Parent Guide to Martial arts, How Dangerous is Martial Art Training?
In this day and age, we can see more and more people joining martial arts classes for various benefits. Some people want to learn self-defense, while the other group just wants to get in shape or lose some weight. Still, some people would like to train martial arts but are not sure how safe it is, and we are here to help you.
Martial art training is very safe in modern days. Whether you are going to hurt yourself or not depends on various factors we will talk about in this article. But overall, if you want to train martial arts, the rate of injuries isn’t a factor you should worry about too much.
In this article, we will bring you all you need to know about injuries in martial arts. We will explore the most common injuries, how to avoid them, and how martial arts compare with other sports.
What are the most common injuries in martial arts training?
As in any other sport out there, you can get hurt or suffer an injury in martial art training. In most cases, we are talking about “small” or “light” injuries that do not need much time to heal. The same bruises or cuts you can get playing soccer for instance. But if you are not careful, you can quickly end up on the surgery table as well. Here is a list of the most common injuries:
- Bruises, cuts, swelling, scrapes — all of these fall into a group of small injuries. No matter if you train BJJ, boxing, or Karate, these types of injuries are a part of martial arts training. Or in other words, you can’t avoid them. But apart from small pain, these things won’t impact your life or the way you train.
- Stress fractures — this type of small fracture is common in striking arts like Muay Thai or boxing. Kicking or throwing hundreds of punches per class will create small fractures in your hands or legs. It is a common pain among beginners who are yet to learn how to perform with a proper technique. Although it hurts quite a bit, stress fractures improve your bone density in the end.
- Hyperextension or dislocation of the joints — this is a common injury in grappling arts like BJJ or wrestling. Rolling on the ground and playing with chokes and joint locks can quickly end in a serious injury if you are not careful. In most cases, this happens when a person holds on to submission for too long or is pulling the joints too hard.
- Muscle or ligament sprain — this is a type of injury you can find in any sport from soccer to Muay Thai. In martial arts, students strain their muscles in various ways. It can happen while throwing fast high kicks, or while rolling on the mats with the partner.
Is training martial arts more dangerous than other contact sports?
First, this is based on what you mean by other contact sports? Soccer and basketball are not the same as American Football, Rugby, or Hockey. The last three are far more brutal, even than most martial arts as we are about to see below.
Let’s compare the rate of injuries in NFL (football) and UFC (MMA).
American football is a contact sport that carries a high risk of long-term injuries. It is a brutal sport where players collide at full speed all the time in training or match. The data show that brain injuries occur in 25% of NFL players, which is a very high rate. In fact, one study showed that all the collisions in a single NFL match create a force similar to 62 car crashes.
Things do not get any better if we move over to Rugby. Every year, around 1200 rugby players suffer head injuries, out of which two-thirds are brain injuries.
In MMA on the other side, 23.6% of fighters end up with some type of brain injury, which is less than in the NFL or even rugby. It weird to some extent that a sport where people kick and punch each other in the head leads to fewer brain injuries. Bear in mind that MMA is among the most dangerous martial arts you can train in. And still, it is much safer than other sports.
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But what about amateur training, you may ask? In our view, martial arts doesn’t include a higher injury rate than other contact sports.
What are martial arts with the lowest rate of injuries?
Martial art training carries a risk of injuries. But, some arts are created in such a way that the injury rate is really low. I mean, it’s really hard to get hurt training in arts like Tai Chi for instance. This is because arts like this do not include any live drills or full contact sparring. Once you get rid of these two things, it’s rare to suffer an injury.
If we stick with the data, the martial art with the lowest injury rate is Tai Chi (14%). Tai Chi comes from China and is also known as “shadowboxing”. This gives you are a great insight into why Tai Chi is so safe.
The focus is on meditation and learning how to carry out various moves in a calm and soft manner. It’s really hard to get hurt in Tai Chi, since students never spar or have any type of contact during training.
The second martial art with a low rate of injuries is Kung Fu. For the ones not familiar with it, Kung Fu is a Chinese martial art that focuses on movement and counter striking. There are many forms out of which the most popular one is Shaolin Kung Fu.
The data shows that the rate of injuries in Kung Fu is around 30%, which is twice as much as in Tai Chi. This is since Kung Fu training is more intense and includes some forms of live drills. But most students get hurt doing hard strength exercises.
The third martial arts with the lowest rate of injuries is Aikido. This may surprise a lot of people since Aikido is not among the most effective martial arts. But bear in mind that Aikido is all about throws, slams, and executing various wrist locks. This can lead to arm joint, angle injuries, back pain, collar or shoulder cap dislocation, and many other injuries.
What are the most dangerous martial arts?
What rises the risk of injuries in martial arts is hard sparring and competition. Doing hard rounds of live drills in every class doubles the risk of injuries in some arts. And we have to bring up that the body area or type of injury varies between the arts.
One of the arts with the highest injury rate is MMA or “mixed martial arts”. This is because MMA is a versatile sport where fighters compete in the standup, clinch, or on the ground. They can throw punches, kicks, elbows, and knees, and use ground and pound to strike the opponent on the ground. But, MMA has a high injury rate when it comes to small injuries like deep cuts or bruises.
Boxing, on the other side, has a much higher rate of more serious injuries like concussions or brain damage.
Other striking arts like Muay Thai, Kickboxing, or Karate are very much the same when it comes to injuries. Still, it’s fair to say that Muay Thai is a bit more dangerous than others. This is because it puts a lot of emphasis on sparring, throwing each strike with full power, and using knee and elbow strikes. In general, all striking arts cause broken bones, cuts, contusions, and other injuries caused by repeated impacts.
When it comes to grappling, the injury rates are very high in arts like BJJ, Judo, and Wrestling. But unlike in striking, these injuries are not caused by the impact of the strikes. Students get hurt due to wild throws, slams, and pulling on the joints. That’s why there are more joint dislocations, lower back and neck injuries, or injuries to tendons, ligaments, or nerves.
How to avoid injuries in martial arts training?
In this day and age, martial art training is very safe and doesn’t include a high rate of injuries. But like in any sport, you can get hurt in training. In most cases, students get hurt by their own mistake, or by accident. Here is a list of things you can do to avoid injuries and stay safe in training:
- Always wear safety gear- this is notably true for striking arts like Muay Thai and boxing. Be sure to always wear headgear, mouthpiece, shin pads, and gloves. Sparring without the gear is the biggest cause of injuries in training.
- Proper technique — you should always focus on performing with a proper technique. A lot of people get hurt in training by landing hard strikes or exploding from grappling positions without proper technique. always get your basics down first.
- Never miss a warm-up- studies have shown that cold muscles are prone to injuries. So be sure to always do a proper warm-up before the class, in the end, this only takes 5–10 minutes of your time.
- Stretching — plays a big part in just about every martial art and for the right reason. It helps the muscles to recover, reduces soreness, and makes you flexible. This prevents injuries and also helps you carry out the moves better.
