Hello everyone,
after lurking around here for quite some time and reading possibly every existing question about boots and blades for beginners, its time for my own post
My feet are kind of a special case and I have zero experience with the few fitters in my country (and, frankly speaking, don’t really trust them that much), so I would love to get some help and possible boot/blades recommendations for my feet before paying a visit to a skate shop.
Apologies in advance for the pretty long text and if I use weird phrasing – English isn’t my first language ^^
Some info about me:
I’m 19, 163 cm tall, and weigh about 53 kg (5'4/116 pounds). I’ve begun skating last year, but could only go to the rink thrice before yet another lockdown hit. Therefore, I’m a real beginner and hope to master my forward crossovers this autumn
I do horseback-riding since I’ve been about 4 years old and used to do taekwondo for about 6 years when I was younger – so I have quite strong thighs?
I think that I would prefer a boot that’s a bit stiffer because apparently, I have a little bit too elastic ligaments (as told by my doctor). I’m prone to just randomly tripping and twisting my ankle and used to overstretch my ankle ligaments a few times when I was a kid. It got better with the exercises I do for ankle strength though.
My old skates are gently used Jackson Artiste 5.5 in C width that I got from a colleague of my mom. I know now that those probably aren’t for adult beginners but I didn’t know I would fall in love with skating o.o I just wanted some skates that weren’t rentals at that time and to try out a new sport and now I can’t get enough of it.
Now about my feet:
Unfortunately, I can’t use the Artistes anymore due to my feet’s condition worsening. My feet have always been strange and I use orthotics in my normal shoes since I’m little. I have flat feet / collapsed arches, pronation and my navicular bones are overdeveloped (at least I hope that what’s that bone is called) and stick out a bit.
At first, I had a few problems with the Artistes (my arch hurt like hell after a short time), but after the cushioning adapted to my feet (and that strange bone that sticks out, lol) and I bought yellow superfeet and put them in the skates, I had no pain even after 2 full hours of skating.
Apart from all of that, I have kind of duck feet (is it called splay foot?), meaning that when I put pressure on my foot, the ball spreads apart and gets significantly wider. This was minor and not an issue until this year when I didn’t do sports and my feet exercises that regularly because of finals. I developed tailor bunions on the outer part of my ball on both feet and my ball got wider – now the Artistes are too small in that area and it hurts :/
My orthopedist told me that the musculature in my feet decreased and prescribed me new exercises for the bunion, the splay foot and the collapsed arches that I should do regularly.
After doing those exercises every day for some time, I can see major improvements. Not only got the bunions a bit smaller, but I can see an arch form as well – I just don’t think I will fit in the Artistes anytime soon, if ever again. And I know of course that apart from the fact that they are too soft for an adult like me, I don’t even know if they fit my feet. (Although I do think that with my feet, Jackson or maybe Risport are my best bet?)
My heels are pretty normal / maybe on the smaller side? As said before, my balls are WIDE:
Circumference: 22,7 – 23 cm (L) and 22,3 – 22,7 cm (R) and both about 10 cm wide while standing.
I don’t have a high instep and my toes are a mixture between Roman and Egyptian? (my second toe is as long as the big toe, the others are tapered).
I got my feet measured at my last appointment with the orthopedist with a 2D scan and the lengths of my feet are 234 mm (L) and 236 mm (R). When I measured them at home with this trace-foot-shape method (don’t know the exact name), they are both about 240 mm long, but I do remember that the Artistes felt smaller on the right foot in the beginning.
I know that all that information about my feet seems like a lot…. I would just rather have an idea about what boot brand/model ( + blade) would be right in my case before trying them on at a skate shop because I do know my wallet will be crying by the end of it…. And I don’t want to spend a lot of money, only for the skates to not fit me well and cause even more problems than my feet already do!
Again, sorry about this really long post. Thank you for reading through all of that and for your help!
after lurking around here for quite some time and reading possibly every existing question about boots and blades for beginners, its time for my own post
My feet are kind of a special case and I have zero experience with the few fitters in my country (and, frankly speaking, don’t really trust them that much), so I would love to get some help and possible boot/blades recommendations for my feet before paying a visit to a skate shop.
Apologies in advance for the pretty long text and if I use weird phrasing – English isn’t my first language ^^
Some info about me:
I’m 19, 163 cm tall, and weigh about 53 kg (5'4/116 pounds). I’ve begun skating last year, but could only go to the rink thrice before yet another lockdown hit. Therefore, I’m a real beginner and hope to master my forward crossovers this autumn
I do horseback-riding since I’ve been about 4 years old and used to do taekwondo for about 6 years when I was younger – so I have quite strong thighs?
I think that I would prefer a boot that’s a bit stiffer because apparently, I have a little bit too elastic ligaments (as told by my doctor). I’m prone to just randomly tripping and twisting my ankle and used to overstretch my ankle ligaments a few times when I was a kid. It got better with the exercises I do for ankle strength though.
My old skates are gently used Jackson Artiste 5.5 in C width that I got from a colleague of my mom. I know now that those probably aren’t for adult beginners but I didn’t know I would fall in love with skating o.o I just wanted some skates that weren’t rentals at that time and to try out a new sport and now I can’t get enough of it.
Now about my feet:
Unfortunately, I can’t use the Artistes anymore due to my feet’s condition worsening. My feet have always been strange and I use orthotics in my normal shoes since I’m little. I have flat feet / collapsed arches, pronation and my navicular bones are overdeveloped (at least I hope that what’s that bone is called) and stick out a bit.
At first, I had a few problems with the Artistes (my arch hurt like hell after a short time), but after the cushioning adapted to my feet (and that strange bone that sticks out, lol) and I bought yellow superfeet and put them in the skates, I had no pain even after 2 full hours of skating.
Apart from all of that, I have kind of duck feet (is it called splay foot?), meaning that when I put pressure on my foot, the ball spreads apart and gets significantly wider. This was minor and not an issue until this year when I didn’t do sports and my feet exercises that regularly because of finals. I developed tailor bunions on the outer part of my ball on both feet and my ball got wider – now the Artistes are too small in that area and it hurts :/
My orthopedist told me that the musculature in my feet decreased and prescribed me new exercises for the bunion, the splay foot and the collapsed arches that I should do regularly.
After doing those exercises every day for some time, I can see major improvements. Not only got the bunions a bit smaller, but I can see an arch form as well – I just don’t think I will fit in the Artistes anytime soon, if ever again. And I know of course that apart from the fact that they are too soft for an adult like me, I don’t even know if they fit my feet. (Although I do think that with my feet, Jackson or maybe Risport are my best bet?)
My heels are pretty normal / maybe on the smaller side? As said before, my balls are WIDE:
Circumference: 22,7 – 23 cm (L) and 22,3 – 22,7 cm (R) and both about 10 cm wide while standing.
I don’t have a high instep and my toes are a mixture between Roman and Egyptian? (my second toe is as long as the big toe, the others are tapered).
I got my feet measured at my last appointment with the orthopedist with a 2D scan and the lengths of my feet are 234 mm (L) and 236 mm (R). When I measured them at home with this trace-foot-shape method (don’t know the exact name), they are both about 240 mm long, but I do remember that the Artistes felt smaller on the right foot in the beginning.
I know that all that information about my feet seems like a lot…. I would just rather have an idea about what boot brand/model ( + blade) would be right in my case before trying them on at a skate shop because I do know my wallet will be crying by the end of it…. And I don’t want to spend a lot of money, only for the skates to not fit me well and cause even more problems than my feet already do!
Again, sorry about this really long post. Thank you for reading through all of that and for your help!