My left foot

[Raiza]

Hi there,

I was wondering if anyone else has had problems with the left foot after leaping forward. I broke mine (mulitple fracture of the fourth metatarsal) when I first started after successive leaps, but it did seem to heal completely after 8 months. However, I'm at a different dojo now and the floor has less give and I've been coming down with the same problem. The floor there is a traditional Japanese one built by a well-reputed karate sensei, so I trust its design is good. I just need to know exactly how people leap off without crunching their feet, as I don't want to do break the thing again.

So if you have any detailed instructions on how to distribute the weight across the foot properly during the leap, it would be greatly appreciated.

I do know that next time I go I'm going to have my footwork evaluated, even if it means being with the total newbies for a while until I get it right. :)

[ben]

Left foot break? I can understand right foot from fumikomi, but how you're breaking your left from leaping seems escapes me. Anyhoo, the main corrective with the left foot is to make sure it is straight when you push off. 90% of new kendoka rotate their left foot on take-off, which usually leads to blisters. Never heard of metatarsal breakage tho. Hope the evalusation sorts it out.

b

[Neil Gendzwill]

I'm having a hard time figuring this one out too. The metatarsals can break when your foot rolls over. Perhaps your foot is sideways on the push? Also make sure that you're not trying to jump too far. If you're trying to one-step it from way outside like a high school kid, you can hurt all kinds of stuff.

[GMason]

Firstly can I say sorry as I'm pissed !!! and I apologise for my rambling (and bad spelling)

I have the same problem !!!

From what I have been told the problem stem's from not keeping your left foot straight.

If you slightly turn your foot out (which is obviously bad) it will put extra stress on your left foot, and in my case, the big toe of my left foot which causes alot of pain.

If you straighten the left foot it might help the problem, but having said that, I am only working from my own limited expierance.

[KATSUJIN]

eys..its true....i saw somebody break their foot because of this unwanted stress on their foot....so keep ur foot twisted in so that it is parallel to ur right foot....less stressful on ur foot and more power to jump forward....

[Antonin]

I broke my foot once during kendo. Since I live in the Uk and the health care standard is, errrr..... not-as-good-as-on-the-continent-shall-we-say, the doctor could never tell me how, since they couldn't be bothered to take an X-ray. Fortunatelly, I have a BSc in Physiology, and it looked like a metacarpal break to me. It took about a month to be able to walk properly, and two to do some kendo. it still sort of hurts sometimes during training , when I don't train often enough. however, As everybody said, keeping your feet parallele, even when you push, should help you.
Antonin

[BigG]

If its any consolation, I have a similar problem but mine seems to be a sprain of the first and second toes at the knuckle where they protrude from the sole of the foot. First happened last week and while it hasn't been 'painful' as such, I have felt moderate discomfort all week. My damn toes started playing the same games again last night.

On the other hand, I think I've figured out what is causing it - incorrect stepping off/ launching during anything using fumikomi ashi. I've taken your suggestion on board to get my footwork looked at to try and get things sorted out.

In mild discomfort

BigG

[Raiza]

Thanks for your input!

The first time I broke my foot, it was over a week of practise with progressively increasing pain (which I stupidly shrugged off until it felt like a real break), so I'm going to tackle this problem before it becomes a real break again. An X-ray didn't detect the break initially but a bone scan did, which is common with stress fractures. It was located near the end of the long foot bone, at the base of the second smallest toe. Anyhow, I'll see how the assessment goes and I'll report back with what's been found.

Thanks again!
PS sorry for the crappy typos in my previous post, I must have been too tired :(

[rottunpunk]

hmmn sounds owwy

i keep getting picked up for not having my left foot straight

i dont feel im doing it and it feels more than wrong when i try to put it straight, it feels like my knee faces inwards or something

but my right foots fine if thats the one at the back, ive tried narrowing and widening my stance and pretty much everything but it just slips back into the more comfortable 'wrong' position-grr

any ideas?

:p

[nodachi]

I always try to twist my left foot in a little extra. The reason is that if I don't feel like I am twisting it inward that little extra bit, then it is not straight, but if I feel like I am twisting a little extra, then it is actually pointing straight like it should.

For me, when it is pointing straight, it feels like I am twisting it in more than I really am.

Hope this makes sense. Just woke up, gotta love holidays!

[rottunpunk]

yeah that makes sense
but when i try to do it, and my mind wanders off it, or i concentrate on something else it just goes back

ah well i guess it'll come in time

:p

[gill]

I dislocated my fourth metatarsal in my left foot several years ago, although I think it may have stemmed from the same thing.

I had pain in my left foot, and after lots of running around doctors and physiotherapists, who didn't have a clue, I was given insoles to wear in my shoes - but they did sod all good, and I still couldn't train. I saw a Chiropractor who noticed I had scar tissue round my ankle (which I has sprained a year earlier) and he treated that which helped a lot, but it was still not quite right, so I tried the insoles again, having worn them for 1 day, I couldn't walk the next morning, it was absolute agony. Masses of mis-diagnoses, X-rays, Bone Scans, MRI scans and Blood tests later they still didn't have a clue (To quote the podiatrist - I don't know what that lump on your foot is but I don't think its important!!!) :alien: Anyway, I went back to the chiropractor who went 'that's dislocated!' crunch! :eek: (The guys at the other end of the room heard it go back into place...) I was training a week later.

I still have some pain, and I need to wear a neoprene ankle support which helps keep everything in place and my feet make wonderful clicking noises but the moral of the story is - be careful!!!!!! (and make sure you see a good doctor!!)

Happy Crimbo

Gill :D

[JSchmidt]

""Even the smallest people can change the course of the future" - Galadriel in Fellowship of the Ring, the motion picture"

Just to nitpick, that quote appeared first in the book, not the motion picture!

Jakob

[rottunpunk]

yeah i know-but i couldnt find what page in the book and as a lawyer we are encouraged to associate our quotes correctly, as i didnt know what page it was on i didnt see any harm in quoting the film

anyways that point was highly off topic dude

:p

[Raiza]

Been way too long away, so here's what I found out regarding my propensity for breaking my left foot.
For those of you who said that it was due to improper foot alignment, you were right. I had my footwork evaluated and have been running around lately with my hakama hiked up. Although most of the time my left foot would be straight, right before the leap forward my forefoot would rotate outwards. Keeping it straight upon liftoff meant the weight was evenly distributed across the foot, whereas before it was being distributed towards the outer toes. The suggestion of 'overturning' the foot works great and my feet line up just right. Feels weird, but I'll get used to it-it feels much better than a foot fracture.

Thanks!

[Steve]

from the sounds of the above posts, i think that your problem has been found to be the angle of your foot.

Take small steps until you can keep it straight, then gradually increase the step size.

You may want to consider wearing a neoprene compression bandage on your foot/ankle to give you some extra support until you rebuild the strength of the weakened areas.