Whether you just purchased a new set of inline skates or are skating on a set you have had for a year or more you may be asking yourself if your skates are too big or too small. These questions have become more and more of an evident concern with more skates being purchased online with the actual brick and mortar shops to buy skates becoming harder to find.
Inlineskates.com offers a wide range of guides for buying inline skates, sizing and more including videos from our experts and industry alumni. There you can learn how to size your skates initially and the differences in skates and the prices charged for skates but what if you already own skates? Here we will go over just how to tell if your skates are too big or too small and if you’re lucky enough to have the correct size.
How do your feet feel after you go skating?
A sure sign that something is amuck with your sizing is if after going out for a skate you feel pain or discomfort in your feet. Now, obviously if you have not skated in months you can count on a bit of general soreness.
If a Skates Too Small
If a skates too small you will end up with a wide range of undesirable outcomes. In adults wearing an inline skate that is too small will lead to blisters, ingrown toenails, calluses or a collapsed arch. All these things are going to be uncomfortable and lead to a bad skating experience.
Even worse with children wearing a skate that is too small as the cartilage to bone ratio in a child’s foot is going to weigh heavier on the cartilage side. This can cause a malformation in the foot which can lead to foot issues later on in life.
If a Skates Too Big
If your skates are too big, you will feel a world of hurt which will only end when you get the proper size skates. A skate that is too large will cause blisters, hammertoes, bunions or calluses which come from the constant irritation which in turn gives you constant foot pain.
With kids, parents will sometimes purchase a skate too big to give the skater some additional growing room. What usually happens is the parent puts an extra set of socks on their child or stuffs something in the front of the skates boot. Neither of these will result in a positive outcome; two socks will lead to sweaty feet that will move around the boot causing blisters and stuffing something in the front of the skates boot will cause the skates design to not adhere to where the foot is sitting which can cause blisters, pain and discomfort.
How Do I Tell if my Inline Skates Fit Properly?
As an adult you should be able to try the skates on and get a pretty good indication of how the skates feel which will give you indication to how they fit. Typically you can get a decent idea just from trying the skates on indoors and standing in them putting pressure down and by doing this you are not skating outdoors on them making them returnable in most situations. Do note that a pair of inline skates may break in roughly a half size from how they initially fit when you try them on. When you first try a skate on you should be able to just barely touch the front of the skates boot with your toes, not having your toes curled or crushed but barely grazing the front of the boot. Once the skates break in your foot will slide back into a perfect fit.
For kids you can easily do the pencil (or pen) test. As most all kids inline skates are now adjustable you may have to try this on a few different sizes to get the best fit possible. To perform the pencil fit test you will want to have the child put on the skates loosely and bend their leg forward which will give you access to the back of the foot in the skate. Slide the pencil behind the Childs foot. A good fit is one pencil width with no wiggle room for the pencil. If there is more/less room the skate is going to be too big or too small.
