# Disadvantages for flat-footed martial artists



## 8Limbs

Hey everybody, I am interested in practicing martial arts, but I've been wondering if having no arch in my foot will bring about difficulties in learning kicks and stuff, and so if anyone has any answers/advice I'd appreciate it alot.


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## Kacey

I had a student for several years who was completely flat-footed, and he didn't experience any particular problems.  He was 12 when he started, and 15 when his high school homework got to be too much for him - I don't know if his age had any effect on his ability to not have problems with it, but I remember that he was less flat-footed when he quit than when he started.  This was in TaeKwon-Do; different martial arts may have different effects/concerns in this regard.

I also remember my yoga instructor describing her instructor's instructor - after a lifetime of yoga, his arches had raised to the point where the footsword (outer edge) of his foot didn't touch the floor - his footprint only showed toes, ball of foot, a gap, and then his heel.


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## Blindside

8Limbs said:
			
		

> Hey everybody, I am interested in practicing martial arts, but I've been wondering if having no arch in my foot will bring about difficulties in learning kicks and stuff, and so if anyone has any answers/advice I'd appreciate it alot.


 
Its not exactly rocket science, wear shoes with arch support.

Lamont


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## Yari

8Limbs said:
			
		

> Hey everybody, I am interested in practicing martial arts, but I've been wondering if having no arch in my foot will bring about difficulties in learning kicks and stuff, and so if anyone has any answers/advice I'd appreciate it alot.


 
The problem, if it arrises, is that if the musculare part of the foot and leg i not use to a flat foot. You can experience that the blood cirkulation isn't as good as it's supposed to. Since the foot doesn't move in the intended way the muscels dont support the blood flow correctly. You might feel that you legs are tired. And it depends on how old you are. your body addapts much easier when your young, or if it is use to activity or not.

This is not always the case, you'll have to feel your way through. But using a support in a shoe is a good idea.

/Yari


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## Adept

I myself am quite flat footed. Having never been normal footed, I can't say how my training would have been different if I was, but I _can_ say I haven't experienced any problems with my training that I could attribute to my flat feet. It doesn't seem to have ever been an issue.


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## Sam

Adept said:
			
		

> I myself am quite flat footed. Having never been normal footed, I can't say how my training would have been different if I was, but I _can_ say I haven't experienced any problems with my training that I could attribute to my flat feet. It doesn't seem to have ever been an issue.


 
exactly the same for me.


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## Grenadier

A couple of my former students (from a decade ago, Shotokan Karate) were flat-footed.  Neither of them had any problems performing any of the kicking techniques, and their feet did not hinder their movement.


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## Blindside

Being flat footed doesn't hinder any movement or effect my kicks.  However after a couple of hours of moving around barefoot on a hard flour, my arches will start to hurt.  

Lamont


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## splazzatch

I am slightly flat-footed and I have never had any problems but I don't know if it would have been easier for me if I had arches.


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## aplonis

Way, way back, all the way to 1975, my TKD instructor was Kent Bole in Kalamazoo MI. He had the flatest feet I ever saw. And he never wore shoes to train. I don't know if they hurt him or not but he never said a thing about it.

The way it seemed to us in the class was that his feet were like suction cups to the floor. He was tall and thin and with those flat feet he could not be moved.

As happens, Kent Bole was a steel worker who daily walked the girders on tall buildings under construction. One day he wanted a Korean flag to hang from the central girder of a high school gymnasium for a tournament or something (I forget exactly what). What I cannot forget is how he walked up to one of the nearly flush wall girdrers and with bare hands and feet grasped the edges, planted his feet on the vertical face and actually walked up up it with only smooth round rivet heads for traction just like an an orangutan without a pause to the central span. Once on the central span he walked out to the middle...25 or 30 feet above the hard wood floor...hung the flag and came back down exactly the same way.


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## stoneheart

My feet are severely pronated (flat-footed).  My wife even jokes and calls them Fred Flintstone feet!

In my training, I've found that long periods of training barefoot tires me out more quickly than my classmates without my affliction.  It's also harder for me to rotate my supporting foot when kicking so that the heel of my supporting foot points towards my target.  Training is not impossible, but it is more difficult.

You could train in a style that wear shoes.  Many Chinese arts do.


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## tshadowchaser

Guess it depends on which martial art you study and how good your balance normaly is.  I would tend to say that it might be a slight problem in some arts but nothing that can not be over come with hard practice


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## llewis823

I am very new to MA, and am about as flat footed as you can get. I find my feet tend to "suction" to the floor (and not in a good way!) and also that certain exercises, etc. tend to "kill" me feet. But am trying to overcome it with practice and hard work.


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## TheOriginalName

Hey all.....

Firstly let me say - stop thinking about training in an MA and just do it.
I only started about 3 months ago now - and i think it was the best decision i've made in a long time. 

The second thing - martial arts are not about comparing yourself to everyone else. Each MAist has different strength and weaknesses. Some like to kick, some like to punch, some like to kata and some like to spar. 
I think this is why it is refered to as an art and not a sport. It is different for everyone. 

I wouldn't think that flat-feet will effect you much - as everyone else has pointed out - but if it does i'm sure that your instructor will assist you overcoming the hurdle or if it can not be overcome (and that i thinks is very unlikely) i'm sure you and he\she will be able to work around it. 

So my advice - get off the pc and get into the Dojo - you'll never regret the decision.

Cheers from anther guys who enjoys his insanity


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## tntma12

I am also flat footed, and had many people try to tell me early in my training that I would have problems in the future due to this, but have never experienced any problems in my training.  I feel if you want to do something bad enough, nothing should hold you back.


