Muay Thai Toes

[Firbolg]

How do you not break your toes all the time doing thai boxing?? I did quite a bit of full contact kung fu in the past but that was wearing kung fu shoes.. seems like doing it barefoot is asking for trouble.. so how does everyone manage?

[doc]

You don't use your toes in Muay Thai. Most leg strikes are done with the upper part of the foot (vamp), the tibia (shin), and the inside (medial portion) of the thigh/knee. In fact, you'll see similar types of strikes with the lower leg in Chinese sanda. It's in the Japanese arts where you find a lot of these "ball of the foot"strikes, that necessitate the hyperextension of the toes.

The only time you strike with the ball of your foot in MT, is when you do a "front" kick, which is primarily aimed at the solar plexus, with the idea of pushing your opponent away.

Striking with the lower tibia, and vamp of the foot, is a pretty powerful strike, more powerful in my opinion than the ball of the foot. The tibia, when properly conditioned, is a lot harder than the metatarsals of the foot.

[Firbolg]

Yeah its front kicks I'm thinking of mostly (side kicks also perhaps).. used to do plenty of those.. there's always the risk of it being blocked with a knee or elbow or some other hard surface, even doing roundhouse kicks if you're unlucky I suppose.

Came across a thread recently (I think on usenet) where someone was talking about breaking his toes a few times doing thai boxing, didn't say exactly how/what kicks though.

[doc]

Well, the strike in MT tend to use the lower tibia and upper part of the foot, sometimes high on the tibia, sometimes lower. The toes, with these kinds of kicks, are out of the way. Granted, things happen when two people move around each other, and you can never accurately predict where someone's leg or knee is going to be as you strike him, so accidents do happen. But because of the nature of the strikes, and the use of the feet, you would think that you'd see less broken toes in MT than you would in some of the Japanese martial arts, where many kicks use the ball of the foot, or the points of the toes themselves.

People that break things in martial arts training, tend to be inexperienced, or, aggressive, or, using improper technique, or, just plain unlucky at the time. Proper technique with good conditioning, and a good mindset, leads to less injuries.