Abstract
Right heel pain is one of the most common injuries in kendo. This study examined differences in the forward stepping movement and its ground reaction force and sound between collegiate kendo players who were divided into groups based on whether they had experienced right heel pain in competitive activity, taking clues from a case that utilized a retrospective approach in which an athlete ameliorated the right heel pain by modifying the forward stepping movement (Shimokawa et al., 2020). The results revealed that collegiate kendo players who had no previous experience of pain in the heel had acquired forward stepping movements that did not cause heel pain despite having a stronger force than did the movements of those who had experienced heel pain. The forwardstep form of these players who had not experienced heel pain was one in which the knee joint flexed just before stepping forward and the heel was positioned further back than the knee. In addition, the stepping sounds of the players who had not experienced heel pain were high and loud, corroborating the report by Shimokawa et al. (2020) and suggesting that the stepping sounds may be taken into consideration for approaches to form-modification aimed to ameliorate right heel pain.
