Hand Injuries - Minimizing with Hand Guards?

[Rumy73]

Hello Everyone. I am feeling a bit low recently. I was helping a 13-year old student with sparring, and, while exercising very light contact, his hand either struck my knee or foot, which resulted in a broken finger. I felt terrible. I know the child and his parents, whom I talked to afterwards.

Anyhow, I think there's a safety issue being overlooked and would like to hear your opinions. I am new at the school and one thing I noticed, that is different from every other school of which I have been a part, is that students do not wear any hand protection. I talked to the Master about this situation, and he was irritated by my suggestion that the injury could have been prevented or been lesser if the student had hand protection. His take was that I needed to "be more careful" which I thought was a poor assessment. I was moving slowly and carefully. The student's use of a low block and the bad luck of where my body was at that moment resulted in the injury. Personally, I wear gloves and made the suggestion to the student's parents, despite the Master's position. I have been kicked in the hands a lot over the years. It makes sense this would happen, as the hands are out in front. I cannot understand his aversion to hand guards for youth students.

 

[clfsean]

Eh... it's a contact sport. He could've broken it playing basketball in his driveway or at the park just as easily.

i understand your concerns & position, but really, nothing you could've done & nothing to feel guilty about. As long as you didn't blast him, you're fine. The teacher is a bit off with his response IMO.

But seriously, you're good to go.

 

[Cyriacus]

These things happen. Its good that youre concerned, but noone is at fault. Ive broken toes from kicking an arm, and that was neither my fault nor his. It just happens with contact.

EDIT: Forgot to mention. That was with foot shoe guard things that you wear. They cover the tops of your toes, and they didnt really do any good.

 

[granfire]

hands are fragile.

I injured my hand flicking at my son's head...

I sprained my wrist/hand more than once in the beginning when I stabbed my blocks instead of sweeping them...

Yes, hand guards minimize injury (that's why there are so many models out for sale) no, they can't prevent all injuries.

And the reaction of your instructor is odd....but then I come from a bubble wrap school...

 

[ATC]

Happens. Just sucks when it is you or an instructor that is the cause. My daughter had gotten her fingers broken a couple of times. Best thing is to have them keep the hands in a fist and not open. Also blocking with your hands in the first place is a no-no. I see many kids put their hands out to block a kick and it just begs for being broken.

 

[Blindside]

Hello Everyone. I am feeling a bit low recently. I was helping a 13-year old student with sparring, and, while exercising very light contact, his hand either struck my knee or foot, which resulted in a broken finger. I felt terrible. I know the child and his parents, whom I talked to afterwards.

Anyhow, I think there's a safety issue being overlooked and would like to hear your opinions. I am new at the school and one thing I noticed, that is different from every other school of which I have been a part, is that students do not wear any hand protection. I talked to the Master about this situation, and he was irritated by my suggestion that the injury could have been prevented or been lesser if the student had hand protection. His take was that I needed to "be more careful" which I thought was a poor assessment. I was moving slowly and carefully. The student's use of a low block and the bad luck of where my body was at that moment resulted in the injury. Personally, I wear gloves and made the suggestion to the student's parents, despite the Master's position. I have been kicked in the hands a lot over the years. It makes sense this would happen, as the hands are out in front. I cannot understand his aversion to hand guards for youth students.

Wore handguards for most of my sparring career, have had severely jammed fingers, one dislocated finger, and one broken hand (boxers fracture) for punching someone in the head poorly. I don't think pads are the solution you think they are.

 

[Rumy73]

Pads obviously do add some protection. Somethings they are not going to prevent from injury; however, in other cases, I think that they do offer protection. The sparring I am involved with is WTF. This is the only WTF school that does not have youths wear hand protection.

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

Pads obviously do add some protection. Somethings they are not going to prevent from injury; however, in other cases, I think that they do offer protection. The sparring I am involved with is WTF. This is the only WTF school that does not have youths wear hand protection.

Last school I attended where we did WTF sparring, some of the students wore combination hand/forearm guards. However, the fingers were open. I never saw any finger injuries at our school.

Was the student in question sparring with his hands open or was he making fists?

 

[K-man]

I'm with the majority. Unlikely that hand guards would do much to protect the fingers. A hundred years ago karate changed from open hand to closed fist to protect the fingers of children. Nothing has changed. :asian:

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

I'm with the majority. Unlikely that hand guards would do much to protect the fingers. A hundred years ago karate changed from open hand to closed fist to protect the fingers of children. Nothing has changed. :asian:

And WTF sparring has even fewer hand techniques than karate.

