Beginner roller skating
The Strap Over Your Tendon Is Not Too Tight
Inner ankle pain under the strap after ten minutes gets blamed on the boot. A certified coach points elsewhere: the angled strap sits over the tendon to your big toe. Stand tall, weight drops to your heels, the tendon pops up under the strap, and your toes grip until the arch cramps. Sink into knees over toes: the tendon relaxes. Technique from ICP-certified coach Asha Kirkby.
Inner ankle pain under the strap after ten or fifteen minutes is usually read as a boot problem, and the usual reaction is to loosen the strap. A certified coach traces the pain somewhere else entirely.
The angled strap across the front of the skate sits directly over the main tendon that runs to your big toe. With a proper knee bend, knees over toes, the weight sits over the front of the foot and that tendon stays soft and relaxed under the strap.
Stand up tall and the chain starts. The weight drops back onto the heels, the tendon tightens and pops upward against the strap, the strap presses and rubs, and the toes curl and grip inside the boot to compensate. After ten to fifteen minutes of gripping, the arch of the foot cramps and the inner ankle hurts.
Sink into knees over toes and the tendon relaxes, immediately. This site has said before that skates that hurt are a quality problem, not a newness problem; this page is about one specific pain, under the strap, that a beginner can switch off by posture alone. Loosening the strap is the one thing that does not help.
Technique from Asha Kirkby of Skatefresh, an instructor certified by the Inline Certification Program. She teaches inline skating, and that is the discipline this page is about. Nothing on this page is for sale: no brand is recommended and no link leads to a shop.
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