Old man needs footwear

[CEB]

I’m falling apart. I have foot problems. Doctor doesn’t want me doing anything without shoes. I don’t always listen to the doctor very well…..

I played some Kendo last Friday and I torn my left foot open in 2 spots. My feet do not heal well and are susceptible to injury due to a disease. I never wore tabi before. I am considering it, either that or completely retiring from Kendo for good. What are the bottoms of tabi like? Are they slick, will fall and bust my bottom? I expect a loss of traction but I just play for fun, I am not good enough to really ever worry about winning.

Thanks

[gendzwil]

Lots of guys play with them no problem. Make sure you get the kendo half-tabi.
http://www.bogubag.com/Bogu/Pads/tabi_42245_L.jpg

[CEB]

Thanks. I would have probably bought the wrong kind.

[pgsmith]

Hey Neil,
Have you ever tried the suede bottomed full tabi? They have much better traction than the cotton type, without being sticky on the floor.

[gendzwil]

I don't use them myself. The ones I've seen have all been leather, not cotton.

[charlesl]

Note: I am a wuss.

Those half-tabi are pretty good. I started kendo a couple years ago, and just kept tearing up the soles of my feet in every single class. I tried taping them, didn't do any good (just made it more painful when taking the tape off). I finally bought a half-tabi, and now I occasionally get a small tear, but nothing anywhere near as bad as the problem I was having before.

I've had a tiny bit of sliding happen on rare occasions, but 99+% of the time they're perfect, except when sitting in seiza.

-Charles

[hyaku]

Hello there. Where is the tear on your foot? If it's in the center there is not much you can do. if its on the side the best cure is too work on your footwork.

Common cause is dragging the back foot as you go through.

[Fred27]

Note: I am a wuss.

-Charles

Meh! Join the club! You should have seen me the first 6 months of training with my poor feet getting abused by all those slide-movements (this was jodo though and not kendo, but still a painful experience.) :p

[CEB]

Hello there. Where is the tear on your foot? If it's in the center there is not much you can do. if its on the side the best cure is too work on your footwork.

Common cause is dragging the back foot as you go through.

The big tear is in the middle of the foot along the inside edge of the ball of the foot. That puts the tear behind the second toe or between the big toe and second toe.

I have never had these problems before. The gym floor where I just started working out is stickier than our old floor. The right foot is OK. The left foot is taking all the abuse.

Maybe I could play some left-handed Kendo for a while. :D

Thanks everybody for the feedback.

[Cory]

I wear tabi all the time and never have a problem. Mine are the heavy cotten bottoms.

Cory Covert

[charlesl]

Meh! Join the club! You should have seen me the first 6 months of training with my poor feet getting abused by all those slide-movements (this was jodo though and not kendo, but still a painful experience.) :p

What stunned me was that I'd been doing jodo for about 6 years at the time I started kendo, and at our jodo dojo we train pretty much exclusively outside (rain or shine) in the grass (with various rocks, stones, pebbles, thorns, glass, needles, etc.) with occasional sessions on very rough concrete. My feet were pretty callused, but apparenty the wrong kind, as all of the tough parts ripped right off in the first practice.

Between that and getting repeatedly walloped by a hyper-active 14 year old, kendo was a hard thing to start and stick with.

-Charles

[hyaku]

Could be the floor that is the problem. If it has some sort of surface rather than a plain wood floor it could reek havoc on feet.

[CEB]

The floor looks nice. It is a college basketball gym floor. I think it needs to waxed or something. It feels a little sticky. The floor has to have something to do with the problem. I have never had this problem before. I do karate 2-4 times a with no problem but karate footwork isn't anything like Kendo footwork though.