Skateboarding may seem easy at first glance, yet, this has to be one of the most challenging sports out there. Even though at first, it might not appear as hard as other extreme sports such as base-jumping, skydiving, or rock climbing, skateboarding arrives with its own lot of injuries and difficulties. It’s vitally important to mind your body and do the moves properly. How should your feet look on a skateboard? Let’s see! 

We’ve all witnessed these failed collections of skateboarders stacking rails, doing stunts, or face-planting. If not done properly, skateboarding may be bad for you. 

Skateboarding is a physically challenging sport that relies on the vigor of your skateboarding session and technique. If you just move around, you won’t get hurt often. Yet, the position of your feet needs to be correct. 

Regular and goofy are two main poses for your feet and whole body while skateboarding. Goofy-footers skate with their right foot at the front of the skateboard and move with their left foot. “Riding regular” indicates that you ride with your left foot as your front foot and move your skateboard by using your right foot.

How Does Skateboarding Affect Your Body?

First things first, the reprised act of forcing on a skateboard can cause a tiny pelvis misalignment. This can make your posture negligibly crooked. It may concern many other regions of your body if you don’t pay attention.

As a matter of fact, street skateboarding is physically insisting. The reprised smashes can provoke chronic pain. Transition skating is more manageable on the joints and will let riders follow skateboarding longer. It is really common to see retired street skaters swap to transition skating as they age.

Yet do not assume all skateboarding does is strain your body. What’s more, it’s quite the opposite. Skateboarding involves specific muscle groups you won’t be bothering in most other sports. By riding regularly, you will toughen your core stability, abs, back, ankles, legs, hips, and joints.

Skateboarding incorporates a lot of balance and body awareness. This will be very valuable in your day-to-day life. Skaters react better and quicker to unforeseen falls than the average individual.

Falling is, by all means, 90% of skating. Your body is always adjusting and responding to threats. This cracks straight outside of skateboarding.

Tip: One of the most interesting things is the ability to ride a skateboard backward, by all means. If you have not tried it already, make sure you do!

The Most Common Injuries in Skateboarding

Harms can occur fast with skating. One moment, you’re moving towards the sun, the following, you strike a rock and eat dirt. There are tons of circumstances that can provoke many sorts of injuries. Here are the most typical ones you may experience in your skateboarding journey. 

Scratches and Bruises

Like in many other professions, skating concerns bearing hits and losses to progress. This is a fact!

The distinction is the hits won’t come from a challenger yet from your own balcony. As a consequence, scrapes and bruises will be quite regular, by all means. 

The Heel Bruises

A heel bruise happens when you lose balance suddenly and land heel first, straight on the base, or on your deck. It is one of the most debilitating – even though not unbearable – injuries in skateboarding. 

Hot Pockets

Hot pocket is the slang utilized among skaters to direct to the upwards hyperextension of the ankle when the toes curl too much towards the shin. The discomfort often occurs after you land with too much of your body weight onwards. 

Sprained Ankle

Skateboarding provokes a lot of trauma on the ankles. This one is the regular skateboarder’s injury. 

Broken Wrist & Fingers

Behind the feet, the hands are another body part saving you in your fall. It’s not irregular to land poorly and get to take a choc in your wrist. Always seek medical attention in all these cases. 

Back Pain

Because of the reprised chocs and hits, you will set your body through, you may encounter some back pain after some time skating. It may arise from the corrective stance skateboarding leaves you with if you’re not attentive.

Is Skateboarding Bad for Your Knees?

Riding a skateboard cannot cause harm to your knees per se. In fact, it can be beneficial. The mobility of your joints maintains the muscles around the ligaments and prevents knee damage.

When you shoot some heights, it can evolve to be rather hard on the knees and provoke arthritis.

Why Do My Feet Hurt When I Skate?

Normally, if you skate regularly, your feet are your preliminary working instruments. They must take many impacts and can become painful if you don’t watch them adequately. What’s more, foot pain can arise from wearing bad skateboarding footwear.

Tip: There are indeed many reasons why skateboarding is good for you. This activity truly has something to it!

Shoes Don’t Fit Your Foot Type

Let’s begin with the most regular point here. Some individuals have wide feet while some have thin feet, yet shoe sizes are exact for everyone. This may not be too complex when wearing sneaks, yet when you are skateboarding, you want your shoes to suit your feet the best feasible.

One more thing that might provoke foot pain is if your shoe tongue doesn’t remain in position. This is a fact!

Tip: Are you a street or a park skateboarding type, by all means? There is a tiny difference between these two.

Thin Shoes

Thin shoes have evolved to be the standard nowadays. They deliver a more suitable board feel than the big puffed shoes, letting you do stunts with ease. There is a price, though.

They protect your feet from your skateboard hitting you. This goes without saying! If the top of your feet aches, look for wider shoes to detour the pain from getting worse. 

Poor Insoles

The stock insoles you get when purchasing new skate shoes may not save your feet well enough. If you feel pain in the sole of your feet, it is advisable investing in some crash reduction insoles.

If that is too expensive, you can double up the insoles by taking some other pairs. More often than not, the stock insoles won’t be guarding you that much. Moreover, you will be better off exchanging them against impact-lessening soles like FP Insoles.

Where Do I Put My Feet on a Skateboard?

As we said before, there are two different types of stances, goofy stance and regular stance. These terms are part of the slang that people use in every board sport like skateboarding, longboarding, wakeboarding, and snowboarding.

Tip: Are you a newbie? If that’s a yes, you should think about getting skate wheels suitable for beginners.

Goofy Stance in Skateboarding, What Is That?

A goofy stance means you put your right foot forward on the front of the board. Most skateboarders think that is “goofy” because it is out of the norm. Nonetheless, this type of stance is acceptable, but it’s just out of the usual rules.

Tip: You should really know how to properly fall off a skateboard, to avoid injuries. Your safety matters!

Regular Stance in Skateboarding, What Is That?

This is the most usual type of stance that skateboarders use. When you ride your skateboard with your left leg toward the front of the board, you have a so-called “regular stance”.

Is It Important in Which Way You Ride Your Skateboard?

The experience is almost the same whether you ride with a goofy stance or a regular stance. What matters is that you feel comfortable riding in both ways.

Try focusing on foot positioning for pushing and cruising instead. For your safety, please choose the right way to position your feet so-called- the “T” foot position. Don’t worry too much as you will find the balance that is suitable for you. Be brave and daring, don’t be afraid of challenges.

What Is the “T” Foot Position?

The “T” foot position is a basic and transitional resting place for your legs. You will be able to progress beyond this “T” foot position to the “horizontal” foot position, but you have to build up to it.

You must be good at mastering this so-called “T” foot position before replacing it with a “horizontal” foot position. Here is the explanation of the “T” foot position.

Do you want to rest and cruise for a bit? If so, you take this foot position.

Your forward foot is on the bolts in the same place from where you were pushing from, but then you put your pushing foot up on the board and form a “T” with your feet. It is simple as that.

This position will allow you to keep your balance. The key to success is in everyday practice.

Tip: If you like a certain activity, you are never too old for it. So, you are never too old to start skateboarding.

What Is the “Horizontal” Foot Position?

Transition to horizontal positioning starts with your feet in the “T” foot position. To do that, you have to turn your forward foot so that is horizontal with the back foot. Then slowly turn your forward foot without lifting your forward foot off of the board while doing this. You’re just rotating it around.

It is hard to explain this in words. Try to find a video on the internet to show you how to do the “T’ position on a real skateboard in real life and make the transition to the horizontal position.

It is simple as that. This position will allow you to keep your balance. The key is in everyday practicing, for sure.!