pronation and blade moving

[miraclegro]

Okay, so this is my PERMANENT history...it goes on and on.

After years of dealing with what i didn't know was pronation, finally got a really good custom orthodic from a reliable P.T.

Well, now i still feel that my blade needs to move in even more than initially moved. #1 because i think i am breaking down the custom boot more, but #2 i am just not sure what has been done is enough.

Has anyone had their blades moved in are far as they could go, and if so, what leve skater are you?

[BuggieMom]

My dd has the blade on her left foot moved in almost as far as it can go due to pronation. Actually, I think it could go a little more, which will take it almost to the edge, and will suggest that when the next blades get mounted. Skate guy has been doing this for about 2 yrs now for her, and it made a HUGE difference in her jump landings first time he did it (she is a CW skater, lands on left foot)...
She is now at Intermediate level, he started this when she was Pre-Juv.

[miraclegro]

Well, that helps an awful lot! The guy who does the mounting and the fitting around here acts like i'm nuts when i ask to move it more than normal. I still have some to go, and i feel like i'm being interrogated. He is very smart; a former engineer; but he has no understanding about the difficulty here.

I saw another lady who had hers moved in and she swears by it, but she is a much lower level than i am. I am wondering for my backspin and my axel; i think that is what is giving me the most difficulty to stay on that edge. I've been doing it waaay to long for it to be anything else at this point.

[miraclegro]

Oh, Buggiemom,

also, was the entire blade moved over, or more on the heel, or more twd the front? I am ready to move the entire blade to the farthest it will go.

[TreSk8sAZ]

I'm off the ice right now, but my blades (the entire blade) on one of my last pairs of boots was moved way to the inside. I was working on doubles at the time (landing, but inconsistently). It was just one foot, not the other. It took three or four tries to get it to that point.

[katz in boots]

Not a high level skater here (singles only) but skated a long time. I always have to have my right heel at the edge of the leather and the front just a tad more to the inside than normal. This time I have also used plastic card under one side (the inside) of the sole-plate tilt it slightly, which has helped.

According to my coach (who is a Russian show skater), boots often need correction at the sole plate and swears by old credit cards for the purpose.

You'll know when you've got it right - the other blade feels wrong :lol:

[Isk8NYC]

I know a low-level adult skater who has her blade set so far to the inside that the front of the plate sticks out to the inside of her boot toe. She swears by it, but wears boot covers so she doesn't have to explain the strange mounting to the world.

[BuggieMom]

I just looked at dd's boots, and it LOOKS like mostly just the front plate was moved over, not so much the heel, but maybe a little. He mounts the blades with the screws only in the temporary holes, then has her glide on one foot on the ice, and adjusts them over from there until she is gliding straight. There is really only a sliver of leather left between the front plate and the edge of the sole on the left boot!

She also has a heel wedge below her left heel, under the insole which helps to correct the pronation.

I remember when dd was learning Axel, it was so difficult for her to keep from dropping to that inside edge when she would land. It got better after she got new boots (because the stiffness kept her ankle straighter) but as soon as they were broken in well, the inside edge problem was back. It's a wonder the child ever was able to land it!

[Kristin]

Okay, so this is my PERMANENT history...it goes on and on.

After years of dealing with what i didn't know was pronation, finally got a really good custom orthodic from a reliable P.T.

Well, now i still feel that my blade needs to move in even more than initially moved. #1 because i think i am breaking down the custom boot more, but #2 i am just not sure what has been done is enough.

Has anyone had their blades moved in are far as they could go, and if so, what leve skater are you?

If your boot & orthotic are supporting your foot properly, moving the blade more than a little bit shouldn't even be necessary since you will be standing properly. My current boots are custom harlicks with an orthotic in them, and my bootfitter mounted the blade perfectly in the center. No issues, whatsoever since I have good foot support. ;)

I would check with your bootfitter & find out if your boot is even supporting you anymore. If not, time for new boots!

I'm a Silver adult, BTW.

[miraclegro]

I am a silver level skater as well.

I think my boots are still quite good. I sent the orthodics back for more work so we'll see.

Thanks

[Query]

By now you know my web page on boots (links below).

Your boots are likely breaking down or warping, or twisting, because you have placed your weight on an offset blade. Some boot makers (Klingbeil has been known for this) void their warranty if they think a boot distortion was caused by an offset blade.

Since you paid someone to make you an orthotic, they should fix it for you. But you can fix it, or any other insole, yourself, in 5-10 minutes, so as to function exactly like an orthotic. An orthotic is usually nothing more than a modified shape insole.

I explain on my page how changing the slant of the insole is almost exactly equivalent to offsetting the blade, but is better, because your feet won't be sore from supporting your weight off to one side, and it won't twist your boots. It's very basic physics: you fall to one side of the boot because that side is not sufficiently supported by contact with the insole/orthotic, or by the interior side of the boot there, because it isn't thick enough to match your foot shape on that side. If you thicken the insole, or the side of the boot, on the inside of your foot, or thin it on the outside, your will be pushed into a less pronated position. ("Inside" means the right part of your left foot, and the left part of your right foot, and the corresponding part of your insole and boot. "Outside" is the left part of your left foot, and the right part of your right foot, and corresponding insole and boot. Flipping an insole or orthotic over to tape or sand it reverses left and right.)

"Normal" people get the right foot orientation by equalizing pressure on left and right. If your feet naturally pronate, you may need a little more pressure on the under or beside the inside of your foot than on the outside, to create the right effect, but the idea is exactly the same.

I learned how to do this because there wasn't room on my boots to offset the blades enough. The mounting plates would scrape on the ice when I did edges. I could have ground the edges mounting plates so they didn't scrape, but my feet also got sore with the blades on the edge.

The orthotics may be fine, in terms of fitting the bottom of your feet. But you may want to place a strip of tape under the inside edge of your feet, or sand down the bottom of the outside edge, so you get the right pressures under the two sides of your feet to support them.

Some foot doctors who don't understand skating (i.e., the single point of contact with the ice, and the need to skate on edges) think they can fix pronation or supination by attaching an "external orthotic" or otherwise modifying the shape of the outsole - under the outside of the boot. All that does is cause the blade to be tilted over to one side, so you can't skate right. Or they reshape the uppers into such a way that you can't pronate or supinate, which means that you can't skate edges.