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## CoryKS

I've got pretty flat feet, had to get a waiver to join the Marines.  It hasn't been a factor in my training.  But then again, I don't have anything to compare it to.


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## Lynne

I've noted some disadvantages.  Balance is one of them - I tend to wobble around when doing side and hook kicks.

Also, certain drills hurt my feet.  If I run laps in the dojang and then have to do squat thrusts my feet hurt terribly.  Shuffle drills are a bear because you have to stay on the balls of your feet.  Bunny hops hurt as well because of staying on the balls of the feet.

Luckily, we don't run often enough to cause shin splints, hip or back pain.  I can't run outside of class because of my flat feet for those reasons.

The biggest problem is soreness after class.  I feel like someone beat my feet with a baseball bat sometimes.  The first six weeks of TSD were painful.  But my body has gotten stronger and it makes a difference.

There are good reasons flat-footed people are not allowed to join the military.  We can't run and run.

*I see Cory was able to join the Marines with a waiver.


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## Lynne

CoryKS said:


> I've got pretty flat feet, had to get a waiver to join the Marines. It hasn't been a factor in my training. But then again, I don't have anything to compare it to.


Shinsplints, hip and back pain are very common when flat-footed people run a lot.

I imagine that in the Marines you are doing quite a bit of jogging with heavy backpacks and so on.  If you haven't experienced problems, you are one lucky guy!


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## CoryKS

Lynne said:


> Shinsplints, hip and back pain are very common when flat-footed people run a lot.
> 
> I imagine that in the Marines you are doing quite a bit of jogging with heavy backpacks and so on. If you haven't experienced problems, you are one lucky guy!


 
The most common injuries I saw in boot camp were shin splints and stress fractures.  Oddly, I got tendonitis.  Go figure.


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## Lynne

CoryKS said:


> The most common injuries I saw in boot camp were shin splints and stress fractures. Oddly, I got tendonitis. Go figure.


The shin splints and stress fractures may have to do with under- and overpronation. I overpronate - my feet roll to the outside.  Your feet may not wobble aound as much.  Heard of the tendonitis problems, too.


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## HelloKitty

8Limbs said:


> Hey everybody, I am interested in practicing martial arts, but I've been wondering if having no arch in my foot will bring about difficulties in learning kicks and stuff, and so if anyone has any answers/advice I'd appreciate it alot.


 
I'm feet-flated xD I practice taekwondo and it seems twice as hard. The only thing that worked for me was training really hard in class, training more by myself at home, specially for equilibrium (you can ask your instructor for better exercises to improve this), etc. 

Maybe it's not the easy-way answer you could expect, but it has worked for me. Keep up the good work!


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## HelloKitty

llewis823 said:


> I am very new to MA, and am about as flat footed as you can get. I find my feet tend to "suction" to the floor (and not in a good way!) and also that certain exercises, etc. tend to "kill" me feet. But am trying to overcome it with practice and hard work.


It happened a lot to me too, but I got used to walk only with the outer edges of my feet. Or when I'm kicking, I just use only the front part of the flat of my foot and the toes to support my weight.  That's the only way I can rotate without giving my knees a hard time. (It's tiring and a little painful at the beginning but it's effective and you take care of distributing your weight better so your joints don't suffer)


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## Jo-zen

HelloKitty

I have found that one of my problems with my ankles rolling is that I tend to walk on the outside of my foot.  I have started long distance walking (working towards running) and went to sports chalet for shoes.  The girls there swore up and down that the orthopedic inserts worked wonders, and they even make them for heels.  (I always talk to the women who work there as they will understand the female side of sports).  So got some, now when I where my running shoes no more ankle problems.  It's just when I paractice in bare feet that I run into issues.  My sensei (I have talked to him about this, since my last post), says that over time my ankles will 'learn' to support me.  

Maybe you should try the ortho inserts for shoes and your 'flat' feet will learn as well.  FYI - the inserts run about $35 (and come in cool colors) but are really worth it.


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## HelloKitty

That's good info! Do you know where to buy them? Sport shops? Medical shops?

Because I have the old ortho inserts my doctor gave me but they are too flat now LOL, so I need to replace them.


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## meth18au

Lynne has a good point about running.  I have a very good friend, whom is very fit.  But when it comes to running, the pain he has to endure.  Shin splints, bad knees, bad hip, and he even had a fracture in his foot at one point.  He's tried proper shoes, orthopedic inserts,  physio.  Nothing seems to work.  It's the running that really causes more harm than good to him.  He's also had a lot of trouble at Muay Thai skipping barefooted.  He's still a fit person though, and quite good at Muay Thai.  I haven't noticed any issues with balance when sparring with him.


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## Jo-zen

HelloKitty

I found them at Sports Chalet.  Just talk to the people in the shoe area.


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## Ravage

An old post ,but I wanted to toss my 2 cents in as a flat footed person.   I have had people laugh at the perfectly flat footprints I leave and also had the "suction cup" effect. I could never use arch supports because they hurt too much ,even straight from the store I have to take the manufacturers inserts out and put in some flat Dr. Sholl's. My knees are on the weak side as well so I have been doing leg/foot exercises with good effect. I do a few squats (working to more all the time) and while in the squat position ,walk forward. Now I have an ever so slight arch and my feet are getting stronger every day. I stand a lot at work and try to be more conscious of my posture and not lock my knees out anymore. My knees have been feeling pretty good and my feet don't tire out as fast while marching. May not be he answer for everyone ,but it's worth a try.


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