Which training type has the most injuries?
- Thread starter cfr
- Start date
To know for sure a study would have to be done. Otherwise we are just speculating. I don't do mma so take it with a grain of salt. The injuries we see in Hapkido are usually the accidental kind like catching a finger in the eye during a two person drill. That sort of thing. It's one reason I am fairly zealous about my students keeping their fingernails trimmed. I would guess competiive environments like boxing, wrestling, and mma see many more injuries than structured traditional martial arts.
Danny T
Senior Master
I believe it is more about 'how' one trains vs what one trains.
We have a strong MMA program at my school with several fighters who have done very well.
Number of training injuries have been very small within our training. Have had more injuries when they have gone to other gyms to train with others (which I feel is important) because of that gyms methods.
Training is about learning not fighting, practice is about repetition, skill development, and attribute development. Sparring is about learning and should be specific to what one has been developing and not just trying to knock the other guy out. That is what the fight is for.
Take a look at the individual training aspects solely. Boxing, Muay Thai, TKD or whatever in the striking department. Not a lot of injuries within the training. Some yes but not a lot. Same with wrestling, judo, and BJJ.
It's all about how one trains and practices.
We have a strong MMA program at my school with several fighters who have done very well.
Number of training injuries have been very small within our training. Have had more injuries when they have gone to other gyms to train with others (which I feel is important) because of that gyms methods.
Training is about learning not fighting, practice is about repetition, skill development, and attribute development. Sparring is about learning and should be specific to what one has been developing and not just trying to knock the other guy out. That is what the fight is for.
Take a look at the individual training aspects solely. Boxing, Muay Thai, TKD or whatever in the striking department. Not a lot of injuries within the training. Some yes but not a lot. Same with wrestling, judo, and BJJ.
It's all about how one trains and practices.
Same here, the injuries we've seen are usually small accidental ones such as toes catching perhaps on the mats, fingers being bent 'backwards', noses being caught, kicks catching hips or elbows etc nothing really that would cause more than a bruise. A nose which had been previously broken can break again if caught. We've had two lads dislocate shoulders, one was a complete freak, he went to throw a punch which missed and his shoulder went out, the other had a history of shoulder dislocations so it wasn't a surprise it came out again, he wasn't too bothered as it meant that he could finally have an op to get it fixed. We've had broken toes and fingers which I've also seen when I did karate, my toes have mostly been broken and a couple of fingers. We have no more injuries than I've seen in any other type of martial art. What I did see when doing a traditional style is the 'belt in the eye' accident!
When training it is as Danny T says, we train to learn not to fight, we don't 'fight' in the gym.
FriedRice
Master Black Belt
Most injuries is probably, pure WRESTLING. #2 would be MMA. #3 pure Boxing or BJJ. #4 Muay Thai.
Pure Wrestlers who compete, are just beastly with their training. The reason I chose MMA next, even though it can and usually does include Wrestling, is because there are many aspects of it, such as striking, that you have to start people out slowly and not let them KO each other with little gloves on and break noses = lose tuition paying students. While in Wrestling, you just focus, balls out, on one aspect.
Then Boxing next because a Boxing gym gets you sparring the quickest, and with headgear, people going 100% power the first time out, is rarely discouraged. The Boxing environment is generally, just rougher than TMA and even MMA gyms. And again, Boxing focuses on one aspect of fighting, so you can start sparring hard much quicker.
BJJ, while it can be very subtle and flowing, is also very taxing on the body. Most serious injuries such as ACL reconstructions are due to BJJ Competition Team training that I've seen. But even if you don't compete, BJJ spars every class for 30-45 minutes and it's not joke what it does to your body. Most older guys will start hurting in the lower back.
And you'd think Muay Thai would be higher on the list, but it's actually safer than Boxing. It takes quite a while before you start sparring full Muay Thai because there are many aspects to learn. The MT clinch is a science by itself. And even then, elbows and knee strikes are very controlled. You're much more likely to get a concussion from sparring after the 1st 6 months in Boxing than you would in MT or MMA.
Another thing is that, I've seen Martial Art insurance carriers who specifically states that they don't cover Wrestling nor Boxing gyms while MMA and everything else, are listed as acceptable. I'm pretty sure that they base such on their claims/risk assessment.
ShotoNoob
Master Black Belt
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Seems like MMA gets a lot of injuries.... Why I don't do full contact fighting....
Actually they don't, it's just 'tough guy' talk. Like saying that an MMA fight is a 'fight to the death', that's just bollocks. MMA fighters can't afford to get injured in training, it would mean they were never available to fight wouldn't it. In the actual fights we've proved that MMA carries far less risk of injuries and serious injuries at that than many other sports. I've been in MMA for a very long time and the actual injuries I've seen are minimal, a freak leg break, black eyes, certainly a couple of broken noses, sprains and strains certainly. We had one dislocated shoulder from BJJ and one from traditional martial arts in training.
Some people like to 'big up' MMA to make it sound like it's for the hard men only but it's not. It's actually very professionally run or at least it should be and injuries are kept to a minimum. Pro fighters as I said can't afford to get injured and amateur fighters have jobs/careers to protect.
