Injuries
- Thread starter Mider
- Start date
I have studied a wide variety of martial arts, and this is just MHO. The easy answer for the least injuries would probably be Tai Chi. It is hard to say which has the most. I hear that some people say Judo, but I studied it for a couple of years and never got injured. But I can see the potential for injuries there.
To my mind, it has as much to do with the instructor and your fellow students. If you have an an instructor who is all rabid about everyone being "tough" and fellow students who are out to hurt people, that is a bad environment for injuries no matter what the art. If you have a school that is "safety first." much less so.
There are two major things that will get you injured: Impact, with the ground or a strike, and joint/bone strain/dislocation/sprain/breakage. Most arts have the potential of both, but the striking arts will have more of the former and the grappling arts more of the latter. The first can be mitigated with contact rules and safety equipment, but not completely. The second can be mitigated by your flexibility and your willingness to tap out early, but not completely.
I have never known someone who really got into martial arts who didn't get injured occasionally, to some degree. So sometimes it is accepting that and learning ways to recover from injuries quickly that is key. If you are new, I would avoid arts that push you into competition or even full power sparring before you feel you are ready.
Also, there are short term and long term injuries. Short term are obvious. The art I got the farthest in was Karate' and what I found was that in the long run, it can be really hard on the knees. I have had to have a knee replaced and the other one is not great. Gichin Funakoshi, the founder of Shotokan Karate', had severe osteoarthritis the last 11 years of his life and that can be caused by extreme sports. My first instructor was a nationally known competitor who could throw a head kick like a snake strike. He is still alive and well, but he can barely throw any kick of any kind now.
To my mind, it has as much to do with the instructor and your fellow students. If you have an an instructor who is all rabid about everyone being "tough" and fellow students who are out to hurt people, that is a bad environment for injuries no matter what the art. If you have a school that is "safety first." much less so.
There are two major things that will get you injured: Impact, with the ground or a strike, and joint/bone strain/dislocation/sprain/breakage. Most arts have the potential of both, but the striking arts will have more of the former and the grappling arts more of the latter. The first can be mitigated with contact rules and safety equipment, but not completely. The second can be mitigated by your flexibility and your willingness to tap out early, but not completely.
I have never known someone who really got into martial arts who didn't get injured occasionally, to some degree. So sometimes it is accepting that and learning ways to recover from injuries quickly that is key. If you are new, I would avoid arts that push you into competition or even full power sparring before you feel you are ready.
Also, there are short term and long term injuries. Short term are obvious. The art I got the farthest in was Karate' and what I found was that in the long run, it can be really hard on the knees. I have had to have a knee replaced and the other one is not great. Gichin Funakoshi, the founder of Shotokan Karate', had severe osteoarthritis the last 11 years of his life and that can be caused by extreme sports. My first instructor was a nationally known competitor who could throw a head kick like a snake strike. He is still alive and well, but he can barely throw any kick of any kind now.
dvcochran
Grandmaster
I would say you are approaching the question in a wrong way.
Unless you have some underlying reasons, worry less about injury. I commend you for taking the first step. Do Not be in a hurry. Audit as many schools in your area as possible that are reasonable and practical for you to participate in on a regular basis. Find out which ones resonate with you. Any school worth spending your time on will let you take at least a couple of classes for free, usually more.
Grappling arts are more prone to strains and sprains and striking arts can be more prone to scrapes and bruises. Not a hard rule however.
You are at a great age to begin. Just start.
No one wrestles for a significant period of time without some kind of injury.
For me it would be conditioning, but those injuries are probably not the type of injuries you have in mine. Most of my serious injuries occur outside of kung fu training. The most serious injuries that I've had during kung fu draining is a broke finger, which has more to do with me having a "hollow" bone. and a back injury which usually only happens when I get a technique wrong. The back injuries are mostly related to a weak core and weak stabilizing muscles that help keep the back strong. For the most part I'm on my way to correct the weak back muscle thing
Oh then there's bruising from sparring injuries but I tend to look at that as conditioning as well. If bruises count then bruises from conditioning, drilling and sparring would be the most frequent injuries. Almost daily. Once we get bruised arms then we train something else and bruise something else while the arm heals. The least of the injuries would be broken bones or injured backs
or having a sparring partner who has a lack of control
isshinryuronin
Senior Master
This is true of many sports: Basketball, football, rugby, and gymnastics to name a few. They are perhaps even more dangerous than MA. Many occupations as well; even chef's expect to get cut or burned once in a while. So why do people engage in such activities? Because they love doing it. It provides the practitioner something that is worth the risk. Sometimes the benefit is money, or fame, or the excitement. Even being in love has a potential of emotional hurt. If we accept life, we must also accept the pain of living it. If we do it responsibly, we have a good chance of getting thru it relatively unscathed without permanent injury while enjoying all the good stuff it provides.
frank raud
Master of Arts
Or being thrown by a white belt. I've never been seriously hurt when being thrown by someone who knows what they're doing, but have had a dislocated shoulder when a white belt lost his balance while throwing me, and had a broken wrist from a caveman strong white belt who used waay too much power to throw me.
Let me think...
Bear in mind that I've been practicing martial arts for 40 years, so the injuries I'm listing below have been spread out over decades.
I'll ignore routine bumps, bruises, and minor strains. There have been way too many of those to list in any art I've practiced for any length of time.
I got a broken finger in Tae Kwon Do practice while holding a board for a friend to break. He missed the board and instead kicked my hand that was holding the board.
I got a couple of cut finger tendons that needed surgical repair during my Bujinkan training while doing cutting practice with live blades. I suppose that might have had something to do with the fact that the instructors leading the class were at that time utterly unqualified to being teaching a sword art. Just a possibility.
