# Shoe Recommendations?



## OldKarateGuy

This may have been covered before, but does anyone have a recommendation for a shoe suitable for martial arts training on hardwood floors? 

All the years of barefoot training have caught up with me. Bone spurs, plantar fasciitis, and now a metatarsal thing...It's reached the point where it even affects my running (in soft shoes). There are a bazillion shoes, mostly adidas, on the market. I need something that will let me keep training, has a high arch, and hopefully, doesn't make me look completely stupid. This would not be a padded sparring shoe, but one for class, forms, etc. 

Thanks.


----------



## PooterMan

I had plantar fasciitis for about 3 years before it finally reached a point that I had to go see a foot doctor.  he made me a set of hard plastic arch supports and I wore them inside my pine-tree martial art shoes. The shoes worked, but arch supports didn't solve my problem. I limped thru 2-3 more years of tape-ups, stretching, sleep boot, and finally said to hell with it and scheduled surgery.  

Beginning of February they removed a bone-spur and did a plantar fasciia release surgery on me. 2 weeks of walking boot, 2 weeks of crutches and another month of taking it easy and beginning of April I was back in Tang Soo Do. I have been still using the Pine-Tree Martial art shoes since then. The only issues I have using them is if I'm doing some heavy duty roundhouse kicks, my arch supports tend to shift forward inside the shoe. (so tie them tight)  That and sometimes they are a bit slick on the floor we use (which is a hard plastic floor).


----------



## Carol

What does the instructor permit?  Will s/he let you wear street-type shoes?


----------



## PooterMan

And just out of curiosity, if you don't mind my asking. Was your plantar fasciitis the atypical heel pain? (hobble first thing in the morning for a while until it loosens up?) and how did you resolve it? (tape-up? sleep boot? arch supports? CAM walker?). I'm just curious, it seems to be a fairly common ailment. Running...no way. Thats why I took Martial Arts....I can't run, I'll have to fight. 8-D

I think most schools accomodate people with foot issues needing to wear shoes for class.


----------



## OldKarateGuy

@Carol -

I do allow students to wear martial arts shoes if they desire, although only one (infrequent) student uses them. He wears an Adidas shoe, although I believe that his selection criteria was price. I hate to admit this, because it sounds...well, shallow, but to me, wearing shoes in class just looks goofy. But I guess I'm past making a fashion statement. My feet hurt. 

@ pooter - 

I've had plantar fasciitis for years, not surprising between barefoot karate and running (I try for an hour, four times a week, on a machine now instead of outside trying to save the joints). It used to be the typical heel pain in the morning, which would eventually fade as one moved around and the fluid pooled in the heel circulated. However, a couple of years ago, at a three day camp, I absolutely cooked my feet (6 AM or so to 8 or 9 at night, barefoot). I went to a doctor who found a bone (heel) spur. I have been putting off surgery and instead got good shoes (MBT's, ugly, expensive, but really helped), orthonics, taped it for weeks after, etc. Anyway, now on the same foot, I have a metatarsal bone poking out the ball of my foot. Apparently, the fatty cushion has been displaced, and it feels like I have a rock in my shoe, even when I'm barefoot. The doctor said, essentially, "Learn to live with it" unless I started wearing shoes and a metatarsal pad for class. 

This old age thing is not all it's cracked up to be...


----------



## Manny

PooterMan said:


> I had plantar fasciitis for about 3 years before it finally reached a point that I had to go see a foot doctor.  he made me a set of hard plastic arch supports and I wore them inside my pine-tree martial art shoes. The shoes worked, but arch supports didn't solve my problem. I limped thru 2-3 more years of tape-ups, stretching, sleep boot, and finally said to hell with it and scheduled surgery.
> 
> Beginning of February they removed a bone-spur and did a plantar fasciia release surgery on me. 2 weeks of walking boot, 2 weeks of crutches and another month of taking it easy and beginning of April I was back in Tang Soo Do. I have been still using the Pine-Tree Martial art shoes since then. The only issues I have using them is if I'm doing some heavy duty roundhouse kicks, my arch supports tend to shift forward inside the shoe. (so tie them tight)  That and sometimes they are a bit slick on the floor we use (which is a hard plastic floor).[/QUOTE
> 
> I have plantar fascities too, teh doctor gave me orthopedic insoles and I wore them for many months, I had foot therapy too and had to lower my rythmn of TKD workout. Right now afther many months using the insoles ( I don't were them anymore) I am only teaching TKD and doing TKD with my students in an easy way for my feet and it does not hurt anymore, however I think if I train harder and with more enthusiasm the pain will come again
> 
> Can yiou tell me how the surgery help you? can you do a regular to strong work out inside the mat without pain?
> 
> For example, when I teach and do a lot of spining kicks I feel disconfort in my foot, besides if I do jumping kicks I feel disnconfort too.
> 
> Manny


----------



## PooterMan

Jumping kicks where I have to land on the left foot are still painful, so I just don't do the height on those. I've accepted that I'm aging, and with my feet I can't do much jumping so I concentrate on doing the technique correct. (coming up on 49 yrs old)

prior to surgery left foot was a pretty constant 7.5 on a pain scale of 1-10 with moments of 8.5.
post surgery I can do most anything with pain at 3. If I do some jumps its usually about a 5 at the end of class.