ShotoNoob
Master Black Belt
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Glad to hear you have standards. There are some places that lack the standards, and it's good to mention how MMA can be approached correctly. I tend to concentrate on the UFC, type competition and even with rule set, I cringe. I mean Weidman beat the stuffing out of my hero, Lyoto Machida, at UFC 175. Lyoto was not a happy camper @ post-fight presser. Wonderboy almost beat Matt Brown, but Matt pretty much overcame Wonderboy's sport kararte with Matt's well rounded MMA itinerary. Wonderboy felt that fight for some time I'm sure.
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Incidentally, I want to add that traditional karate is relatively safe, until you abandon standards. Then, it's probably worse than MMA. IMHO.
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Thanks for the considered reply.....
Stupidity causes the most injuries. People refusing to tap, thinking every drill is for a title belt, letting "light" sparring matches escalate.
This goes for any style, not just MMA. I've seen just as much stupid crap done by traditional karate-ka as MMA fighters.
Once you get competitive injuries are going to happen though, and that goes for all combat sports. Yes, I've seen arms snap and conclusions in MMA, also saw them in "no-head contact" point fighting style tournaments.
Personally I think the biggest avoidable injuries are when the rules of the sport prevent you from doing what should be the safest action due to the scoring. For example Judo spends a lot of time learning to properly fall, mostly on their back to avoid injury on impact. But a text-book break fall in a match will cost you the match so you get competitors doing some mid-air acrobatics to avoid landing in what should be the safest way to avoid injury. Or in sport karate where you end up with all kinds of flashy head kicks because they score the best when the defender is severely neutralized by not allowing attacking the supporting leg which would discourage excessive use of those kicks.
MMA, when competitive will lead to injuries, but in training I think it is a lot safer then many people assume (unless you are stupid) partially because the rules and scoring don't hinder you as much when it comes to protecting yourself. The "big" stuff such as head kicks and spinning techniques, and the big throws of Judo or 5-point wrestling throws are rare, because doing them leaves you vulnerable to things that aren't allowed in those other sports and aren't really scored much higher then a simple takedown that leaves you more likely to end up with control at the end rather then a scramble.
This goes for any style, not just MMA. I've seen just as much stupid crap done by traditional karate-ka as MMA fighters.
Once you get competitive injuries are going to happen though, and that goes for all combat sports. Yes, I've seen arms snap and conclusions in MMA, also saw them in "no-head contact" point fighting style tournaments.
Personally I think the biggest avoidable injuries are when the rules of the sport prevent you from doing what should be the safest action due to the scoring. For example Judo spends a lot of time learning to properly fall, mostly on their back to avoid injury on impact. But a text-book break fall in a match will cost you the match so you get competitors doing some mid-air acrobatics to avoid landing in what should be the safest way to avoid injury. Or in sport karate where you end up with all kinds of flashy head kicks because they score the best when the defender is severely neutralized by not allowing attacking the supporting leg which would discourage excessive use of those kicks.
MMA, when competitive will lead to injuries, but in training I think it is a lot safer then many people assume (unless you are stupid) partially because the rules and scoring don't hinder you as much when it comes to protecting yourself. The "big" stuff such as head kicks and spinning techniques, and the big throws of Judo or 5-point wrestling throws are rare, because doing them leaves you vulnerable to things that aren't allowed in those other sports and aren't really scored much higher then a simple takedown that leaves you more likely to end up with control at the end rather then a scramble.
ShotoNoob
Master Black Belt
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All valid & on point. If you are an instructor, your students are blessed. Quite a range of style-based knowledge.
FriedRice
Master Black Belt
You obviously didn't understand this.
No, why would I? I've only been involved in MMA for well over 16 years ( many many years of martial arts before that), as coach, ref, corner, judge, promoter so why would I know anything, mate. We train pro fighters who go on into the big promotions including the UFC. I would suggest by your hectoring, macho style of posting that you think you know everything, that's fine. I'll just carry on having a Steffi Graf at your 'death match' mentality. It's the sort of thing that the 'Tap Out' brigade wear when playing MMA on their computers. 'Death match' I ask you, how infantile is that! I mentioned your comment on a UK MMA site and there were howls of laughter and the use of many words that I can't repeat on here. Anyway crack on with the tough guy comments, it's fun.
I think this is one of the best answers I have ever heard or seen to the OP's question
Any idiot can bash his way around in training leaving bodies in his wake but no coach would thank him for losing him his students/fighters. No promoter would be pleased to have fights off his card because fighters got silly injuries pre fight. No employer wants his workers turning up with black eyes or worse so they can't work. So, we train clever not like idiots.
FriedRice
Master Black Belt
Do you run Daddy's gym and/or are his helper or something? None of this makes you a fighter and I doubt that you fought full MMA. Like I said, you didn't understand what I said that's why you're getting all excited.
drop bear
Sr. Grandmaster
Not really. There is an element of hard training that incurs risk that is managed by safe training methods.
But there is risk all the same. I don't know fighters who haven't pulled injuries in training.
