s/o Football concussions - what about martial arts?

[Wheres Toto]

I read through a little bit of the football discussion. Dh was a big football player in high school, has had 6 (I think) concussions (not all from football) without lasting damage, and I know would probably love for ds to play. But, even thought he's just 7, dh has pretty much accepted that ds is not a team sports kid and goes with him to Pokemon league instead. :laugh:

 

But, we are seriously thinking about letting ds try martial arts. I know there is a risk of concussion and injury with martial arts - I see people talking about broken bones all the time. Is there a point where injury is more likely? Or a age where before that, it's very unlikely?

[Lynnae]

I don't know if/when injury is more likely, but karate seems to be one of the safest sports my son plays. The protective gear they wear protects a lot of the injury prone areas. My son has gotten hit in the nose quite a few times (he really needs to learn to keep his hands up), but some kids wear protective masks that keep that from happening.

 

I don't think there's any more risk in martial arts than other sports, and I certainly think there's less risk than sports like football, where you have the concussion issue. But my son isn't a black belt yet, and I reserve the right to change my mind when he gets there and the sparring gets more intense. :)

[JudoMom]

We play Judo, and my oldest has gotten 2 minor concussions in tournaments. He's not had any any randori (free practice) or drilling. My older two have been doing it for 7.5 years, I've been at it 6.5 years, and my younger sons all started at age 5. There is no kicking or punching in Judo--it's all throwing and pinning. There is no protective gear. I've hit my head a few times during practice, and it has made me wonder. For now we're non-competitive because of the concussion issue. I've separated my shoulder, hyperextended my elbow, and have a lasting issue with my pinkie because of injuries during practice. I can't think of any other injuries my boys have had beyond basic bruising.

 

Of course, I've also fallen down the stairs and down the icy driveway without being injured, my 4th son fell off a 3 foot wall onto concrete without injury, and there have been many trips down the stairs by the boys without injury because they know how to fall without getting hurt.

 

That said, I think the risks are worth it. I earned my black belt last year, and my boys are on track to earn theirs by 17 or so (they are rarely awarded before that in Judo).

[I.Dup.]

My husband ruined his knee when someone kicked his knee in martial arts and tore his meniscus. We will probably let our sons do it, but what a waste.

[Jennifer in MI]

All my kids do Tang Soo Do. None of them have been injured beyond a bruise or a black eye.

 

Oops - my dh reminds me of the time our son had to go to the ER to take a piece of velcro out of his eye that he got from taking apart the mats! :)

[kiana]

In a safe dojo, injury rates are pretty low, and the instructor should be willing to share what the injury rates are and how they respond to them.

[KungFuPanda]

Try Aikido :-)

[DianeW88]

Both of my boys have their black belts, and they've never suffered a serious injury.

[hillfarm]

Dd and I have been taking martial arts for 3 years. I broke a couple of toes last summer, but no other injuries than that. There was a guy who tore something in his knee and a girl who hurt her shoulder pretty badly during the same time in our group, but neither one dropped out over it.

 

I think you run the risk of some kind of injury no matter what activity you do. Risk is a part of life. I would rather risk an injury during an activity that I enjoy, that enhances my quality of life, rather than risk injury due to the fact that my body is so unaccustomed to activity that I injure myself sprinting down the front steps trying to catch the mailman. I could have easily broken those toes doing that.

 

When considering a martial arts class, especially for children, observe and make sure that horseplay is discouraged and that all sparring in well monitored. It should feel like your child is being challenged, but not that he is being neglected or encouraged to do rash things.

[dbmamaz]

we've been doing a mixed martial arts, mostly tae kwan do w some jijitsu and tai chi mixed in. Hubby broke his toe on the mats a few times, but they changed mats so i dont THINK he could do that again (these are more like those play foam mats, so no velcro seams). I damaged my knee doing a spinning kick, falling on it - but we were doing testing in a different location with a rug, not in the dojang with the mat. They are in the process of moving to somewhere big enough to host testing at the school!

 

our master actually had destroyed his knee playing . . hockey, i think. His physical therapist had recommended martial arts as a gentler workout, and he felt like it saved his knee.

 

oh, and for all actual contact, we wear padded gear - head, chest, wrists and ankles.

 

when I fell in testing, i was rolling around holding my knee, and when I looked up, the master was standing right over me telling me not to move - he takes it seriously. but yes, all sports bring some risk of injury.

 

like i always tell the kids - if you are going to play rough, sometimes you are going to get hurt. deal with it (ok only if its not serious lol).

 

also - my boys were never in to team sports and this is our third year of martial arts!

[AK_Mom4]

This is anecdotal, of course, but my kids did years and years of martial arts and the only injury beyond an occasional bruise was a broken toe during black belt testing when my son got a little too enthusiastic and kicked the instructor instead of the board.

 

Unless you want to count youngest dd's broken arm, but that happened when she fell off a chair in the waiting area......

[JumpyTheFrog]

My TKD instructor only lets us go to a few tournaments that he has vetted. He says that many tournaments invite schools where the people are encouraged to be much more aggressive/violent than our school. He doesn't want us to get injured by someone using full power while sparring. We are a family friendly school and while not a McDojo, we aren't training future MMA fighters either.

 

In short, I think the safety of martial arts depends greatly on the instructors and culture of the school. When our instuctor started, he went to a commerical school. He quit and joined a church-based one because the commerical school was, in his opinion, full of arrogant students and arrogant instructors.

[JumpyTheFrog]

At our TKD school, when sparring a child under a certain age (14 maybe?), you aren't allowed to take head shots, even though they are wearing head pads, mouth gaurds, and all the rest of the gear.

 

When considering schools, you might want to ask how much sparring is emphasized. Our instructors have us do it, but it isn't the emphasis. Aside from sparring, the usual injuries would be from falling or overtraining.