Ankle pain on Oxelo MF500
EDIT: I added images in the comments, thanks fredhsu for the suggestion. (also, I am a beginner (these are my first skates), so that could play a role in something)
Disclaimer: I have watched that one video of a guy suggesting to use floor protectors inside the shell, didn't work for me.
I would appreciate any help or opinions
The pain is not on the center of the big ankle bone bump. It is slightly diagonal and forward/above it (anterior and superior), right in the soft tissue crease where the front tendons run (random ankle image from google, pain area is circled)
There is absolutely no pain when standing, walking, or just wearing the skates, pain only occurs while skating, and seems to be triggered by forward flexion/dorsiflexion or really any skating movement. Cruising on rough asphalt also trigger the pain due to vibrations.
I can comfortably skate for 1-2 hours before the ankle area starts hurting. After that I need to wait for it to fully heal until I can skate again. Right side/foot always starts hurting before the left side and always hurts more.
Also the skates were bought used, so I don't think "breaking in" is an issue.
WHAT I HAVE TESTED/OBSERVED:
- my heel is completely locked by the 45° buckle, there is no heel lift or forward sliding
- with the liner removed there is a surprisingly large gap between my ankle and the shell, (*EDIT: so turns out this isn't true. I used to unintentionally push my foot forward so there was a large gap. But now when I tried the shell on without the liner, with my heel fully seated at the back, there isn't a large gap around my ankle. There is plenty of space around the outside of the ankle, but the medial/inside of my ankle, the side where it hurts, actually sits much closer to the shell. So there is significantly less space than I initially thought).
I can move my foot in every direction with zero pain, the pain only appears if I manually press my ankle against one specific spot on the inside of the shell.
-->based on this correction, is it possible that since my inside ankle already sits very close to the shell, the liner will occupy the remaining space, tightening the cuff compresses the liner and my foot even more, during movement, my soft tissues expand slightly, and the tissue is trapped against the shell
-sitting down, if I simply pull my toes upward inside the skate (dorsiflex), I can reproduce the exact pain. However, with the liner removed and no contact with the shell, dorsiflexion is completely painless. With the liner in, even dragging my foot backwards reproduces the pain
- adding felt, cotton pads, thicker socks, etc. (in different areas, from my socks to the shell) does not help
WHERE THE SHELL HURTS:
https://imgur.com/eizfDrD (left image is left foot/skate, right image is the right foot/skate)
LEFT SIDE - if my heel is fully seated back, pressing my ankle against the shell doesn't hurt much, if I slide my foot/fingers all the way into the shell (my heel is no longer in the back) and press my foot against the shell, it will start hurting against the orange circled area
RIGHT SIDE - it hurts in the orange circled spot even with my heel fully back (my right foot also hurts sooner while skating). Also, when I push my foot to the front of the boot, same thing happens as with the left image, same spot as the left skate
CUFF ISSUE?
One thing that seems strange is that I have to tighten the upper cuff buckle almost to the end of the ladder just to get decent ankle support. Instead of wrapping evenly around my lower leg, it feels like tightening the cuff mainly flattens the boot from side to side, almost like squeezing an oval into a narrower shape. That seems to clamp directly on the sides/front of my ankles while still leaving empty space between my shin and the tongue.
If I loosen the cuff, the pain becomes less, but then I lose too much lateral support
My question is, is this a shell geometry issue, cuff geometry that doesn't match my lower leg, a liner problem, or something else?