Expand Quote
Likely no one will agree with this take, but once you get a certain age you can't solve stuff like this with just shoes. Chances are if your feet hurt or you are prone to ankle rolling, you need to do some sort of prehab or rehab to actually strengthen your ankles.
About 1 year ago I fell while rock climbing and ruptured all the ligaments in my right ankle. It was constantly sore for months and despite doing adequate rehab, it would still tweak. In November I started actually doing some ankle strengthening movements (largely from the Kneesovertoesguy youtube) and the difference is night and day. I can actually skate shoes that I would have considered tippy in the past and I never get sore ankles, calves, or knees unless I do something super weird. Insoles are nice, but essentially a crutch for the rest of the skeletal chain.
Oh no, I VERY much agree with this take. I could probably ‘solve’ the genesis of 90% of my gear madness, by trying to recomposition my body. When I was ‘decent’, I probably weighed 20#s less (20 years younger as well). Now I’m trying all types of setups and bullshit because I’m trash, and although I don’t ‘look’ fat, I’m not right physically. I complain about my weight, which is really a poor metric for health, mainly because my lower body starts to hurt more, and I become less motivated to do physical shit, which in turn fucks with the mentals. I notice lower leg, and foot pain, quickly. It keeps me off of board more than anything else. Diet would solve it. But nooooo. Here I am bothering strangers on the net with my rants/questions about ‘which wb will make me young’.
So yes, it’s pretty funny how I can lose as little as 5#s and all of a sudden enjoy skating in vulcs again.
I’ll check knees over toes, he seemed a bit much, but you gotta be I guess.
I’ve been using some of his exercises as well, but some of his stuff also seems so fanatical and erroneous that I was not surprised when I heard he’s a scientologist.
Developing the strength or structural integrity in the feet and legs definitely is the cure for these issues, but as for the symptoms I can say for me I get back pain / stiffness in my lower back when I skate Vans (the Pro Classics or whatever they were) within 30 minutes, and mostly none with NB# 1010s and SB Bruin Reacts, so I’m sticking with cupsoles for now.
Also working with a physical therapist currently and would love to skate some wide-fitting vulcs like Sk8 His again in future, but I can manage with cups as well