Fallen Arch

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Robb in Sacramento
Posts: 181
Joined: Fri Sep 25, 1998 6:01 am
Location: Sacramento, California, USA

Fallen Arch

Post by Robb in Sacramento »

Is there a podiatrist in the house?

I am leading workouts in a city facility with a concrete floor covered with some type of flexible floor covering. As I recall, training bare foot on a hard surface can be a bit wearing on ones feet and hips. Are there any supplemental exercises that are recommended to counter the effects of the hard surface? It seems to me toe curls help the arch as well as strenghening the foot. What are other people using to save their feet and hips from pain, or is everyone blessed with a nice wood floor?

Peace
Robb in Sacramento
Jessica
Posts: 21
Joined: Sun Dec 27, 1998 6:01 am
Location: Corinth,ME,USA

Fallen Arch

Post by Jessica »

Hi Robb,

In the building I first trained in, I had the luck of a nice wooden floor (but I also simultaneously trained on a cement floor in the basement, and a hard tile floor at my sensei's other school). Then, due to a change of buildings, we ended up having to train only a tile floor. The only time I usually notice any pain in the feet/ankles/legs/knees/hips/etc. is when I don't get warmed up enough, and the pain usually comes in the form of stiffness or cramps. But, the first 45-50 minutes of our adult class has always been stretching, warm up and strengthening exercises. So, I think by the time we end up moving up and down the floor, everyone is pretty well warmed up, and that type of pain isn't much problem. My guess is because we get so well warmed up.

However, what's real interesting is trying to train on the mats that the Aikido class uses (they're not the nice firm ones either). They have a lot of give, and can have other interesting effects.

I hope it all works out.

Jessica
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Bill Glasheen
Posts: 17299
Joined: Thu Mar 11, 1999 6:01 am
Location: Richmond, VA --- Louisville, KY

Fallen Arch

Post by Bill Glasheen »

Rob

Sorry, but there is no easy solution here. The best solution is to change the venue.

Here are some suggestions.

You mentioned there was some type of "surface" on the concrete floor. I'd be interested in knowing what that is. It is possible to get resilient, interlocking tiles that come in various thicknesses. They are expensive, but worth it. Last time I looked, you could get them in three thicknesses that ranged roughly (as I recall) from a half inch to an inch and a half. The lower thickness just takes the edge off. The highest thickness is good enough to use as a judo or aikido mat. I would recommend the intermediate thickness for folks doing Uechi training; a good Uechi dojo should be teaching simple, controlled throws, takedowns, and falls. This type of floor is cushioned enough to keep people from getting hurt badly when falling, but not so cushioned that they dramatically affect the way you move.

What do you do if you can't change your floor surface? Well I have some floors I work on that are a little harder than I like. They (and some knowledge acquisition) have taught me a lot about how you can adapt. The most important thing you can do when on your feet is to learn to be more "springy" with your legs. Those that work on nice springy floors with young legs think nothing about stomping down flat-footed in the seisan jump - both forward and back. Now that I am older, work on harder floors and wake up in the morning with that 1974 ankle injury complaining to me, I have seen the light. Last time Peggy Hess visited our Mid-Atlantic area, she spoke about how various Okinawan masters taught her to contact the floor first with the toe, then the ball of the foot, and then the heel. If you want to know what it sounds like when done properly, listen to a cat when they jump off a high surface and onto the floor. They don't try to impress us with a stomp. And in addition to the shock-absorbing effect of the foot and ankle, one must also have springiness in the knee and hip joints. This takes practice. And it isn't easy if you are already suffering from shin splints, sore ankles, and sore knees.

I highly recommend supplementing the karate work with good weight training done with PNF stretching before and after the training session. You want to work both flexion and extension at the ankle, knees, and hip.

ANKLE: Calf extensions (sometimes called toe raises) for the extension, pulling a bar attached to a "machine" with the top of your feet (while seated) for the flexion.

KNEE: Leg extension and hamstring flexion.

HIP: Squats (good for the whole leg) and leg raises.

ALSO: All the work you might do to increase the flexibility and strength of the toes for the sokusen are extremely valuable for developing a cat-like movement of the legs. It is also valuable for helping you maintaining the arch in your feet. I have a series of toe exercises - that don't involve kicking things - which we do in our class that work on both flexibility and strength.

When I first moved away from UVa and my $10K mat, I never thought I could do rolls and simple falls on a hard surface. Actually you can - with modifications and limitations.

When you learn to do a roll on a hard floor, it is a thing of beauty. Basically you need perfect form, need to flex all the muscles where the body contacts the floor, and know how to retract all the "pointy" areas of your body. Falls need to be limited, but they can be done. "Walking on the knees" is also a very good exercise in both form and strength. In the end you find you are not afraid to go down even on hard surfaces.

One final note - listen to your body. Pain means you need to modify what you are doing. That is one of your best tools for learning how to do things well.

- Bill
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