# foot injury



## cfr (Jul 11, 2002)

I figure this would be a good place to ask this question. I was doing a roundhouse kick on a sand bag about 10 months ago and accidentally only caught it with the very top of my foot. ( I guess thats not very definative, where the toes are attached to the foot) Anyways, I immediately felt a sharp pain in my foot joint where the top of the foot meets the bottom of your shin. (my shin doesnt hurt, more just the top of that joint) Basically I think that my foot got stretched too far back into the wrong direction. It has been 10 months now. I have iced, wrapped, used hot water with epsom salt, ate TONS of Motrin, elevated, went to physical therapy and done little exercises, everything that I and the doctor can think of. I am getting an MRI and bone scan in a couple of weeks. In all fairness, I did keep training on it up until 6 weeks ago so that probably wasnt too bright. Has anyone out there experienced this? If so, do you have any ideas to get it better? Ancient chinese secrets? Thanks in advance.


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## Nightingale (Jul 11, 2002)

ask for a referral to a specialist who specializes in the foot/ankle area.  do whatever the specialist tells you to do.  in the meantime, train lightly if at all, and if it hurts, don't do it.  It sounds to me like you hyperextended your ankle.  you have lots of ligaments, tendons, and little teeny bones in that area, and there is a lot there to damage.  a bad sprain or strain will not heal, and may get worse, if you don't rest and let your body repair itself.  think of your tendons and ligaments as pieces of rope...when you damage one, the rope starts to fray.  if you keep using that rope, it frays more and more until it snaps (this can happen to tendons and ligaments if you abuse them...take care of your body, you don't want surgery).   However, if you take the time out to re-weave the rope, you can use it again.  

Basic rules for taking care of yourself:

if it hurts, don't do it

if it hurts for more than a week, it ain't gonna fix itself. go to the doc.

if it swells, don't walk on it and see your doc.  if you really hate docs, RICE. 
Rest (crutches). 
Ice (20 mins on, 20 mins off. a bag of frozen peas works great). 
Compression (ace bandage) 
Elevation (don't walk on it and put your foot up on a pillow)

if its purple, don't walk on it. its still bleeding inside. once it turns green and brown, you can walk on it.



seriously, though, you need to see a specialist and stop training for now. Better to be out for a few weeks (or longer) now than be out forever because you've abused your body too much.

feel better!


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## Blindside (Jul 11, 2002)

Yup, you hyperextended the ligaments on top of your foot.  A friend of mine did this (exept he was kicking my thigh) and he was in a walking cast for a month and a half.

Take it easy on the ankle, work your upper body for a while, and besides you said you were in a JKD/Kenpo/WC school, thats mostly hands right?   

Ouch, good luck.

Lamont


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## Robbo (Jul 12, 2002)

When you get back to kicking remember to take it slow.

As for kicking the bag with the instep, I would change up your impact areas. I beleive the instep kick is good for only certain 'soft tissue' targets such as the groin. I think the reason it became so popular is because it could gain you another 1/2 foot of reach in the tournament ring.

When kicking something hard use either the shin or the ball of your foot in a roundhouse kick. And if you are playing tag then by all means use the instep.

Thanks,
Rob


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