Feet, Footwear, & Footwork
So after watching, and reading the follow up from Roland Warzecha (Dimecator)’s video about Historical Body Mechanics: Walk Medieval! a few years ago, only to come back with his follow up on his Patreon with some updates, but still holds to the attestation that people walked differently in the Middle Ages pre-1500′s due to the footwear that was available in Western Europe. The hard sole framed shoes that resulted in a shift in how we walk in most cases. Roland refers to these shoes as leather socks and provides some demonstrations and rationale for walking with the ball of the foot first instead of the heel which is ho we move in contemporary times.
He has since however delisted this video and has a follow up on his Patreon where he discusses forefoot strikes as a specific movement in medieval martial arts and courtly dance as documented by Dr. Volken. More importantly however he has complications and nuance to his prior statements about how diverse gaits would exist in diverse contexts. The surface being walked upon, the pace, the purpose, and what footwear was worn.
Within the context of body mechanics there is a lot in play and I do believe that Diemcator is very correct in many ways to assert that the ball-first walking was likely to be a very common form of walking before framed hard sole shoes were more popular and available as well as more consistent floors and roads.
Within European manuscripts and artwork we there are documented cases of a heel first step, in martial aspects
Where we see the leading foot is heel first and rotated out, this movement allows the hip to open, and when the hip is open a greater range of mobility is had. We see this often in other martial arts. I will draw your attention to Taekwondo.
Here we can see that her base foot is rotated out, This allows for her hips to open up and grant access to a greater range of motion with less strain and damage.
This brings me to the crux of a parallel between European and Eastern Martial arts that is poised around feet, footwork, and footwear. I have been practicing Taekwondo for over 20 years and Kumdo for over 10 years as well as specialization in 14th Century British Lit, and the footwork training is rather precise in how it is a slide or glide across the floor, ball-first.
This specific footwork style is very closed and linear, but serves specific functions to both engage and pressure your opponent. while maintaining a base that can be reinforced, or moved from quickly, depending on the need. Even when lunging to strike in Kendo and Kumdo the footwork is important to maintain in a parallel as well as ball first.
Compare this now to Fencing.
This is not to compare fighting styles but contrast footwork and purposes. In fencing the heel is leading with their lunges and their stances are turned out. The purpose of their stances and leads are again to keep the pressure and flexibility of their threat while mitigating where they can be struck.
Varying gaits are seen in varying purposes across cultures, but I do believe that the shifting of gait is still related to the feet, footwear, and footwork. Hard sole framed shoes were far less common outside of military practices where slippers, sandals, and soft shoes were cheap, simple, and far more accessible to the average person. Leather boots date back as far as 299 BCE in military use in China, but were they hard sole and framed in a way that is closer to what we imagine boots being in the modern era? The footwork we see used in our combat varies whether kicking or walking. The feet are incredibly important for hitting and defending.
This variation between heel-first and ball-first in different martial arts is very plausibly connected to their cultures history with framed hard-sole shoes. As asserted by Dimecator, the way that we (humans) walk changed as our cities built up more consistent roads and paving, as well as our shoes grew sturdier to not wear through as quickly through those conditions.
As published by Yi-Ju Tsia and Christopher Powers in 2009, The increased sole hardness results in compensatory changes in the utilized coefficient of friction during walking Which is to say that the harder the shoe, the less friction was available for the walker to grip the floor compared to soft soled shoes. If you have ever walked in socks or bare foot you’ll recall the feeling of gripping the floor with your feet to increase your stability, and that style of stable footwork grows more difficult the harder the sole. There also grows less reason to have to grip the floor with a harder sole, because the foot is more protected, and as Dimecator proclaims, humans are amazing energy saving machines, and we will continue to find a better way to move and use less energy if we don’t have to.
The way that Europeans walked during the Middle Ages was not wholly this ball-first way, but entirely likely that it was a prevailing gait to have. But documentation showing that different footwork, gaits, and purposes for that footwork paint a more universal picture across cultures to show that much of the same conversations were happening about how best to use the body, and protect the body.
How have you been walking?