If I break a board with my instep, will my foot break??

Question

At my Taekwondo school, we have to break boards to pass our upcoming belt tests. I am testing for my red belt and that means I have to break a board using a roundhouse kick (essentially using my instep).

But I've heard that it is possible to break your foot this way. What are the chances of this happening and how can I prevent this from happening other than using proper technique?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. :]

Answer 1

DON'T...STOP....YOUR....KICK....

I had that same trepedation the first time I broke with a vertical kick (the outer foot sword, for those not familiar). I was okay with the heel, had a small issue with the front snap kick ( I can NEVER get my toes out of the way enough, and limp for three days afterwards), but the vertical kick gave me pause. HOWEVER, you touched on the key point: technique. It really is that simple. Chamber the kick properly, good speed, and full technique THROUGH THE BREAK, and you shouldn't have any problems. Remember your first knifehand break with two or more boards? How nervous where you that it would hurt, or break, bones in your hand?? How did you get through that one? With proper technique and full extension THROUGH the break.

It is still possible to break bones when breaking, because it is not in the normal spectrum of human activity to break hard objects with our hands/feet/head/etc. If your instructor is using pine boards, then the risk is minimized, but not eleminated, because pine is not as dense as other wood. (if your instructor has a certain sadistic sense of humor and decides to use OAK, like mine did for my last testing, then I can only say KICK HARDER AND FASTER).

And physiologically, you have less risk of breaking bones in your foot with a crescent kick, because the heel and large bone in the bog toe will come into play, PLUS there is more flesh in your instep than along the outside of your foot.

You are testing for 2 gup///you know what you are doing; now go out ther and DO IT!!!

Good luck, and congratulations!!

EDIT: sorry, BOG toe is something you get from walking in the swamps too long....I meant BIG toe...

Answer 2

There are two striking surfaces that can be used when doing a roundhouse kick.  One as you already know is the instep which you use when you are kicking to your opponent's leg or mid section and face although catching an elbow or arm on it can be very painful.  The other is the ball of the foot and that is used oftentimes just for that reason and how most people break boards as well rather than using their instep.  You should be practicing kicking with both for the above reasons rather than just with the instep.

Answer 3

I would suggest that you don't break at all. But since you are required to I suggest you break the board using the ball of your foot.  The roundhouse using the instep was a modification of the kick so that students would be less likely to injure anyone and less likely to injure themselves. Also kicking with the instep eliminates the possibility of cutting someone with your toe nails.

To do a roundhouse kick with the ball of the foot requires that you position yourself carefully before kicking or you will not be able to pull your toes back far enough to make contact with only the ball of the foot.  I'd suggest a little slow practice touching a target with the ball of your foot. The only difference in the kick between using the ball of the foot or the instep is just the position of the ankle and toes.

Answer 4

I advise you to use your ball of foot doing round house kick instead of making ankle straight and use your instep.