 

[StudentCarl]

I encourage people to keep their hands in a fist until they have red on their belt. By then they have better judgment and can take responsibility if they block a leg with a finger. Hand guards don't protect fingers that are sticking out where they shouldn't be.


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[andyjeffries]

The sparring I am involved with is WTF. This is the only WTF school that does not have youths wear hand protection.

We're a "WTF school" (Kukki-Taekwondo doing WTF sparring) and our children/youths do not wear hand protection (in general, the ones who want to fight in competition tend to, just to get used to them, but the majority don't).

 

[WaterGal]

I can't see the WTF-approved hand protectors doing anything to stop a broken finger, since they don't even cover much of the fingers. People just need to remember to keep their hands in a fist during sparring.

 

[Metal]

[...]Best thing is to have them keep the hands in a fist and not open. Also blocking with your hands in the first place is a no-no. I see many kids put their hands out to block a kick and it just begs for being broken.

Indeed! Sometimes I hate it to be early and have to watch some of those kids sparring. Whenever I do light sparring with some of the 12 to 16 year olds I make sure to tell them that they put their fingers at unnecessary risk.

I always wear my hand protectors when I do sparring and while fingers may still broken or sprained when they stick out, the hand protectors will definitely help to prevent metacarpal fractures.

 

[Rumy73]

I should have stated at the start, the child had his hand in a fist.

 

[K-man]

I should have stated at the start, the child had his hand in a fist.

In that case, nothing anyone could have done. S#*t happens, unless he was wearing boxing gloves!

Actually that reminds me, when I used to compete, I used bag gloves with enclosed fingers. We weren't allowed to grab anyway so it made no difference to my sparring but it protected my fingers if I got lazy. :asian:

 

[StudentCarl]

I should have stated at the start, the child had his hand in a fist.

We try to head those off when we see someone trying to beat feet with hands...feet are stronger, and moving is better than blocking. Unfortunately this happens...but it's pretty rare in my experience. Correct blocking technique helps.

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

Pads obviously do add some protection. Somethings they are not going to prevent from injury; however, in other cases, I think that they do offer protection. The sparring I am involved with is WTF. This is the only WTF school that does not have youths wear hand protection.

One other thought on this: I agree with Carl about avoidance and ATC on the use of hands for blocks. In WTF sparring, the primary striking implements are the leg and foot (in a roundhouse kick, the instep of the foot, in a side kick, the heel and edge of the foot). Blocking in KKW taekwondo is supposed to be done with the palmok, not the hand, but if you're defending against kicks, avoidance is better than blocking, as the leg and foot are going to be inherently stronger than the arm and hand.

This is the reason that you see the lower guard in WTF sparring; punches will be leveled at the body rather than the head and kicks to the head are best avoided rather than blocked. Keeping the guard low also protects the body in that style of sparring by closing the line of attack to portions of the torso.

 

[Rumy73]

One other thought on this: I agree with Carl about avoidance and ATC on the use of hands for blocks. In WTF sparring, the primary striking implements are the leg and foot (in a roundhouse kick, the instep of the foot, in a side kick, the heel and edge of the foot). Blocking in KKW taekwondo is supposed to be done with the palmok, not the hand, but if you're defending against kicks, avoidance is better than blocking, as the leg and foot are going to be inherently stronger than the arm and hand.

This is the reason that you see the lower guard in WTF sparring; punches will be leveled at the body rather than the head and kicks to the head are best avoided rather than blocked. Keeping the guard low also protects the body in that style of sparring by closing the line of attack to portions of the torso.

Yes, I know all of this.

 

[granfire]

One other thought on this: I agree with Carl about avoidance and ATC on the use of hands for blocks. In WTF sparring, the primary striking implements are the leg and foot (in a roundhouse kick, the instep of the foot, in a side kick, the heel and edge of the foot). Blocking in KKW taekwondo is supposed to be done with the palmok, not the hand, but if you're defending against kicks, avoidance is better than blocking, as the leg and foot are going to be inherently stronger than the arm and hand.

This is the reason that you see the lower guard in WTF sparring; punches will be leveled at the body rather than the head and kicks to the head are best avoided rather than blocked. Keeping the guard low also protects the body in that style of sparring by closing the line of attack to portions of the torso.

avoidance is ALWAYS better than blocking.