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tony leith
13th October 2000, 14:49
I've been training for only about nine years, but am already replete with the usual range of creaking joints etc. My knees especially appear to ageing faster than the rest of me by a factor of about two, and one of the fingers on my left hand has lately taken to clicking through its range of motion, which is also a bit alarming..

Some suggestions for harm reduction:
1)Martial arts training is highly specific in terms of the kind of muscular and other bodily conditioning that result from it. In my case, Kempo punching and kicking techniques emphasise pushing the body forward to commit its weight to the strike. Over years of training, this for me resulted in disproportionate development of the musculature on the outside of the thigh, which gradually undermined the stability of my knee joints and resulted in recurring injury. Since maintaining a physiotherapy and exerise regime to compensate i.e. develop the muscle groups on the inside of the knee, I have thus far (touch wood) avoided a further recurrence. We all should probably think more carefully in sports scientific terms about what we're doing to ourselves, and what we can do to mitigate any negative consequences of our training..
2)Further to this, training should be structured in such a way as to minimise the likelihood of injury. There have to be proper warm ups ( and warm downs) i.e. enough actvity to elevate respiratory patterns and allow stretching to be done safely. Activity should then be maintained throughout the session at a sufficient level to keep warm (incredibly basic stuff, I know, but it doesn't always happen).
3)We should also think about what the actual execution of techniques is likely to do to us IN THE LONG TERM. Wear and tear is inevitable, but if for example punching and kicking involves locking arms and legs out to anywhere near full extension, then elbow and knee cartilage will suffer accordingly. This is a finite lifetime resource, and should be treated as such. As instructors especially we have a responsibility to ensure our students are benefiting from training, and not just in the sense of learning techniques or self defense.

All that being said, this has to be put in context. Despite my creaking bones, I feel I have benefitted immensely from my practise of Shorinji kempo. I know a lot of people my age (early thirties) who are basically physically inert, and are starting to suffer the inevitable consequences. I'd rather have my problems than theirs, at least at this point. I think if our training observes sensible principles derived from sports science (and we should probably all make some effort to gain such knowledge), there's no reason why it shouldn't be possible to continue practicing and getting those benefits.

Steve Williams
15th October 2000, 18:38
Hi Tony


Originally posted by tony leith
I know a lot of people my age (early thirties) who are basically physically inert, and are starting to suffer the inevitable consequences. I'd rather have my problems than theirs, at least at this point. I think if our training observes sensible principles derived from sports science (and we should probably all make some effort to gain such knowledge), there's no reason why it shouldn't be possible to continue practicing and getting those benefits.


A lot of people younger than us are suffering "decrepitude" I would rather have my many (but minor) injuries than their unhealthy bodies.

I agree that we must try to be sensible with regard to training but martial arts are, by their very nature, a stress to our bodies.
We are trying to make our limbs do things which we are not now accustomed to do.
Our bodies may have been more accustomed hundreds of years ago but we are now so sedentary in our lifestyle that our bodies complain when we stress them too much.

If you are having a lot of joint problems then I would recommend doing some sort of complimentary excercise to assist in recovery from the rigors of training, it is not always possible in the limited "mat time" which we have to attend to these factors.

tony leith
16th October 2000, 15:09
I basically concur with what Steve said re. my comments - evidently my exposition of my original argument wasn't as clear as it could have been. I entirely agree that it is an individual's responsibility to attend to specific problems they may have e.g. joint stability outside 'mat time', and that is what i am personally doing. Nevertheless, I also think there are models of 'best practice' martial artists can adopt from the insights of sports science and physiology (which I emphasise I have no particular expertise in) in order to do what we do as safely as possible and optimally from the point of view of general health and fitness. Although our style of training may reflect the best traditions of martial arts practice - and I personally am very much attached to those traditions - I think it would also benefit from importing these insights.