Advice on skates; narrow heel

[Agibbs]

Hi everyone! So glad I found this site I’m in the market for new skates and am struggling. I am currently in Jackson Freestyles wide width and I broke them down quite fast. At first they seemed to fit really well but within about 2 months I had a lot of heel slippage and there’s a lot of room for my toes to move up and down and I find my toes often curl and grip while I’m skating. For reference, I am consistently landing a toe loop and salchow. I am an adult skater that is 5’9” and I weigh about 175, hence why I’m going to a higher stiffness (have a nice bend in all the options I tried).

I went to try new skates yesterday and it felt like a bit of a fiasco. I tried Riedells (equal stiffness to the Jackson 3500), Jackson debut (not close to stiff enough) and the elite 3500, and Edea ice fly and chorus (they didn’t have concerto in my size). We went to a regular width and down a half size because my heel is quite narrow but the ball of my foot is not. So every single pair of skate I tried on hurt so much on the sides of my feet and under on the ball of my foot. My toes also touch the end of the boot but come off a hair when I bend at the knee. The skate tech (highly recommended shop) said we can punch them out and it should relieve the pressure but at this price point, what if it doesn’t? And even going to a more narrow width, I still had the tiniest bit of heel lift in every option. Does anyone have suggestions?

ETA: my feet still hurt from the process yesterday

 

[Coach Aimee]

I have a narrow heel. I struggled with Riedell until I switched to Edea. Honestly, for me, Edea solved the problem without any specific custom shaping. I started with the Ice Fly. Went to Piano. And now, I'm in Concerto. Of all three, I prefer the Concerto.

I highly recommend Edea for skaters with narrow heels.

Edea uses a dual last system. The difference between one last and another is not only across the ball of the foot but also in the heel and in the internal volume of the boot.

The most important element in skate fit is the heel, so after you have determined the correct width based on a new foot tracing (seriously, your tech should do this!). The heel pocket must be the right size.

The area around the ball of the foot can be more easily adjusted with customer shaping.

If you fit only at the widest part of your foot can lead to injuries such as rubbing, blisters, calcium deposits, heep bumps, and calluses.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

Hi everyone! So glad I found this site I’m in the market for new skates and am struggling. I am currently in Jackson Freestyles wide width and I broke them down quite fast. At first they seemed to fit really well but within about 2 months I had a lot of heel slippage and there’s a lot of room for my toes to move up and down and I find my toes often curl and grip while I’m skating. For reference, I am consistently landing a toe loop and salchow. I am an adult skater that is 5’9” and I weigh about 175, hence why I’m going to a higher stiffness (have a nice bend in all the options I tried).

I went to try new skates yesterday and it felt like a bit of a fiasco. I tried Riedells (equal stiffness to the Jackson 3500), Jackson debut (not close to stiff enough) and the elite 3500, and Edea ice fly and chorus (they didn’t have concerto in my size). We went to a regular width and down a half size because my heel is quite narrow but the ball of my foot is not. So every single pair of skate I tried on hurt so much on the sides of my feet and under on the ball of my foot. My toes also touch the end of the boot but come off a hair when I bend at the knee. The skate tech (highly recommended shop) said we can punch them out and it should relieve the pressure but at this price point, what if it doesn’t? And even going to a more narrow width, I still had the tiniest bit of heel lift in every option. Does anyone have suggestions?

ETA: my feet still hurt from the process yesterday

You may need a split width boot, many of us have narrow heels and wider toeboxes. I'm also wondering if you might have hammer toes/mallet toes from the issues with your current boots.
With your height/weight none of the boots you tried sound like what you need at all.
Have you tried Risport or Graf?

 

[Flying Feijoa]

Just from my own experience, I found Edea actually had more heel slippage than Jacksons...
I have a pretty large split width though (3 sizes) so no stock boot was really going to solve the problem.
If you have a smaller difference you might get away with trying one of the brands the others mentioned and getting the toebox stretched out.

 

[MCsAngel2]

I second the idea to order split widths. It's a semi custom order Jackson has, and I think Riedell, not sure about the others. Someone at that highly recommended shop needs to measure the width of the ball of your foot and the heel and see what you're really dealing with. Because it sounds like you definitely have more than one size difference between the ball and the heel (which is what a "regular" foot has).

 

[outside edge enjoyer]

The skate tech (highly recommended shop) said we can punch them out and it should relieve the pressure but at this price point, what if it doesn’t? And even going to a more narrow width, I still had the tiniest bit of heel lift in every option.

This is an incredibly valid worry--there's no way of knowing whether punching out will solve the problem until you've bought the boots. I don't think I have a big enough width difference to warrant a split width, but I got new boots a couple months ago that I ended up having to get punched out twice around the pinky toe because of mild discomfort/tightness, and the difference was just enough to relieve the small excess of pressure. So please don't buy any boots that your feet are still hurting from a day later! Custom/split width is probably by far the best thing for you.

 

[LolaSkatesInJapan]

I have a narrow heel. I struggled with Riedell until I switched to Edea. Honestly, for me, Edea solved the problem without any specific custom shaping. I started with the Ice Fly. Went to Piano. And now, I'm in Concerto. Of all three, I prefer the Concerto.

I highly recommend Edea for skaters with narrow heels.

Edea uses a dual last system. The difference between one last and another is not only across the ball of the foot but also in the heel and in the internal volume of the boot.

The most important element in skate fit is the heel, so after you have determined the correct width based on a new foot tracing (seriously, your tech should do this!). The heel pocket must be the right size.

The area around the ball of the foot can be more easily adjusted with customer shaping.

If you fit only at the widest part of your foot can lead to injuries such as rubbing, blisters, calcium deposits, heep bumps, and calluses.

I also have narrow heels and both my coaches + the professional skate boot fitter recommended Edea skates for me. My left foot doesn't need customization at all, I wear Edeas size 255B as it comes from the manufacturer, but my right foot is a bit wider around the ball of the foot, so the fitter just increases a bit the width of the right boot for me.
I just got new Edea boots about 10 days ago (my previous boots were Edeas too, but due to the tongue being the tongue with the sewing in the middle, it lead to all kinds of problems, especially in my right foot, so this time it was recommended that I have the tongue that doesn't have the sewing in the middle) and I love them so much.

But it's always best to have this fitting in person, not online, with a professional fitter who will fit with the correct size and customize the Edeas as needed (always Edea authorized dealer only) for width aruond the toes, since the manufacturer width (D, C, D etc) is regarding heel width.

 

[mskater93]

I also have a narrow heel and wider ball/toe. I was in Harlick until the 17+ month wait for new boots. I am currently in a pair of Grafs which I love.

 

[emilinkaa]

I have a wider toe and narrow heel and I am in Risport RF3 Pros, wish they came in a split width tho!