Why Do Your Feet Hurt After Badminton (6 Reasons)

When you play badminton, it really takes your mind off anything else when you are on the court. However, after you get home, you may experience pain in your feet, and the obvious reason for that is badminton.

In this article, I’ll tell you various reasons why your feet might hurt after badminton, how to prevent it from happening again, and how to take care of your body altogether. Before moving on, why do your feet hurt in the first place?

Common reasons for feet pain after badminton is wrong shoes or insoles for your foot type and plantar fasciitis. Other usual reasons for your foot hurting are obesity and improper footwork, which can cause extensive shock on your feet, causing pain. Also, lack of exercise can sore your feet muscles.

As you can see, there are many reasons for hurting feet, so the problem isn’t the same for all. Before I talk about how to prevent your foot pain, you need to identify it, so let’s take a closer look at the possible reasons.

Reasons for Foot Pain After Badminton

Numerous reasons can cause pain after playing badminton. Let’s start with the most common one, which is the wrong pair of shoes.

1. Wrong shoes or insoles

By far, the most common reason for feet pain after playing any sport, including badminton, is the wrong shoes. Different people have different feet such as wide, narrow, flat, high arch feet, and you name it! Obviously, the same shoes won’t fit all of these feet. In fact, the right kind of shoes will fit only for a specific foot type.

2. You exercise rarely

If you don’t do much exercise and only play badminton rarely can very well be the reason for your foot pain. This is because your feet muscles aren’t used to such load and will be shocked to gain so much movement in one sitting, which often causes soreness and even pain on your feet.

If you suspect that the lack of exercise may be the reason, you should notice soreness on other parts of your body as well because of the same reason. If you do notice soreness all over, this is the likely reason.

3. Heavy bodyweight

Heavy body weight will have a big say in everything that can cause pain in your feet. The weight and shock energy focused on your feet from running and especially jumping will be much greater if you have a heavy body weight, which causes pain more easily.

If you are obese and find yourself in pain after badminton sessions, it would be a good idea to lose a few pounds, which would improve your badminton game, in addition to relieving pain.

4. Improper footwork

Footwork is extremely important in badminton, and if you are doing it wrong, it will cause pain in your feet.

As you know, badminton involves a lot of jumping, and if you don’t land with a little flexibility, your feet and knees will get too much shock energy which will cause pain when you land hundreds of times improperly.

Also, basic running on the court can cause pain in your feet, and this will only worsen if you have flat feet, for example, and aren’t wearing proper shoes and insoles.

5. Plantar Fasciitis

Plantar Fasciitis is one of the most common reasons for shooting pain in the bottom of your shoe, especially near the heel. This is caused when your plantar fascia that supports your arch and absorbs shock gets too much force focused on it, which can cause small tears on it. However, this isn’t always the case, and sometimes the reason is unclear.

Anyways, plantar fasciitis is more often found in people that are over 40 years old, obese, or do excessive exercise, especially in sports like running and dancing. Also, plantar fasciitis is common in people that have flat or high arch feet.

The pain is Plantar Fasciitis is often worse after you have stopped moving, such as when you wake up or after a badminton session. However, if you stand or exercise for a long time, then you can notice pain in your heel.

Plantar Fasciitis will often go away on its own, but for it to do that, you need to stop putting excessive force on it for a while. During your break, stretching your arch will fasten the recovery, and if you have heavy body weight, getting it to healthy levels will surely help. Get the right kind of shoes for your foot type if you don’t already have a pair because that will help drastically.

6. Unknown problem

If the foot’s pain doesn’t feel natural or so painful that you suffer from it, you need to go to the doctor immediately. Preventing and locating causes on time is the most important thing in curing and making them go away.

How to Prevent Foot Pain In Badminton

Now that you know the possible reasons for foot pain after playing badminton let’s look at how to make it go away!

1. Get the right kind of shoes or insoles

Getting the right kind of shoes and insoles is the most important part of eliminating foot pain. As you learned above, wrong kinds of shoes aren’t only a cause of pain; they will make the pain worse in all areas, whether improper footwork, heavy bodyweight, Plantar Fasciitis, or you name it.

