I have been reading with interest articles on the potential benefits of barefoot running.
The argument is that modern running shoes and possibly shoes in general could be bad for you.
Now for many years I have had problems with my feet. I was initially diagnosed with fallen arches and spent a fortune on various supports and orthotics none of which worked. If I did a lot of walking, after a while my feet would start to hurt, in particular my right foot.
After seeing a specialist, I was then diagnosed with Morton’s neuroma and was booked in for an operation.
This was 10 years ago, and I was a regular squash player, squash didn’t really affect my feet, but as a 50 year old, I was getting more and more niggly injuries. I started looking around for something else to do to supplement my squash. I did look at the various classes in the gym where I played squash, but didn’t really fancy them. My son was doing ju-jitsu, but I thought that would be too tough on my back and out of interest googled karate and Chester. So that is how I started karate again after a 30-year break!
Now finding out more about the operation, it turned out I would have to wear a special shoe for 6 months and would not be able to play squash, cycle or train, so I decided to cancel the operation and live with the pain.
Coming back to karate was great, my squash meant I was really fit, and karate improved my flexibility and strength. But another surprising benefit was that slowly but surely all my foot problems disappeared. I can now walk all day with no problems.
This just demonstrates yet another benefit to karate, a benefit that you may not have thought about, so get to the dojo and take those shoes off!