[CFML] Fencing footware & injury

I was fortunate to attend this year's WMAW this year. it was a fun
event, and a great learning experience. One thing that I found that
was unusual was a requirement for period footware for the
comptitions. Several fencers that I spoke to told me that they
always practice in "period" footware, usually leather soled
shoes, or even chinese slippers. I really would STRONGLY
advise people NOT to do this. These "period" footware items
offer no shock absorbtion. With every lunge & balestra you
generate a huge amount of force, and without shock absorbtion
in your footware, the shocks go into your heels, knees & lower
back. Even if you don't feel it, you're setting yourself up for
repetitive stress injuries which can take years to manifest, and
once they start to trouble you, can take years to reverse, if at all.
(Knees are the most common victims, by the way). If you practice
indoors on a solid floor, even a spring floor (basketball gyms),
you need shock absorbtion. Leather-soled shoes may have
been period, but so was arthritis.
Additionally, there's the effect that footwork has on form. Shoes
with better traction offer more controlled & consistent footwork
which means better form, & better fencing. If you want to learn
the effects of period footware on fencing form, first master the
form, so that you can really percieve the difference.

Cheers,
"Hopalong" Jeff


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Jeff,
As someone who teaches fencing I understand your concerns about
safety and the long-term effects of injurious practices in fencing.
However, I must respectfully disagree with your statements about period
footwear. Some of the best historical fencers I know advocate the use
of period footwear, for a number of sound reasons.
Regarding shock absorbtion, I think it is important to understand
that the kind of footwork used in older fencing styles differs
significantly from modern fencing footwork. I am not aware of any of
the earlier fencing masters advocating the "explosive" or "flying"
lunge; rather, most of the period texts and present-day teachers of
historical fencing I am familiar with teach lunges which are in fact
more of a long step, in which the fencer glides forward in a relatively
conservative manner which results in very little shock to the joints.
Some of the footwork used in historical fencing is in fact less
likely to cause injury in leather-soled shoes than in rubber tennis
shoes. For example, when a fencer performs a pivoting step in which
they reverse the line of the shoulders, a modern high traction
rubber-soled shoe leads to greater torque on the knee and ankle of the
pivoting leg, while a leather-soled shoe allows smoother pivoting
without twisting the joints.
I am confused by your comments on the effects on form; you seem to
imply that one is more likely to learn historically accurate form when
using historically inaccurate equipment. A number of intelligent and
highly skilled individuals I know have said that you cannot learn
correct form when you do not use correct equipment. There are too many
rapier fencers who constantly use footwork that would be impossible in
period footwear, precisely because they have trained in modern shoes
which promote an over-reliance upon the excessive friction caused by
rubber soles on wooden floors.
Modern fencing footwork can be dangerous in period footwear, but I
think that most of the teachers who advise using period footwear do so
precisely because historically accurate footwork done in period footwear
is safer and promotes better (historical) form.

Antone Blair


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Dear Jeff (Jeff Sauber?),

I must disagree. Firstly, on the subject of shock absorption, you may be
right, but it is possible to add inserts to mosts shoes to give adequate
support and shock absorption. In addition, many people in my school fence
in modern shoes with smooth leather soles. The point is not the period
shoes, it is the way in which shoes of that type allow you to interact with
the surface you're moving over.

Secondly, on the topic of footwork. Shoes with better traction give better
traction, no more, no less. They do not give better footwork. In many
cases, however, they make bad footwork possible. Footwork that would result
in you slipping and falling in smooth soled shoes may be possible in shoes
with extra traction. In my experience smooth soled shoes result in more
controlled & consistent footwork, simply because if your footwork isn't
controlled and consistent in such shoes you slip. High traction shoes allow
your footwork to be uncontrolled and inconsistent. Low traction shoes do not.

Lastly, you have not addressed the fact that different footwork places
different strains on the joints. I strongly advise people doing any art
that involves passing footwork NOT to wear modern sports shoes when they do
so. Passing correctly involves rotating on the ball of the stationary foot.
If you wear high traction sports shoes and pass, the friction between your
shoe and the floor will make this action harder, placing strain on the knee
of the stationary leg. In case anyone doesn't believe me, put on your
sports shoes and do 100 passes back and forth, making sure you only rotate
the stationary foot as the weight is shifted over it. Your knee will hurt.
If it doesn't then you're probably rotating the foot in two motions, one of
the prime footwork faults I pull beginners up for, because it slows and
telegraphs your pass.

So, in an art which involves a lot of passing I strongly recommend that you
NOT wear modern sport shoes. If you wish to wear these shoes then you
should do what Maestro Paul McDonald has done, that is to have the soles of
his modern sports shoes replaced with smooth leather soles. That gives you
the best of both worlds.

Cheers
Stephen


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