Martial myths

[geezer]

I don't want to be the guy trying to prove this practical application. It is much more about situational awareness and avoidance.
The only first hand experience I have with one of the old stories was in 1982. My GM came to the US in 1974. He was performing a demonstration at a public venue during a summer social event. Using another person to tell the story, there was someone on a horse, presumably for example. He did not kill the horse. He did knock the horse down with a kick to the neck bring the rider to the ground. He got in a lot of trouble and spent a night in jail over the encounter. I was told membership went up significantly.

Hey, here's a video made in 1974 of a guy doing the same thing with a punch. Maybe it's the same guy?

...er, that would be Grandmaster Mongo...

 

[DanT]

Hi Folks,

Look this up...

Commotio cordis (Latin, "agitation of the heart") is an often lethal disruption of heart rhythm that occurs as a result of a blow to the area directly over the heart (the precordial region), at a critical time during the cycle of a heart beat causing cardiac arrest.

This was discussed extensively on a UechiRyu forum in the past. It is common in modern UechiRyu schools to deliver strong punches to the chest and upper body during Sanchin Kitae, to demonstrate body conditioning. While (to my knowledge) deaths have not been reported because of commotio cordis in UechiRyu classes, it is a bit frightening to think that this has been documented in several sporting activities where a person (especially a younger participant) can be struck in the chest. Beside MA, we are talking baseball, football, basketball, etc.

My dojo does not practice chest-striking for students of any age during Sanchin Kitae.

This is EXTREMELY UNLIKELY to occur in anyone over the age of 18. You're more likely to die taking the stairs. The way we train, we take hits on our chests and stomachs as hard as we can take to condition them.

 

[DanT]

I read a study somewhere a while back that said more people die golfing than during any other sport.

They attributed it to a, relatively speaking of course, high incidence of golfers getting hit in the chest with an errant golf ball, causing cardiac arrest.

That and the speculation that there’s more old golfers than pretty much any other sport. But there was a big concern over people getting hit in the chest. Perhaps the size and velocity of the ball is a factor IMO.

This is near impossible unless the ball broke the sound barrier. Take your fist and whack it on your chest. Nothing is going to happen.

 

[DanT]

Death at a tournament caused by commotio cordis:

I'm not entirely sure the practitioner died, as I saw his arm and hand moving toward the end of the clip. Possibly the person who filmed this mentioned that the competitor died after this. It is at least concerning that he collapsed after what seemed to be a rather light blow to the chest, though.

About commotio cordis:

Evolution of our knowledge of sudden death due to commotio cordis. - PubMed - NCBI

More:

http://www.semes.org/revista/vol23_6/11_ing.pdf

Scan down to fig. 2 where you will see the black dots indicating the danger impact zones where vibrations might affect the heart rhytm.

Not to be taken lightly.

Here's the whole thread/discussion (one of a few, I think):

Uechi-Ryu.com • View topic - Commotio-cordis

You are more likely to die taking the stairs.

 

[Danny T]

Last Friday evening LFA 26 in Houston Tx. Clovis "CJ" Hancock after taking a kick to the left side of the body went into cardiac arrest requiring cpr and having the defibrillator used twice to revive him before removing from the cage to the hospital ER and is on his way to recovery.

 

[JR 137]

This is near impossible unless the ball broke the sound barrier. Take your fist and whack it on your chest. Nothing is going to happen.

The golf ball moves very fast and is very hard. I can’t find my source for the information I posted, so I’ll drop the golf ball hitting people in the chest and killing them part.

But what you say is way off base. If what you say is true, it wouldn’t kill anyone who was hit in the head by an errant golf ball a good distance away either. I mean, flick yourself in the temple; you’re still alive, right? Scientific proof you’re incorrect...

Death by golf ball not all that uncommon | November 29, 2010 | Bart Pfankuch | HT Golf

A simple google search lead to multiple scientific studies and statistics by government agencies such as department of labor. This was a newspaper article, but it doesn’t mean it was wrong.

 

[DanT]

The golf ball moves very fast and is very hard. I can’t find my source for the information I posted, so I’ll drop the golf ball hitting people in the chest and killing them part.

But what you say is way off base. If what you say is true, it wouldn’t kill anyone who was hit in the head by an errant golf ball a good distance away either. I mean, flick yourself in the temple; you’re still alive, right? Scientific proof you’re incorrect...

Death by golf ball not all that uncommon | November 29, 2010 | Bart Pfankuch | HT Golf

A simple google search lead to multiple scientific studies and statistics by government agencies such as department of labor. This was a newspaper article, but it doesn’t mean it was wrong.

If you get hit in the head then yeah, you could die or get knocked out. In the chest? Not so much.

 

[Buka]

My favorite myth concerns getting a guy on the ground. It's the old "then his friends will jump on you".

 

[JR 137]

My favorite myth concerns getting a guy on the ground. It's the old "then his friends will jump on you".

I’ve seen that one too many times to call it a myth.

Working in bars for about 10 years, I always wondered why the crowd would let two guys slug it out on their feet, regardless of any size discrepancy; yet all jump in once it went to the ground. Is/was it because they thought it was a fair fight when they’re both on their feet, yet think it’s unfair once it goes to the ground? Or is it because once someone’s knocked down, the fight should be over and following them down is dirty? Same for outside the bar.

Damned if I know.

Maybe I lived in a vacuum. All I know is what I saw. And yes, I’ve seen friends jump in before it went to the ground, but not every time. When it went to the ground, someone stepped in. Every single time.