Why did I hurt my ankle in sparring today?

**Torec_Scrail** · Posted On: 12/16/2006 11:47pm

Originally Posted by rsobrien

You need to make sure are hitting with the top of your foot (near where you foot meets your shin) and you should be wary of what targets you pick. I kicked a heavy bag hard with my foot in my karate class and it hurt alot. I had to ice it and it was swollen the next day. Apparently my sensei filled that part of the bag with sand.

If you caught you partner on the knee that might be what hurt you or you may have hit with your foot near your toes. Hitting with the foot is okay. If you can't reach with your shin, its the next best thing. Of course though, hitting with your shin is always the best thing.

^^ Yout might have been kicking to far to the toes, I've done it. For me, I always seemed to injure my ankle a bit sparring, it was basically because I tensed up to much. Once I said screw it, I didn't hurt my ankle, even stuff I knew would kill it if I was still tensed, maybe had to do with breaking 2 toes first time sparring :P

**alex** · Posted On: 12/16/2006 11:52pm

once again- stop doing a shitty art and do one where you dont **** yourself up on purpose when you are kicking

**kingplaya4** · Posted On: 12/18/2006 8:18am

I think I figured it out, I have a bruise now on the connecting tissue between the foot and the shin, which although I'm sure can get contact with a variety of kicks is certainly not where you want to be striking.

And what is it about this site where if someone has a few fights under their belt it gives them free reign to denigrate whatever they feel like? It's especially annoying when you never even claimed your taekwondo class is anything special, and didn't ask for comments on your art. I mean I'll give anyone a degree of credit for climbing in the ring with someone who was trying to bash their head in, but that credit extends only so far. I bet if someone like Sakuraba was on here who's a far better fighter than you'll ever dream of being, he'd be respectful of whatever someone chose to do, as long as they weren't making bogus claims.

**alex** · Posted On: 12/18/2006 1:58pm

i just like harassing tkd people. it fills my tubesock. and just because someone has had a fight doesnt mean ****, i know plenty of retards who have had fights and are still retards.

not me though cos im awesome and the sun shines from my arse

**PPlate** · Posted On: 12/19/2006 9:07am

Although my tag says BJJ and Muay Thai, I've also done TKD.

To answer your question in the "TKD way", look at your own foot.

The best place you should kick with, is the joint between your shin and your foot. Bend your foot up and feel where the bend is. That's where you want to connect with your target.

Now move about 3 finger widths towards your toes. You'll notice a buldge on top of your foot. Kicking with this area is also acceptable, but is inferior to the first place I mentioned.

Now look at the imaginary line where your toes connect to your foot. Imagine a line three finger widths down from the first line. Hitting anywhere in this region up to the tip of your toes will probably break your feet, like you experienced.

You broke your foot because you kicked the target with your foot area that's too near the toes. Kick it near the ankle area.

Now in the bigger scheme of things, if you can find a muay thai gym, go for muay thai. TKD is honestly **** for real fighting. You can condition your foot so that it can kick hard, like your coach does, but it's like conditioning my one finger to poke someone in the chin, instead of just using my fist. It can be done, but what for.

Muay thai kicks are far more powerful, and you kick with the lower part of your shin, about a hand's breadth above the joint in your ankle and shin. Kicking with this area will hurt your opponent, and unless you kick his elbow, will not hurt you. Even if he moves away, you're still quite safe.

Not so for instep kicks. Misjudge distance a little, and you'll get injured like you did. Also, many fighters, unlike in TKD, do not fight with a sideways facing. Trying to kick them in the midsection with a TKD kick will probably get your foot shattered if they block with an elbow, knee or shin.

All the best.

**PPlate** · Posted On: 12/19/2006 9:13am

Originally Posted by kingplaya4

And what is it about this site where if someone has a few fights under their belt it gives them free reign to denigrate whatever they feel like? It's especially annoying when you never even claimed your taekwondo class is anything special, and didn't ask for comments on your art. I mean I'll give anyone a degree of credit for climbing in the ring with someone who was trying to bash their head in, but that credit extends only so far. I bet if someone like Sakuraba was on here who's a far better fighter than you'll ever dream of being, he'd be respectful of whatever someone chose to do, as long as they weren't making bogus claims.

Yeah, that's because Alex's an asshole. But he's a nice asshole, at least in this forum, and his advice is sound. He just likes messing around with noobs, cos he's gay, as you can tell from his shirtless pic. :laughing8 He'll grow on you in time.

***WhiteShark*** · Posted On: 12/19/2006 9:28am

Ankle supports aren't just for decoration...

**Punisher** · Posted On: 12/19/2006 1:00pm

I think you’re over analyzing your injury. My belief is you most likely hurt your ankle because you’ve only been doing tkd for 2 months, you were probably kicking too hard, and your limbs aren’t used to slamming into things yet.

It’s possible you did everything technically correct. I’m not saying your instructor was wrong when he said you hit with the wrong part of the foot, I wasn’t there. But I do know it is a natural reaction of many instructors to attribute injuries to some sort nebulous mistake made by the student, rather than inherent dangers and risks of practicing martial arts.

Once your ankle feels better, I suggest you put some regular time in on a heavy bag to get you body used to impact. Start of lightly at first, you have to walk before you can run. Gradually build up speed and power.

One last thing, be careful about getting back serious training too soon. Every time I go to the doctor with what I think is a minor tweak or sprain, he invariably tells me to rest the injured area for 4-6 weeks, I promptly ignore him, resume training in 1-2 weeks, and suffer through a nagging, recurring injury for months and months. Now if I took a month off for every little injury, there wouldn’t be any time to train. If you feel you can train through pain, great. Just realize your ankle probably really won’t be 100% until you get it the proper rest it needs.

**Feryk** · Posted On: 12/19/2006 1:30pm

Originally Posted by kingplaya4

And what is it about this site where if someone has a few fights under their belt it gives them free reign to denigrate whatever they feel like? It's especially annoying when you never even claimed your taekwondo class is anything special, and didn't ask for comments on your art. I mean I'll give anyone a degree of credit for climbing in the ring with someone who was trying to bash their head in, but that credit extends only so far. I bet if someone like Sakuraba was on here who's a far better fighter than you'll ever dream of being, he'd be respectful of whatever someone chose to do, as long as they weren't making bogus claims.

Welcome to the Bullshido that exists outside of newbietown. Grow a set and tell Alex to **** his mother, or something. That's what you do when someone gives you **** here.

He's a Kiwi. I'm sure somewhere there's a sheep that is bearing his lovechild.