You can find out your feet type by going into a store to try all three kinds of foot types: flat, normal, and high arch foot types. Normal foot type, which is between a flat and high arch foot type, can use nearly all shoes. However, flat and high arch feet need to have shoes of their own, or pain is almost certainly guaranteed. You can also determine your foot type at home with a simple test. Take a paper towel and place it on the ground, then bring out a bucket of water and slightly wet the whole bottom of your feet and step on the paper.

If you can see your whole feet’ print on the paper, you have flat feet. If you can see half of your arch, you have normal feet. And if you can see only a small slice of your arch on the imprint, you have high arch feet.

Check out this video on how to make the wet test at home to determine your foot type.

2. Improve your muscles and technique

Improving your feet’ strength and muscle power is a great way to increase the power and force you can withstand on a badminton court. In addition to the decreased pain, you will be faster and more explosive on the court which also compliments your overall skills in badminton.

Also, the proper footwork technique is highly important if you are experiencing pain in your feet. Coming down with a good flex on your knees and feet when you land from your jump will greatly reduce the shock your legs will get from it. This also includes running and turning on the court. You need to be flexible and minimize sudden movements where your legs aren’t prepared for.

If you aren’t sure about your footwork, ask a friend, coach, or a random skilled badminton player on the court. You will likely get the answers you are looking for.

Also, check out this video on how to do proper badminton footwork!

3. Warm up and stretch properly

Finally, warming up before your badminton session and stretching well-properly afterward is really important in keeping your feet pain-free.

Warming up activates your cardiovascular system by increasing blood flow and temperature, making your muscles ready for movement. Stretching stretches your muscles, reducing the soreness after a workout, so you don’t feel tight and stiff.

Only your imagination is the limit in how your warm-up, but some moving, dynamic stretching is a great way to start your session, and some long static stretching afterward. If you don’t know what dynamic and static stretching are, here is the difference:

• Dynamic stretching is done with a continuous movement instead of holding a stretch. Dynamic stretches are best done after a workout or a badminton session.
• Static stretching is done with held stretches that often last between 15 to 30 seconds before changing your position. Static stretching is best done after a workout or badminton session, and you should invest more time in it.

How should I warm up for badminton?

Warming up for badminton can be done with regular warm-ups, or you can target badminton-specific key muscles to minimize the risk of injury.

Some key muscles used in badminton are:

• Upper arms
• Back and forearms
• Triceps
• Abdomen
• Lower and upper legs

In short, you can warm up for badminton by running around the court, executing high jumping jacks, doing dynamic stretching with your legs and hands especially, and rotating your ankles and wrists. After all, anything that warms up your body and makes your blood flow will suffice.

Why Does Your Body Ache After Badminton?

Generally, your body aches after a badminton session if you exercise hard, especially if you increase the intensity from your last session. This is totally normal, caused by small injuries and tears in your connective tissues and muscle fibers.

These tears and injuries will recover in a couple of days, which can cause muscle mass growth and increased withstanding rates on exercising. Next time, you need to work out even harder to once again tear the muscle fibers in such a way that makes your body ache.

What Are the Most Common Injuries In Badminton?

There are specific injuries in badminton as there are specific injuries in every sport that is far more common than others. 5 most common badminton injuries are:

1. Ankle sprains: Most common injury of all badminton injuries. Caused by the ankle rolling over, making too much bodyweight focused on it. Using proper badminton shoes with lateral support helps with the prevention.
2. Rotator cuff injury: Caused by repeated strikes with a badminton racket, especially overhead strikes can focus too much stress on the shoulder, causing a rotator cuff injury.
3. Tennis elbow: This can be caused by gripping your racket too hard while striking, focusing a lot of stress on the elbow. Prevent by taking a lighter grip on the handle, taking breaks, and using the right-sized racket for your size.
4. Jumper’s knee: Caused by jumping high in badminton without proper technique and flexing when coming down. Correct by flexing well from your knees and feet when you land from the jump.
5. Plantar fasciitis: This can be caused by obesity, age, and excessive exercise that puts too much stress on your feet and heels. Prevent by taking a break from exercise, stretching your arches, reducing body weight, and getting the right pair of shoes for your feet type.