Feet Flaten out (Eversion) in Jiu Jitsu:

Feet Flaten out (Eversion) in Jiu Jitsu:
Training Jiu Jitsu requires many meticulous movements of the various joints of the body.
One common thing which is seen in many practitioners are the feet flattening out. This could happen for many reason’s. One reason which is worth looking at are certain muscles being over worked due to them always having to be active in order to maneuver your training partner.

Lets take a closer look.
The Peroneals which are located on the outside of the shin bone are engaged very often due to us using our (hooks). This causes much tightness in them, which in turn t pull on joints, as well as the lateral Gastrocnemius. The underactive muscles would be the medial gastrocnemius, the anterior tibias and posterior tibialis.

These 3 muscles would not be able to eccentrically control the arch of the foot going down to the floor, and this could cause overuse of the foot.

The joints which would be involved in this imbalance are the tibiotalar (aka Talus) and subtalar joint aka “ the body’s steering wheel).

In Conclusiuon, I hope one can see that from the constant usage of these joints and muscles, the gait becomes hindered and leads to problems up the kinetic chain . Pain in the knee’s, hips and lower back could be some of the results.

Tips: Look up these muscles being mentioned above, try to stretch and apply direct pressure to the point in the muscles which are tender for a few minutes before and after training (
you will know which one it is once you feel it), and try to do some strengthening exercises for the underachieve ones ( example: calf raises with feet turned out to target the medial calves ).

Oh, and don’t forget to stretch the Soleus muscle which gets much work while using your feet, freeing up these muscles will help develop better control of the joints and unlock restrictions.
Many falls especially as we age come from unstable and stiff calves.
One fall, there goes your training 🙁
Best,
Stan Pogrebinsky with Wetek Massage Therapy and Private Personal Training AKA Dr. Jiu Jitsu