Optimize Your Biomechanics When Skating.
To design the highest quality custom orthotics, we need to get assistance from the the highest quality athletes.
MyoDynamic had the chance to meet Wayne Gretzky to see what he thought of our skate - oriented custom orthotics. Wayne signed off on our Carbon Fibre design and said, “the most important aspect in skating is to develop a good fluid stride.” The Carbon Fibre design happens to be our #1 choice for our high performance hockey players.
Although your thigh muscles are extremely important for speed, your technique and stance are equally as important.
Chest:
- Must be square to the ice.
Arms:
- Lock at 90 degrees and move them in the forward and back direction.
- Swinging your arms side to side will add lateral movement to your stride and decrease forward propulsion.
Knees:
- Slightly bent over the toecaps of the skates. In order to generate maximal speed from toe-off your knees should be bent to closer to 90 degrees.
The Great One says in his hockey training tutorials, “one of the most important aspects is to bend your knees and get lower to the ground, as this will allow you to extend your pushing leg further on the ice.”
Ankle:
- Must dig the inside edge into the ice during toe-off.
“If you don’t hear the crunch during toe-off, you’re not digging hard enough.”
Recovery (swing phase):
- Keep your skate low to the ice and in a straight line. A straight line is the fastest way back to skate-to-ice contact.
By capitalizing on these point you will be able to match your efficiency to your power, which in turn will allow you to move much faster on the ice. As Wayne once said, ‘skate where the puck is going to be, not where is has been.’
Get a therapist to analyze how you walk across the dressing room floor in your socks/barefoot and ask them to take note whether or not you walk primarily on your heels or toes, and to pay attention to the integrity of the foot arch as you step. Players with collapsed arches and flat feet usually have a greater difficulty supporting stride extension and snapping the toe at the end, which ultimately results in poor recovery.
A custom orthotic blocks that movement of the arch. When you push off, your arch is already in contact with the orthotic. It doesn’t drop and your foot does not roll down and inwards. The pushing energy from your legs is immediately transferred through the orthotic into the skate and then to the ice. The same thing happens with cornering, stopping, and any other maneuver.
What this feels like is a faster, more responsive skate. You move, and the skate moves with you immediately. You get sharper turn-in, more immediate power when you push off, and quicker stopping. Playing with orthotics in your skates is like driving a car with high-performance tires. Without orthotics, it’s more like driving on half-flat tires.