I got a broken wrist during freestyle (sort of MMA lite) sparring with a karate practitioner. He caught my kick and swept me and I fell incorrectly. That's my fault. I knew better.
I got a dislocated shoulder during a Judo tournament. I threw my opponent for ippon, then like a doofus I turned my head the wrong way to admire my work and crash landed on my shoulder. Man, that one hurt. Also totally my fault.
I got another broken finger during another freestyle sparring session. I apparently parried a punch incorrectly and my finger tip swelled up. I didn't realize until the swelling went down that the tip was now crooked. Surprisingly that one didn't really hurt much, which is why I didn't realize it was broken until after the fact.
I had a badly broken thumb which needed surgery from BJJ sparring, when a sparring partner got too enthusiastic about breaking my grip.
I've needed stitches for forehead cuts ... I'm thinking 3 times? Once from Judo, once from BJJ, and once from stickfighting drills. (Actually it was SCA, but the teacher had us doing drills without armor.)
I've had a few mild concussions, from Muay Thai and BJJ. Nothing severe (no headaches, disorientation, or other symptoms that lasted longer than a couple of minutes), but when you get knocked down or TKO'd by a blow to the head it has to count as a concussion. My brain still seems to work okay, but I'm doing my best to avoid more of these.
I think that most injuries are avoidable with sensible practice, good coaching, and keeping one's ego out of the way. However if you spend enough time training any art with significant intensity, the odds are you will eventually get an owie of some sort. The trick is to keep those to a minimum.
Bear in mind that I've been practicing martial arts for 40 years, so the injuries I'm listing below have been spread out over decades.
I'll ignore routine bumps, bruises, and minor strains. There have been way too many of those to list in any art I've practiced for any length of time.
I got a broken finger in Tae Kwon Do practice while holding a board for a friend to break. He missed the board and instead kicked my hand that was holding the board.
I got a couple of cut finger tendons that needed surgical repair during my Bujinkan training while doing cutting practice with live blades. I suppose that might have had something to do with the fact that the instructors leading the class were at that time utterly unqualified to being teaching a sword art. Just a possibility.
I got a broken wrist during freestyle (sort of MMA lite) sparring with a karate practitioner. He caught my kick and swept me and I fell incorrectly. That's my fault. I knew better.
I got a dislocated shoulder during a Judo tournament. I threw my opponent for ippon, then like a doofus I turned my head the wrong way to admire my work and crash landed on my shoulder. Man, that one hurt. Also totally my fault.
I got another broken finger during another freestyle sparring session. I apparently parried a punch incorrectly and my finger tip swelled up. I didn't realize until the swelling went down that the tip was now crooked. Surprisingly that one didn't really hurt much, which is why I didn't realize it was broken until after the fact.
I had a badly broken thumb which needed surgery from BJJ sparring, when a sparring partner got too enthusiastic about breaking my grip.
I've needed stitches for forehead cuts ... I'm thinking 3 times? Once from Judo, once from BJJ, and once from stickfighting drills. (Actually it was SCA, but the teacher had us doing drills without armor.)
I've had a few mild concussions, from Muay Thai and BJJ. Nothing severe (no headaches, disorientation, or other symptoms that lasted longer than a couple of minutes), but when you get knocked down or TKO'd by a blow to the head it has to count as a concussion. My brain still seems to work okay, but I'm doing my best to avoid more of these.
I think that most injuries are avoidable with sensible practice, good coaching, and keeping one's ego out of the way. However if you spend enough time training any art with significant intensity, the odds are you will eventually get an owie of some sort. The trick is to keep those to a minimum.
No one does any combat system for a significant period of time without some kind of injury.
dvcochran
Grandmaster
To be fair the definition of "injury" needs to be defined. Boo boo's do not count.
I sense you and I both understand this.
yep. I consider anything that prevents training or requires medical attention more along the lines of injury..
Yeah those would be what I considered injuries for Martial Arts arts vs Injuries as defined by the medical field. But you Sir, have a long list of things I hope not to get when training ha ha ha.
Ironically I probably had most of those things outside of Martial Arts. I need to be more careful lol.
A couple of years ago, one student on the wrestling team broke his arm in practice such that from the elbow to the wrist was shaped like a "7," with a sharp right angle. Tough kid, never made a peep. He did start to go into shock before I did a little first aid and calmed him down to wait for the ambulance. Needless to say, that was the end of his season.
Your Signature make me think something isn't quite right. A DirtyDog saying that makes me translate it to. A Dog playing lame so that his prey will come closer lol.
If you have your own school the logo should be a dog that does this but with a grin lol
Should have told him to rub some dirt on it and work it out lol. Just your description of that injury make me cringe trying to image it.
Wrestlers can be crazy tough.
Mark Coleman tells a story about Kevin Randleman from back in their wrestling days. Apparently they were both at a national championship tournament and Kevin got his jaw dislocated in one of his matches, which meant he would have to withdraw from the tournament and forfeit his remaining matches. Kevin tried to convince Mark to punch him in the jaw to pop it back in place. Mark (quite sensibly) refused. So Kevin went over to the edge of a mat and slammed the side of his own face into the mat to pop his jaw back into place. He then went on to win the championship.
BTW - I looked the story up to make sure I wasn't misremembering anything. What I remembered was correct, but I learned the additional detail that this all happened a week after Randleman had dislocated both sides of his jaw in another competition and had spent time in the hospital with doctors telling him he wouldn't be able to compete safely.
Just something to think about the next time a discussion comes up about the effectiveness and reliability of pain compliance techniques.
