The Best Insoles for Hockey and Ice Skates 2023
What makes an excellent footbed for wearing in your skates?
An easy and effective way to increase comfort and performance of your hockey skates or other ice skates is to add a supportive insole. Adding insoles to your skates can improve your energy transfer, your feeling of connectedness to the ice and your edge control.
The best insoles for skates are those which custom mold to the shape of your unique feet. They should also be thin enough to fit in your skates comfortably.
If you experience numbness or tingling in your toes while skating, you should also consider an insole with a built-in metatarsal pad.
Can you add regular insoles to ice skates?
The short answer to this question is that it depends on your ‘regular’ insoles and on your skates. When it comes to ice skates, and hockey skates in particular, having an insole with proper structure and moderate rigidity is important.
An insole that has some firm support will add to your energy transfer to the ice, for a more effective push off and more control.
Many ‘regular’ insoles are mainly soft foam and offer little structural support. These insoles may fit in your skates, but they won’t offer much in the way of improving performance or preventing fatigue.
To prevent fatigue and improve performance and control in your skates, you’re best off using a custom moldable insole with dynamic arch support.
SOLE Performance Thin footbeds offer custom moldable support for ice skates.
SOLE Performance Thin footbeds offer custom moldable support for ice skates.
Why use custom moldable insoles for hockey skates?
A custom moldable insole forms to the shape of your unique feet. Once molded, the insole acts like a dynamic second skin, distributing pressure evenly across the bottom of your feet.
This even distribution of pressure helps improve comfort in your skates by preventing hot spots and pressure points.
A custom moldable insole can also help improve performance in your skates. By molding to your feet, the insole gives you constant even contact with the bottom of your skate, across your foot. This helps improve edge control and your general feel of connectedness to the ice.
Dynamic, custom moldable, supportive insoles for hockey and ice skating.
SOLE offers a range of custom moldable footbeds that work excellently in hockey skates. Our Signature Supportive Shape offers dynamic arch support that’s clinically proven to reduce strain in your feet by a third.
Less strain means more comfortable feet in your skates, and less fatigue.
Our insoles excel at energy transfer from your feet to your skates. Their dynamic arch offers semi-rigid structural support that hugs your feet, but also flexes with changes in pressure in your skate as you push off, turn or stop.
All SOLE footbeds can be custom heat molded to your feet in just minutes, using your oven at home.
SOLE footbeds we recommend for skates.
Which SOLE footbeds are best hockey and ice skate insoles?
We recommend any of our Thin footbeds for hockey and other ice skates as they take up the least space in your skates, for the most comfortable fit. Our Thin footbeds come in a choice of either ReCORK Recycled Cork, or an EVA plastic base.
The Performance Thin is made with recycled natural cork. This material is an excellent thermal insulator, making this a great choice for those who suffer from cold feet. The cork is also incredibly sustainable, made from wine corks collected from around North America by our recycling initiative, ReCORK.
The Active Thin is made with 20% post-industrial recycled EVA plastic. This material is incredibly durable. It’s the best choice for people who will take their footbeds out of their skates on a regular basis to dry them out.
Both of these footbeds are available with a built-in metatarsal pad, more on that below.
Hockey and ice skate insoles for forefoot pain, numbness or tingling.
If you suffer from numbness or tingling in your toes, or pain just behind your toes in the balls of your feet, a SOLE footbed with a built-in metatarsal pad is a great option for you.
The metatarsal pad supports your foot’s bones in their natural spread, helping increase circulation in the forefoot and preventing a sense of your feet being cramped in your skates.
The metatarsal pad is especially effective for people who suffer from conditions like metatarsalgia or Morton’s neuroma.
The Performance Thin works great in hockey skates, as captured by Cody Baker Photography.
The Performance Thin works great in hockey skates, as captured by Cody Baker Photography.
Hockey skate insoles for high arches.
A hallmark of the SOLE Signature Shape is our high supportive arch – the highest on the market! Our footbeds are an excellent option for adding support to your skates if you have high arches in your feet.
Our Performance Thin and Active Thin footbeds have the same arch height, but we recommend the EVA plastic of the Active thin for those looking for the most sturdy support in their arch.
"Still playing at a professional level, these have helped with my balance and continuous comfort out on the rink. The Active Thin really makes a difference on comfort and push off when I need to accelerate." - Dakota, L on the SOLE Active Thin
What if you need hockey insoles for flat feet?
People with flat feet and fallen arches can benefit most from adding supportive structure to their skates. Adding a supportive arch will be hugely beneficial in preventing fatigue while you skate.
SOLE insoles are an excellent choice for people with flat feet due to their heat moldable construction. Our footbeds can be heat molded in your oven at home up to 5 times. This will allow the arch to conform to your feet, increasing comfort without compromising support.
With our dynamic arch support added to your skates you should experience not just more overall comfort in your skates, but better control and response form your skates too.
Hockey skate insoles for pronation.
The SOLE Signature Shape combines a deep heel cup with our industry-leading arch support. This combination is excellent at promoting neutral alignment. SOLE footbeds are especially effective at correcting biomechanical issues like pronation.
The deep heel cup and a combination of both medial and lateral arch support, combine to keep your ankles positioned in stable neutral alignment. This improvement in alignment helps protect your joints on the ice and improve your control and confidence in your skates.