Last week, I tried out some new skates that seemed to fit OK at first. About 30 minutes into playing I felt my heel start to get hot, but continued skating. When I finally removed the skates from my feet I observed a dime-sized portion of skin on my right heel had been rubbed right off. If you’ve ever experienced this you know it causes extreme discomfort for weeks to follow. Luckily, there is something you can do to minimize the pain.
I first learned about how to treat blisters while hiking the Pacific Crest trail as a teenager, but didn’t correlate its usage for hockey until my teammate Justin pointed it out.
Moleskin
Use an exacto knife or box cutter to make a ring shaped patch to put over the affected area. Make the hole in the center is the same size or larger than the blister. This will keep the skin from rubbing in the same place, helping it heal faster. Most moleskin comes sticky sided. To help it from coming loose you can use you hockey tape to cover it.
Preventative Measures
- Make sure you are wearing skates that fit your foot
- Once you feel burning caused from your skin being rubbed raw, take action (Don’t keep playing like I did)
- Wear a new pair of skates around the house to accelerate the break-in process. If you have skates that bake, take them to a shop and get them properly molded.
Tags: treatment
I know how that feels. Breaking in some new skates is one of the most brutal experiences and believe me, I had them. Anyways I would like to say that this is my first time visiting and I subscribed because you have a fanatastic and neat layout on your site. Keep up the good work 🙂