Bad injuries or death...

[charyuop]

The other day Sensei told me how he wants me to carry out my back falls and he wants me to reach a point where I no longer need to think about them, but they come out naturally. To make his point clear he did a technique on me rather hard and I went down "splashing" on my back, not even the time to keep my head from hitting the mat. My sempai told me that Uke is a difficult role, not for the falling part, but for the understanding of what is going on. He used an example of a Sandan of their association who ended up with a broken elbow.

These episodes made me wonder if anyone here knows if it happens often in Aikido bad injuries (broken bones or paralyses) or even deaths (maybe due to broken necks).

 

[morph4me]

I'll be starting my 20th year of training in January, in that time I've seen and sustained some injuries, broken wrists, sprains, torn cartilege, etc.. The worse was when a student took a bad front roll, he didn't wait to be thrown, and went halfway over and collapsed on his head, Sensei and I thought he broke his neck, he ended up with a neck brace for a few weeks but was fine. I have never seen anything as extreme as paralysis

What I'm trying to say is that martial arts, any martial arts, are inherently dangerous, and that injuries and even death are possible. The instructors skill, corrections and attention to what's going on in class as well as the students concentration, and attentivness will make it safer.

 

[theletch1]

What I'm trying to say is that martial arts, any martial arts, are inherently dangerous, and that injuries and even death are possible. The instructors skill, corrections and attention to what's going on in class as well as the students concentration, and attentivness will make it safer.

That is a statement which pretty much sums up the entire discussion for me. There are many reasons you have to "empty your cup" when you step onto the training mat and being focused on the safety of your training for the sake of safety is one of the biggies. Injuries do, indeed, happen. Remember, the techniques that you are learning have the potential to KILL another human being. While you will make adjustments in speed or do things slightly differently in the dojo to avoid the exact injury you're trying to create on the street the potential for injury is still there. Yes, broken bones and even deaths have occured in aikido training for various reasons but they are extremely rare cases and can be kept that way so long as proper safety precautions are observed.

Your sempai was correct and very insightful. Falling out of a technique shouldn't really be all that hard as nage has a responsibility to throw you only as hard as your skill level will allow. As uke, you will have to pay very close attention to how the energy is flowing once nage starts his defense and try to figure out which technique he's going for so that you'll be a half step ahead for the roll or fall...and dare I say looking for the opportunity to ura . The hardest part of aikido for me has always been reading energy and I've found that I need to take advantage of being uke to get the extra practice at feeling the energy flow.

((oh, and eventually tucking your chin to your chest on a fall will become second nature and you want rattle your brains as often)):uhyeah: