For righ-handed fencer, right heel is a highly likely point of injury. The reason is simple – in a lunge, one spot on the heel takes an impact that is several times the body mass. This makes selecting the shoes with good heel protection very important, and fencing shoe designers give this (among other things) a lot of attention.
Still, despite really good shoes, combined with additional heel protector, I managed to hurt my right heel during one of the “epee nights”. The pain appeared after a lunge. At first, I didn’t pay it a lot of attention, it didn’t hurt that much. By the end of the bout I couldn’t lunge – any kind of footwork that required landing on the heel, was painful. I fenced one more bout, bouncing on my toes the whole time, then iced the heel, and drove home. Driving was somewhat uncomfortable.
The next day I could barely step on the toe. Doctor’s diagnosis – deep bone bruise. I’m lucky, it could have been a fracture. The way it is, I need a week of rest, and then I can fence again, if the pain is bearable; this may prolong healing process, but won’t get in the way of it. I think I’ll rest for a couple of weeks, to be on the safe side. Thankfully, I can work from home.
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