My gimpy foot and me

Most of the skating techniques we'll learn will mean standing with all our weight on one leg (the 'support leg') while doing an action with the other leg ('action leg', unsurprisingly).  The most basic form of this is gliding, which is balancing on one foot while in motion, and it's an essential skill.

However.  I am a special snowflake.

During our first lesson on gliding I discovered something... well, just really weird.  Most people will start a glide and travel in a roughly  straight line.  I glide on my right foot ... and make a beautiful arc to the left (admittedly this is very handy for going round the ends of the track!)  When I stand on my left foot ... I can barely do it for more than a second without toppling to the right.  Some further investigation and a reluctant visit to the doctor revealed that I have a dazzling future career as part of Monty Python's Ministry Of Silly Walks.



My right foot has always turned out by between ten and twenty degrees (family folklore suggests my leg was a bit twisted from birth) but it's never really bothered me before.  I actually think of my right leg as my stronger leg.  If I have a back ache after a hill walk it will be on the left side, and it seems like the reason might be that my left leg has been compensating for my right this whole time.

Basically, my feet are doing this:

AARGH!  WHAT THE HECK IS THIS MESS?  HOW HAVE I BEEN WALKING ON THESE FOR 25 YEARS?!

When I walk, I place my weight on the very edge of my left foot, as if I'm walking on a blade.  It's so normal for me that I'd never noticed, but when I checked all my shoes, I found that they show significantly more wear along the left edge.  Not a problem for everyday walking, and I've never been into running or a sport before, but when you tie your foot into a skate suddenly you haven't got that manoeuvrability to lean your foot.  I can't step onto just my two left-hand wheels, I have to use all four, so I'm forcing myself to stand on a part of my foot that I never use, and my muscles just have no idea how to deal with this.  Hence every time I try a left-footed glide, my foot feels like it's falling to the right inside my boot and I lose my balance.  My body is trying to lean my foot to the left and walk on it the way I usually do, but the fact my foot is in a skate means it can't.

This is a big issue for me, because if I can't stand reliably on one foot then the other skills become much more difficult.  The one thing that might work out is crossovers, because the leftward lean around the corners means I'm putting weight on the part of my foot that I'm used to anyway.

Solution? No idea.  I'm being referred to a physiotherapist and will probably end up with an insole or something that will help re-teach my body to stand as it's meant to.  At least this is being discovered now, rather than ages down the line when I've developed a skating style that compensates for the weird foot but doesn't fix it.  In the meantime there'll be nothing for it but lots of extra effort and practise to figure out how I'm going to glide on my left foot.