Feet!

[malk103]

Me and another 40+ year old bloke are suffering with aching feet, ankles, knees. Probably the cold weather but not good to be in pain whilst training or to have to throttle back training due to aches n pains.

I have seen another Karateka wearing plimsoles before, I didn't know or ask if they were for medical problems or to cushion the blows.

Does anyone know if there are special footwear to help with aching limbs/bones/feet/knees?
It would be pretty crap to think that you would have to rest for a week after a few hard training sessions.

[garage]

There is a whole variety of footwear and inserts to correct posture and ease aching.

Most people I have seen wearing footwear is normally to stop the spread of infection or a foot injury.

The martial art shoes that are sold offer little impact absorbtion and are not going to help much. Bare foot running shoes ar designed to get you up on your toes so probably not going to help much.

So basketball or racket sport shoes would be most likely to help. I find gel shoes work better than air soles. There are a variety of inserts to get your gate and posture right.

Work shoes can be cushsioned to help recovery between training sessions.

If it is the cold weather then circulation could be at the heart of it. Enpi the jump and double foot landing is really good for messing you up.

There are various things you can do to help recovery. I use ice packs to stem aching muscles I have not got the determination to sit in an ice bath. followed by heat normal "RICE" treatment. I would not have expected to have helped but it does. Not nice to do compared to heat.

Glucosamine, arnica, tiger palm can work quicker recovery.

A description of each ache would guide you to what would help. Insteps gate determine what you need.

[Deleted]

At 49 yrs next week Ican empathise with your problem. I started wearing neoprene ankle supports in winter a couple of years ago to stop my feet seizing up on the cold floors. I got them from Boots! Have come to the conclusion that Iwill start to wear my running shoes in winter. I have had to stop running and just use a cross trainer as the impact from running is giving my legs too much grief. Time to slow down and accept I'm not the young guy I used to be. Having been doing glucosamine for a couple of years.

[garage]

Neprene ankle supports are available from the pound shop for a pound instead of Boots £15.

Alan I have changed my running shoes. There are some shops that have tread mills and cameras. Different shoes cause different pain. I used to expect about 2000 miles from a pair of shoes, I have to change than regularly about every 400 miles so that is about 5 weeks tops as, I cannot get away with wore shoes anymore.

The Asics web sites has a guide to which type of shoes you need. Bare feet wet to see what print you leave on a tiled floor. Look at the wear pattern to work out what you need.

Wrong shoes will cause pain in the carf, knee, hip, I can feel the shoes wear out. Using the technology you might not have to accept you are not the young guy you used to be quite so quickly.

[Deleted]

Thanks Bert, I'm no stranger to gait analysis and correctly fitted running shoes. What has done my legs in recently is trying to increase my speed and frequency of runs. I used to be able to run every day and at a fast pace. Over the last two years I have been getting slower, less frequent and shorter distance. I had started building up again over a long period to rebuild what I was previously used to but the leg department has seriously objected.

[garage]

Sorry Alan hope I didn't come across as patronising. Some of the people I train with are now in their 60's and keep telling me it going to catch me up they are only a couple of years older so it is not what I want to hear.

I found what was holding me back running was blood flow and a little scar tissue. As I saw body builders with their veins standing up I though this might help.

Everyday I massage my legs and stretch and use arnica rubs from the vets. I use the quad bench and the weight with the cuff on to work the muscles. The bench where you fold legs down seemed to make it worse.

I used the tread mill as this makes you move legs fast but no real load. Cycling again. Then electric pads to make the muscles twitch for about 40 minutes.

I do not feel great, that springy feel is not coming back, I can feel flowing and will have to settle for that.

[Deleted]

Its alright Bert, no offence taken, we were just having a good conversation.

[garage]

I have been hanging out with the triathlon crowd, one thing they use like soccer players is a compression layer. Which some of them sleep in as it aids circulation and recovery.

Basically it is a thin layer long johns that encourages the circulation. I tried this the other night starting with, squat thrusts, burpees, leg swings to get the blood flowing. After 3 hours with a room temp about 10c as long as I kept moving my feet where ok and felt warm. You can get them in white so they are not so noticible under a gi. They do make the muscles feel nice and you never want to take them off, I was using the shirt as well. Now I have confessed my wimpyness I can move on.

[D.Ram]

Going tangential -
With age, I'm sure some of you would have felt the increase in joint pains, muscle pulls, etc - are there any generic tips&tricks you'd like to offer to keep pain at bay, or push it off by a few more years?
I'm especially concerned about pain I have with my feet, as also the area BEHIND my knees (back of leg)...

Thanks!