This may seem a stupid question but does anyone else have problems with their feet and ankles?. When I am sparring it is not to bad as I am usually padded up but when I am hitting the pads or bags I keep banging my feet and ankles when I get range a bit off. I don't want to pad up for this as I want to condition my shins but I can barely walk some days after training and I am missing out on running. I have already broke a bone in my right foot. Have I just got week feet?. Is there anything I can do ?.
Do you wear anklets? If not these will help. If you hit the end of your foot its very easy to strain the ankle by trying to bend it the wrong way. Best get your range right before hitting hard, this is the sort of injury that will plague you for a long time otherwise. :cry:
I get this sometimes, but I think it's because I have short legs! If I don't get my foot it's my knee... if I am doing padwork with someone I get them to use only one pad and on bags it is just like Robz said - a matter of getting range right, or slightly adapting technique to suit you, after all everyone is different.
Maybe you should try some more accuracy padwork, instead of just power? If you're off target often enough to be causing you pain regularly it could benefit you.
It sounds like you are hitting the bag with your feet, not your lower leg/ankle area. Your feet are full of tons of little bones, and if you bash them against the bag, they will continue to hurt. When you kick, tense up your lower leg and hit the actual bag with the lower part of your shin. That is one big bone with tendons covering it. When tense it is a much more durable tool than your feet. Hopefully this will solve your problems very quickly.
To explain a little further, I am intending to hit with my shins but when I am practicing combinations I am sometimes a little off with my range. Ankle supports sound a good idea.
if your working with combos just slow them down a little bit whenever you throw kicks to make sure you're doing it right. no point in practicing if your not doing it right!
Well... I'm no authority, *cough*Ikken*cough* but I will give it a try. In other MA, you sometimes roundhouse and strike with your foot. Thaiboxing does not do this, in large part because of the problem you are experiencing currently. Think of your feet- there are literally dozens of little bones that form the structure, all held together by a web of tendons, ligaments, etc. Your feet are amazing if you really think about it- they give you traction, allow you to move and land comfortably and effectively for the majority of your lifetime... they (like hands) are really pretty amazing in function and form. Your shin, on the other hand, is essentially just one large, thick bone with muscle hanging off it. There are a few big tendons and the necessary ligaments, but really it is just a support structure, nothing more. The shin is able to withstand the rigors of thaiboxing much better than your poor feet. Ikken posted a brilliant thread about the thai roundhouse- check it out! Look at all the pics in that thread, and notice when the actual connection between the bag and the fighter occurs- right on the lower shin/ankle! They raise up, the leg turns over, they pivot out on their post leg, and.... BAM! They roundhouse! But the actual strike always hits just above the foot, not on it. If you tense your foot up it will tighten the tendon on the front of your ankle, making it hard and very tough. That is what you want to hit your opponent with! Have you spoken with your instructor about this? If not, you should. If they allow you to roundhouse with your foot, you might want to think about a different school- it really is a basic (and incredibly important) aspect of thaiboxing. Edit- Re: anklets I've never used anklets, so I can't say if they are good or not. Some guys I know use them, others don't. However, I can say that they won't do you any good if you don't fix your form. Until you do that, your feet will continue to hurt because they aren't made to withstand the constant abuse or kick a bag. (the only thing you have to do to figure that out is roundhouse a heavybag once with your foot- it is horribly painful! You'll never want to kick again)
I would like to point out a few things: 1. When I practiced wuzuquan, we kicked with our ?instep? (the top part of our foot) with our roundhouse kicks, and I could kick the bag 50-100 times in rapid succession, as hard as I could (well, not exactly, you guys know how it is after 45 hard kicks) and my foot doesn't hurt very bad after it has been conditioned. If you are kicking on your feet, make sure that you are hitting with the top of your foot, and not your ankle. That's what the problem is, that he is hitting on the ankle. I'd hate to hit my bag over and over again on my ankle. IMO, that's reason number one for using your shins when you are doing the roundhouse. Reason number 2 is - when you kick with your shin, your punches are at the same range as your kicks! That is part of the reason that Thai guys can use foot/hand combos so well. I think it's possible to kick with your instep and be at punching range at the same time, but it takes a LOT more work then it does to just kick with your shins.
I just want to point out that I kick with my shins it is just 1 or 2 times out of ten that I get my range wrong and kick with my foot. When I do I am getting a lot of injuries. Regarding the suggestion for anmkle supports these have helped a lot, especially when running outside of training. Thanks for all the advice.
Phillip, here's a couple of things that will do WONDERS for sore feet: 1) Massage the soles of your feet with a golf ball. Use hand cream to reduce friction. 2) Contrast baths. Set up two buckets of water, one with UNBEARABLY cold ice water, and the other with water that is as hot as you can comfortably bear. Soak your feet in each bucket for 1 min. Use a timer, so you don't cheat. Do for 10-15 minutes. Keep a bucket of ice and hot kettle on hand so you can keep the hot side hot and the cold side cold. It is very uncomfortable, but at the end of it, you'll feel like you've just been given brand new feet.
-Work on your range and your conditioning and/or try anklets. -Maybe get your Kru to sort out your problems, i`m sure they`ll give you some advice. With Thai Pads? You only kick one? How can the pad holder actually take the brunt of a kick with ONE pad? If your kick is actually moving then your training partner is going to strain his/her arm to death.
normally if it's padwork I would be focussing more on technique than power and wouldn't think of blasting out kicks on one pad, but you have a point... ;-)
