Correcting pronation and 'duck feet' using a leather wedge on the skate boot soles | Golden Skate

Correcting pronation and 'duck feet' using a leather wedge on the skate boot soles

Joined
Nov 9, 2010
Using a leather wedge on the skate boot soles to correct pronation and 'duck feet'

My feet pronate and my right foot turns out about 35 degrees. I have had a very hard time getting an outside edge on my right foot. I have tried orthotic inserts, inside the boot wedges, arch supports and heel cups. None of these 'inside the boot' solutions has worked very well for me, because my boots (Harlicks) fit snugly and there is not much room for inserts.
As an experiment, I made a wedge of credit cards cut into about 1/4th of the credit card size and glued them together to make a 1/4" stack. I placed this stack on the outside edge of my heel between the leather sole and the blade mounting plate, creating a trial wedge. It really helped! Yes, an outside wedge for pronation seems counterintuitive, but I had previously tried the stack under the inside edge and it made the pronation worse. I then took my boot to a cobbler and he made a leather wedge for the heel and the forward part of the boot, starting at about a 1/4" height and tapering off to nothing at the inside edge. He made wedges for front and back because if we just wedged the heel sole, then blade would be torqued when remounted. The leather wedges were glued on to the bottom soles and smoothed. I then remounted my blade exactly where it was before. Adding leather to the outer edge resulted in lifting my right heel up on the inside and it also pulled my 'duck feet' in to a straighter line. The really important effect is that now both blade edges are on the ice equally. Before, I was always skating on the inside edge on that foot. I wanted to share this with other skaters who are trying to adjust the skate to deal with pronation. The cobbler only charged $40 for this including any further adjustments (like shaving it down a bit, etc.) which was a bargain to me to solve this issue. Click on this link to see photos of what this looks like. It really worked for me. :thumbsup:http://s1056.photobucket.com/albums/t365/Icecutter9/
 
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jjane45

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 23, 2009
I too have pronation and was not able to get outside edges while breaking in skates. Bought them used from Rainbo Sports and they graciously inserted the shim after listening to my concerns and watching me walk in those skates. Did not have any problem since with outside edges!
 
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