Cracking The Code Of Heel Bruises

If you're a skater, you probably know how annoying heel bruises are. They hurt like hell and they keep coming back if you don't let them heal properly. They can mess up your skating and even your walking. So what are heel bruises and how can you deal with them?

Understanding Heel Bruises

Heel bruises happen when the fatty pad under your heel gets damaged by too much force or too many impacts. This pad is like a cushion that protects your heel bone from shocks. When it gets bruised, it swells up and becomes painful and sensitive.

The Road to Recovery

The best way to heal a heel bruise is to stop skating for a while and let it rest. This might suck, but trust me, it's better than skating with a bruised heel and making it worse. It could take a few days or a few months to heal, depending on how bad it is and how soon you rest.

Immediate Actions for Heel Bruises

If you get a heel bruise, here's what you should do right away: rest, ice, and elevate. Stop skating and put some ice on your heel for 15 to 20 minutes every hour for the first day or two. This will help reduce the swelling and the pain. Also, keep your heel elevated above your heart level when you're sitting or lying down. This will help the blood flow away from your heel and reduce the inflammation. After the first couple of days, you can switch to heat therapy to help the healing process. Apply a warm compress or a heating pad to your heel for 15 to 20 minutes a few times a day.

Gradual Return to Skating

When your heel starts to feel better, you can slowly get back to skating, but be careful not to overdo it. You should wear some kind of protection for your heel, like a heel cup or a gel pad, to absorb some of the impact and prevent further damage. You should also avoid jumping or landing hard on your heel until it's fully healed. Try to land more on your toes when you bail out of a trick or kick your board away. And don't forget to warm up before you skate and stretch after you skate.

Preventing Heel Bruises

There are also some things you can do to prevent heel bruises in the first place. One of them is choosing the right shoes for skating. You want shoes that have enough padding and cushioning in the heel area, but not too much that they make you lose board feel. You can also use skate-specific insoles that are designed to support your feet and absorb shocks better than regular insoles. Another thing you can do is improve your skating technique. Try to roll out of bails instead of stopping abruptly or slamming your feet on the ground. And try to land bolts (on the bolts) as much as possible, because that's the best way to distribute the force evenly across your feet and avoid stressing your heels.

Conclusion

To sum up, heel bruises suck, but they don't have to ruin your skating. If you understand what causes them and how to treat them, you can recover faster and prevent them from happening again. Remember: rest, ice, elevate, heat, protect, and land bolts. And have fun skating!