Some martial arts injuries are unavoidable, but others are just plain stupid!
In this video, I discuss three stupid martial arts injuries and how to avoid them. If the video won’t play, you’ll find a summary below. Train safely!
Stupid Injury #1:
Spraining or jamming your fingers
In the martial arts, your hands not only give a beating, they take a beating. Yes, Bruce Lee looks cool jumping around, flashing his fingers. But in a real fight, that’s just stupid.
Your fingers are made up of small, delicate joints. They’re easy to twist and jam while blocking a punch, stopping a kick, getting caught in clothing, or rolling over your own hand grappling on the ground.
I once broke my thumb on someone’s head trying to stop them from tackling me!
When it comes to protecting your fingers, don’t get cocky. Follow this rule instead: cup your fingers until you need them.
You don’t have to burn out your forearms squeezing your fists, just curl your fingers loosely until you’re ready to grab, gouge, or palm heel.
By the way, don’t think if you’re wearing sparring gloves that your hands are safe—they’re not! You can break your fingers with gloves on without, so, cup ‘em till you need ’em.
Stupid Injury #2:
Breaking or dislocating your jaw
Like your fingers, your jaw is delicate—especially moving side to side. Even a light hit might force you to eat soup three times a day for a month.
Getting hit in the jaw might also lead you to spitting out pieces of your teeth, which is a tremendous advantage if you enjoy being single or scaring small children.
The bottom line: the only reason your mouth should be open during a fight is if you’re biting, screaming for help, or—if you’re like me—talking trash. I happen to enjoy talking trash and I have eaten my fair share of soup because of it.
The only other reason your mouth might be hanging open is if you’re gasping for air because you’re out of shape. There’s only one solution for that… train harder!
So, how can you protect your jaw? If you train with a mouthguard, great. Bite down on that thing.
If you don’t train with a mouthguard, bite down anyway. You don’t have to grind your teeth, just close your jaw with enough pressure so it will have a better chance of staying in place if you take a hit.
Stupid Injury #3:
Tearing your knees and spraining your ankles
Some people spar or grapple with what I call a “mountain mentality”. They drop their weight as if to say, “You’re never going to move me.”
Big guys are especially guilty of refusing to move, but it happens to all of us. My ego has led me to believe I was immovable more than once, which is why I now carry a cane in my car.
When you grab someone who refuses to move and give them a quick push, pull, or twist, they tend to tense up and freeze. When their body keeps moving but their legs stay put, they wind up tearing a knee or spraining an ankle.
Be warned—training on soft mats doesn’t help. Your feet can sink into the mats just like cleats into grass. Once you’re stuck, even if you want to move, sometimes you can’t!
So, how do you avoid freezing up and getting stuck?
Stay on the move. Go with the flow. Accept what’s happening.
If you want to be a mountain, be a mountain on the move. Be an avalanche.
When you find yourself resisting, relax immediately. Give up a little ground now so you won’t end up on the ground later.
All it takes is a little shuffle or pivot and you will protect your knees and ankles from injury.
There you have it! Stupid martial arts injuries you can avoid if you just follow three simple rules—
- Cup your fingers
- Shut your mouth
- Go with the flow
Remember—you shouldn’t be hurting yourself while you’re protecting yourself from being hurt by others.
That’s just stupid.
Ossu! [bow]
Oops, didn’t realize I’m really, really at risk for jaw injury. OK, I’ll take more advantage of my mouth guard. And train harder (huff, puff).
It was really helpful to see what you meant by cupping hands.
Thank you!!!
[bow]
OSU!
No doubt about it–building good habits now will lead to years of safer training down the road. Basics, basics, basics! And yes, a little conditioning! 🙂
Osu! [bow]
Yep, that’s why I’m trying ever so hard to nip bad habits in the bud 🙂 As far as conditioning goes, I have to both be patient with myself and push myself. I’m only five months and three days into my training, so that’s the patience part if I get frustrated that I’m not where I think I should be. The push myself part will be a constant for as long as I’m physically able to do Karate.
[bow]
Slow and steady wins the race! And the fight! 🙂
Hello!
I practice a certain number of blocks wich use the forearm to block while your hand is open. Sometimes, i miss and block with the hand (the edge of the hand normally) or fingers instead of the forearm. It hurts. What would you reccomend? (I’m thinking of the wing chun blocks)
Hi there, Wings!
The hands are a paradox– so effective, yet so delicate! And sure, in a hand-heavy style like Wing Chun, I’m sure you jam up your fingers quite often.
I haven’t seen you practice, so it’s hard to give you a tip on technique, but let me suggest curling up your fingers in a light fist and focusing on wrist placement for a while. When you feel more confident in your structure, then you can start letting the fingers fly again!
Thanks for your recomendation, I’ll try. Fingers flying… I hope I’ll be able to do that some day : )
Ha! You can and you will! 🙂