Plantar Fasciitis and Okuri Ashi
(by Tom Alteen, M.B.A., B.Voc.Ed., D.I.T., Aikido Sandan,January 18, 2024)
Photo generated with You AI
"Plantar fasciitis (PLAN-tur fas-e-I-tis) is one of the most common causes of heel pain.
It involves inflammation of a thick band of tissue that runs across the bottom of each foot and
connects the heel bone to the toes, known as the plantar fascia."
- Mayo Clinic
In addition to the martial arts, I enjoy the outdoors, in particular walking and hiking. However, recently I was pestered by plantar fasciitis. While I did experience the typical heal pain, I also had discomfort along the flat of my foot extening all the way up to my the base of my toes. The symptoms seemed to result from extended walks and hikes.
I spoke with a couple of physicians and the general recommendations included exercising/stretching, massaging, and wearing a night brace.
All good stuff but working at my foot became a chore that took a significant chunk out of my day.
Practicing Iaido
Over the Christmas holidays, I did some solo Iaido (the Japanese art of drawing a sword) practice. I found that the Okuri Ashi foot work offered significant relief from the plantar fasciitis. So, I continued to periodically walk around the house (without my sword) employing Okuri Ashi and my symptoms disappeared. This was a win-win for me—I was freed from having to do the typical plantar fasciitis exercises/stretches and was able to manage the ailment by practicing my Iaido footwork (Ashi Sabaki).
Budo No Tabi, "Practicing Iaido Footwork: Okuri Ashi"
Basically, Okuri Ashi involves standing with the feet approximately at shoulder width apart with one foot forward. The back heal is slightly raised; one's weight is shifted more to the back foot, and the back foot pushes to propel the body forward while the feet glide across the floor. To ensure independence, Okuri Ashi is practiced by doing a number of steps with say the right foot forward and then doing an equal number of steps with the left foot forward.
To date, I have thankfully not had a reoccurance of plantar fasciitis.
So, now that I have a regime to manage the plantar fasciitis symptoms should I have another flare up, I am back to walking and hiking.
At the Summit of Grose Morne