CANDANeh wrote:I had the same injury (along with a crushed foot unfortunately) but it took an SUV to do it...need to step up my conditioning
The breaks these fighters suffered kinda freaks me out
. When using our body parts as weapons it may be good advice to ensure we "use the right tool for the job" and evaluate it`s potential to be damaged during use.
Leo,
This is very good advice.
For example, even if a practitioner has very well conditioned legs/shins/instep etc._
what they should realize is that in the chaos of a real fight and while aiming at the opponent's legs to 'cut him down' _he may, first of all, come up against big heavy people [250 +] firmly planted on the planet…and not conveniently providing the 'right targets' to hit with our shins/feet the 'safe way' for us. So someone who weighs 300 pounds has legs that seem glued to the floor giving a very resistive target to your strikes.
What is the safe way? Simply the one that will not destroy your ankle joint, for example, when you miss and impact with the wrong part of your leg/foot that imparts ballistic stress to your joint and ligaments.
Again to bring up the soccer players' most common injuries…
Soccer players are the most formidable kickers in the world and because of their constant 'leg smashes' they are extremely well conditioned in the giving and taking kicks in the legs.
But many soccer players' ankles are broken or twisted badly when a power kick meets another power kick, with the ball in between, impact being made with the top or side of the foot, which affects the ankle joint and tendons.
I keep telling my students that joints/ligaments are very difficult to 'condition' and to be very careful and mindful of a serious joint injury in a street fight…or the fight ends right then and there.
Here is something from George Chaplin:
It goes without saying that joints of any kind can never be strengthened by conditioning. The last major complication to be concerned about in body conditioning is in the fascia of the tendon sheaths, tendons, and ligaments.
These do not have a direct blood supply and like periosteum they collect their nutriments from the thin fluid that passes between the cells. It is called the interstitial fluid. Therefore, without a blood supply they will not bruise.
Fascia, tendons, and ligaments don't really bruise anyway because they are made of inelastic, tightly bonded molecules of collagen. These are so inelastic that they tear instead of bruising. Small tears are not very serious or complicated and will usually clear up with some rest.
Sudden impact onto a highly stressed tendon or ligament can often cause complete separation that will require surgical repair. Major tears, whether complete or not, will weaken a ligament or tendon and the resultant scarring will leave it susceptible to more tears.
This weakening can become chronic and cause the cessation of training. Tendons run in a protective sheath. Bruise this and you run the risk of having the smooth slippery surface of the sheath roughening, the tendon will then grate every time it moves causing acute pain.
This can be seen in the knuckles of people over doing the Makiwara and punching hard objects like bricks as in Tameshiwara training. This condition, tenosynovitis, is not normally serious although it may be become chronic and require the cessation of karate training.
> George Chaplin, C/O Dr. N. G. Jablonski, Dept. of Anthropology, California Academy of Sciences, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. CA 94118 - 4599 U.S.A email: njablonsk.cal.org.
Biographical Details George Chaplin is an Uechi Ryu Karate Do Yon Dan, and has taught and practiced karate in Hong Kong and Perth Western Australia.
He was registered at Futenma Dojo where he trained with Grandmaster Kanei Uechi, and has spent a total of one year studying on Okinawa. He spent five years as Chief Instructor of the Hong Kong Dojo with Mr. Robert Campbell Renshi who was Senior Instructor and head of the branch. He has recently moved to San Francisco. . <
This is the link to his entire article…
http://uechi-ryu.com/chaplin.htm
Bill, I know that you are familiar with this article by Mr. Chaplin…can you tell us if you agree with all he writes?