Fast forward a few decades and I now have a 9 year old son who has inherited my flexible flat feet(bad luck!) but in spite of that, he is excelling in hockey. How is he doing it you might ask? Before telling you what is working for him, I'll tell you what has NOT worked despite our best efforts.
- Custom orthotics
- Skate blade holder wedging
- Shifting the skate holder
- Wrapping the laces around the skate
- Taping the skate and or ankles
You may have tried one or more of the above methods and have come to the same conclusion. The reason they don't work is due to the "flexible" aspect of flexible flat feet.
Sure orthotics might work fine in footwear but once you have to balance on a narrow blade all the support is lost. Likewise, shifting the blade around might help change the center of balance on the foot but because the foot is "flexible" it's impossible to maintain that balance. Furthermore, a lot of force is applied medially and laterally to the ankle when skating and playing hockey which makes any balancing act even more difficult. Finally, one might attempt to counter the flexible tendency of the foot by wrapping the foot and/or skate in tape and then follow that up by wrapping the laces around the boot. Alas, as you probably already know, this doesn't work either. Creating this almost cast like structure might reduce a tiny bit of the medial/lateral flexibility but it also hinders the regular forward flexibility needed to be able to skate with any sort of proficiency. Its also very uncomfortable! Uncomfortable and not working is a surefire recipe for giving up hockey!
So after a lot of experimenting and frustration I finally came up with something that works(at least for now).
The answer is hinged volleyball braces. These are the ones my son is using:
To illustrate the impact these braces have on my sons ability to skate, I have posted a video: The first 1.5 minutes shows my son skating with the braces and in the last 1.5 minutes he is skating without them(he is skating with an over the counter orthotic in both segments of the video). I think one can clearly see the remarkable difference removing the brace has on his skating ability. You may even notice some of the audio is muted in the 2nd segment...I muted out his complaints of having to skate without the braces! Poor guy! :)
Some important points about the braces:
- The braces have to be the hinged kind to allow the foot to flex back and forth but not side to side.
- They have to be small enough to fit a child's foot and small enough to fit in a hockey skate.
- They probably won't work for adults(maybe smaller/lighter ones)
Using these hinged braces in skates has required a lot of trial and error to get the feeling right. There's often complaints from my son of being uncomfortable...at which point we redo them until they feel right. This sometimes takes a few tries...and a lot of patience! Putting on skates with braces inside is tricky at best.
I previously mentioned fitting a child's foot... the smallest I have been able to find in these braces are women's extra small... basically equal to a men's size 3 I think. My son is size 1 and he was wearing these when he was size 12 youth. So they are sized a little big but they work. Any bigger and probably not so much.
I have tried this method on myself and unfortunately it doesn't work. I believe the reason being is that I'm too big and heavy for these braces to provide the required resistance needed to counter the forces generated by skating(and by gravity!). This means that unfortunately this solution may only work for kids or maybe really light/small adults. You may have more luck than I did.
I should also point out that my son also wears a pair of Superfeet(over the counter sport orthotics) in his skates with some silicone I have added to create heel posts. He prefers these over the custom orthotics he has used in the past. The modified Superfeet help align his feet better in the skate but as previously mentioned they do nothing to align the skate. I do recommend using some kind of orthotic along with the braces. In the video he is wearing the orthotics and as you can see they don't help at all by themselves.
As I have previously alluded to, I think this is a short term solution. Its not perfect and a bit cumbersome but far superior to the alternatives. I have researched a procedure called Hyprocure which uses a titanium stent to stabilize the foot. This might be the ultimate long term solution but it is expensive and there aren't any doctors in my city experienced in performing the procedure. Via google I have found a doctor in a neighbouring city that is experienced in doing this procedure and I will likely reach out to him soon.
If we go through with the procedure, I will provide an update with another video showing how it has impacted my sons skating(after sufficient post-op healing). If I can afford it, I may get get it done on myself at the same time so that I can relate to what my son is feeling during the recovery process...and who knows...maybe I'll take up rec hockey! So stay tuned for that but in the meantime give the volleyball ankle brace idea a try. I think the proof really is in the video.
If you have any questions let me know below and I'll try to answer them
cheers
D
