacing too tight because my boots were broken down.

[Rusty Blades]

I used to have that problem. I needed the lower part of the laces loose and tight at the top so I started tying off at the last eyelet - Tie the eyelets as loose as you need, tie a bow and slip the loops of the bow over the bottom hook, then pull the free ends tight and lace the hooks as tight as you want and finish with another bow. The first tie prevents the lace in the eyelets from tightening up.

(It worked good until I got ProFlex - now I don't need to do that anymore.)

[doubletoe]

Lace tight in the toes, a little looser in the arch/instep area, then tighter again in the ankles. Also, your boots will stay tighter in the ankles without re-lacing if you loop the laces over the top of each hook, rather around from below the hook.

[FallDownGoBoom]

If it's any consolation, it took me a year to get lacing just right.

[daisies]

Your mileage will definitely vary on this one. When I lace too tight in the toes, I get an excruciating cramp in my arch. So I keep the toes loose and go a little tighter across the instep and even tighter around the ankle!

[SkatingOnClouds]

If I tighten my laces too much I get really bad pain in my arches. Have to sit down and loosen the boots right off for a couple of minutes. Yet as my skates break down more (desperately need new ones), I need to tighten my laces a lot. Leaving the laces looser across the foot while trying to get the mid to upper part tight enough hasn't worked for me, because as the session goes on, the loosness/tightness evens out, so I have reached a compromise with my lacing.

I use two sets of laces. One set does the foot up to the 3rd last hole before the flex notch. I tie a bow there, and rarely have to adjust it during a session. This way my feet aren't cramped. Then the 2nd set starts in the 2nd to last hole, and can be done up very firmly all the way up. I do have to re-tighten this set 2-3 times during a session. I guess it's a lot like the arrangement you have with the Jackson Proflex hinged boot.

[Paulie86]

If it's any consolation, it took me a year to get lacing just right.

Well, I've had my boots for 11 months now!

Thanks so much for everyone's help. I'll try your suggestions untill I find what works!

[Query]

So many people mention problems with boots and feet! You would think we would have perfect solutions to these problems by now.

If one part of your foot is better supported by the footbed shape than another, e.g., your arch isn't in much contact with the insole, you may use your muscles to pull your foot level. After a while the constant muscle tension hurts. I discuss using tape to alter the insole at

http://www.geocities.com/grunes/falling.html#bootmod

The common practice of balancing a boot to compensate for that problem by offsetting the blade to one side of the principle arch of the foot, instead of altering the insole, causes pain too - feet aren't made to support weight off-center from that arch.

This combination of problems once caused pain in my feet. But if you hurt immediately after putting on the boots, these clearly don't apply to you.

If the part of the boot over your arch is too tight, and presses too hard against your foot, a bootfitter can punch it out, or remold it.

But first, see a good bootfitter, and talk to your coach. They are the pros, and ideally can evaluate all possible causes. We can only tell you what worked for us. It only makes sense to listen to non-pros when the pros fail.

[peanutskates]

i've found a method that works for me... I've got new laces, and with these, if I manage to to them tight enough to just manage a full bow, then they are correct. so maybe you will figure out a way soon.

[Sessy]

On the old skates, I actually used wax laces for hockey skates. Well, they did stay tight, but they have other disadvantages.