Zigactly

Hi there, ok, I just thought I would mention my experience switching from laces to bungees just in case it helps prevent an injury. I am not a young man and I have never been overly flexible; however, I have never experienced issues with my knees over the years of playing goal. At the start of this season I purchased a new set of pads that came with a bungee toes tie system. Being uninitiated, and having used skate laces for years, I looked up how to attach them to my skates and assumed they would work just fine. Well, after each of the first two ice times, my knees really hurt. Initially, I blamed the knee stacks and bought different knee pads, but the third skate I went down hard into a butterfly and I heard my right knee pop followed by blinding pain. A long story short, I tore the MCL and damaged my ACL in my right knee, and I have a lesser MCL tear on my left knee. Months of physio and I still cannot walk without a limp, let alone play hockey. So, what your point? Ok, (a) I am likely too old to play and just not smart enough to quit, and (b) the bungees that came on my goalie pads simply did not have enough give in them - for me. They kept the toe of my skate too tightly attached to the centre of the pad which put my foot in an awkward angle in the butterfly. Essentially, when I was in the butterfly my toes were pointed up, with my heels on the ice, instead of my foot pointing down or level/parallel with the ice. Is some of this my fault? Of course. I did not pay enough attention to how much stretch the bungees had for me. I just assumed that they are the latest in goalie technology and did not think much about it. There are a lot of different bungees and toe tie systems, so if you, like me are switching from skate laces (or leather, or baling twine) I encourage you to try the systems out to make sure that the have enough give to avoid adding unnecessary strain on your knees and hips. To be clear, my intent is not to complain or claim that bungee systems are somehow bad, of course they are not, or I only post this because maybe it will help someone else to avoid damaging their knees. New and shiny is not necessarily better, so check it out to make sure it will work for you. Cheers!