I have worn the arch supports almost nonstop for the last 6 years. In and out of class.

however, The last couple of weeks, I've managed to take shoes off for about half the class...so I think its improving.


----------



## OldKarateGuy

I'll add those things that have helped my plantar fasciitis:

a soft rubber roller. Sit in a chair and roll your arch back and forth. It seems to help. Only problem? My dog thinks it's a toy and keeps stealing it
http://www.roadrunnersports.com/rrs/products/FOL001/

MBT shoes (for the street, not the dojo). When I first put them on, I didn't have some instant sense of how great they were, but after just a few days, my feet stopped hurting. Goofy looking, expensive (but check the internet and save some money), but these really help. Recommended to me by several other long time MA. I don't know if the similar looking Sketchers work as well. 
http://us.mbt.com/
lots of sites selling these appear to be bogus. Stick to Amazon or legitimate stores.

tape your foot before class. this is the way I do it (heel to toes). Lots of variations
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuoFjr9xPBc&feature=player_embedded

Stop doing jump kicks/stomp kicks etc for a time. This may have helped me the most. (I train on wood floors, not mats)

Physical therapy: There are exercises that will strengthen the foot. Go a couple of times and then just do the exercises yourself. 

Some doctors will suggest a direct injection (of steroids) into the foot to reduce the selling and pain. Be careful of this. The steroids can soften the ligaments and set you up for a later injury. Short term relief but long term danger.

Custom orthonics: I tried this. They made a mold of my foot and made a custom shoe liner (for when I run). Expensive, the liner broke down quickly, and I didn't sense a big improvement. Maybe a rip-off. 

Plastic heel cups that slide into the shoe. I use them. I can't tell if they really help, but they were cheap and the MD recommended them.

FWIW, my primary doctor recomemended against the surgery (for both heel spur and PF). She said they sometimes will not heal correctly and you might create a recurring pronblem. She sent me to a podiatrist with the same opinion. 

There's a wholes series of air-boots, ankle/arch supports, etc, that a doctor will give you. If you choose to see a doctor, go to one who understands runners and athletes. Too many (who don't get athletes) will tell you to stop doing anything that aggravates your feet. You want someone who will help you keep training, not someone who thinks walking the dog up and down the block is exercise. 

One of my students had bad PF. I got him a pair of mid-range Adidas karate shoes. He swears by them.


----------



## Manny

PooterMan said:


> Jumping kicks where I have to land on the left foot are still painful, so I just don't do the height on those. I've accepted that I'm aging, and with my feet I can't do much jumping so I concentrate on doing the technique correct. (coming up on 49 yrs old)
> 
> prior to surgery left foot was a pretty constant 7.5 on a pain scale of 1-10 with moments of 8.5.
> post surgery I can do most anything with pain at 3. If I do some jumps its usually about a 5 at the end of class.
> 
> I have worn the arch supports almost nonstop for the last 6 years. In and out of class.
> 
> however, The last couple of weeks, I've managed to take shoes off for about half the class...so I think its improving.



Thank you, I'm 43 and have a concave feet and I have the fasitys plantar on my felft foot to, as you mention the pain is bareable, if I don't put much stress in my lefth foot I barely feel a thing, but if I run on concrete I will feel a littlñe pain, when I am inside dojang I try to not strees to foot too, I keep away from jumping because landing on my foot can be a bad thing to do, also for example I keep myself for doing sidekicks (with the heel) with my lefth foot and almost all the boar breaking I do is with my right foot.

Just for security of my foot I will use again the TKD shoes with a set of thin insoles with a discharge relieve and see how they work, I must confes I don't like TKD shoes but maybe it could be a nice thing to do just for care.

Manny


----------



## OldKarateGuy

@Manny -

Is there a brand of shoe or a model that you prefer?


----------



## Manny

OldKarateGuy said:


> @Manny -
> 
> Is there a brand of shoe or a model that you prefer?



I used a pair Protec TKD Shoes, Adidas are too expensive for me. Inside the Protec shoes I used the ortopedic insoles my doctor gave me.

I don't use the shoes anymore because I don't like it, but if need it I will buy a new pair of them.


Manny


----------

