# Martial arts with a hand injury



## SBlakeS (Aug 24, 2015)

Hi.  I am curious if there is a martial art that would be best for someone with a hand injury.  A little over 5 years ago, my wife injured her hand pretty badly and received several surgeries.  Now, three of her fingers are fused.  She can hold a soda can, 10-finger type, and even crochet with it but she can't make a fist and has no grip strength in that hand.  They are also thinner and probably a little more fragile than her other hand.  Any advice would be appreciated.

Blake


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## Tez3 (Aug 25, 2015)

Welcome to MT. I'm sure someone here will be able to help, we have a wide range of stylists here and while I have no experience of training anyone with this type of injury I'm sure someone will.
( I can knit but for the life of me can't crochet, just can't 'get it' lol, so I'm thinking she must be good at adapting.)


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## SBlakeS (Aug 25, 2015)

She has adapted vey well.  Sometimes I forget that she even has the injury but occasionally something will come up that reminds me.


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## Dirty Dog (Aug 25, 2015)

Best advice? Leave the hand out of consideration. Go to schools and try them. Find an art she enjoys. Train. Lots. As she does, she'll figure out how to work around the hand, just like I've figured out how to work around only having one eye. Or another poster here has figured out how to work around his CP. And on and on.


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## JowGaWolf (Aug 25, 2015)

It depends on what she's looking to get out of the martial arts?  If she just wants to be fit then any martial art with a lot of movement will help.  If she's looking to use martial arts for self-defense then I would take one that uses a good balance of kicks, soft techniques, and hard techniques.  From what you describe, imagine how would a fighter defend and attack with a hand that couldn't make a fist.  The good hand would use hard techniques and the damage hand would use soft techniques or strikes with the palm instead of the fist.

A fighting system that uses both hard and soft techniques may be able to make changes to a form or application so that she can use one hand for hard applications and the other hand for soft applications.


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## JowGaWolf (Aug 25, 2015)

Dirty Dog said:


> Best advice? Leave the hand out of consideration. Go to schools and try them. Find an art she enjoys. Train. Lots. As she does, she'll figure out how to work around the hand, just like I've figured out how to work around only having one eye. Or another poster here has figured out how to work around his CP. And on and on.


The good news is that having a limited hand doesn't end the martial arts game.  Most people tend to favor one hand or one leg over the other anyway and 2 legs and one working hand is still more than enough to be efficient.


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## Argus (Aug 26, 2015)

What kind of martial arts are in your area, and what kind do you practice?

I could see her doing a style like Wing Chun, for example -- if not any number of other Chinese Martial Arts. I would say that making a fist with both / either hands are not required, as plenty of open hand strikes are utilized. The only thing I would be careful of is that the fingers might be more prone to injury if they are fused in an extended position.

Really, though, I'd second Dirty Dog's advice and just visit different schools, talk to the instructors, and try out a few classes. That's the best way to find out.


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## JowGaWolf (Aug 26, 2015)

Argus said:


> The only thing I would be careful of is that the fingers might be more prone to injury if they are fused in an extended position.


 Depending on how the bones are fused she may not be as limited.  The only thing that couldn't be done are strikes with that hand that involve the fist.  Depending on where the bones are fused she'll probably end up with a mean knifehand technique.


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## salnation (Aug 27, 2015)

Could try something like TKD which focuses just on kicks?

Or maybe an open handed martial art like ninjutsu or some form of Kung fu. 


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## Tez3 (Aug 27, 2015)

salnation said:


> Could try something like TKD which focuses just on kicks?



Welcome to MT.
 I think you may have just upset quite a few TKD people because they don't focus on *just *kicks!


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## salnation (Aug 27, 2015)

Haha I was expecting this reply! But unfortunately a lot of clubs nowadays only practice and teach kicks! Well the ones near me anyways! 


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## salnation (Aug 27, 2015)

And thanks for the warm welcome [emoji5]️


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## Tez3 (Aug 27, 2015)

salnation said:


> Haha I was expecting this reply! But unfortunately a lot of clubs nowadays only practice and teach kicks! Well the ones near me anyways!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk




Luckily this is an international site so plenty of people with a lot of experience on and who do TKD as it should be done. I'm not TKD but have trained with them and know that there's still a lot who use more than just their feet.
If you want just a foot only style it should be shin kicking, yes it's real 
Shin-kicking championships at the Cotswold Olimpicks – video


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## Dirty Dog (Aug 27, 2015)

salnation said:


> Haha I was expecting this reply! But unfortunately a lot of clubs nowadays only practice and teach kicks! Well the ones near me anyways!



Really? How much time have you spent in each of these schools to determine that they "only" work on kicking? And how many dojangs are "a lot?"
TKD emphasizes kicking. But even in those schools that are primarily focused on WTF-style sparring, I doubt that they "only" practice kicking.


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## salnation (Aug 27, 2015)

Dirty Dog said:


> Really? How much time have you spent in each of these schools to determine that they "only" work on kicking? And how many dojangs are "a lot?"
> TKD emphasizes kicking. But even in those schools that are primarily focused on WTF-style sparring, I doubt that they "only" practice kicking.



Well I have friends that practice in some 3-4 different clubs and say that they focus on kicks only because of WTF.. This could be limited to those few clubs but I thought it might be useful OP


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## Dirty Dog (Aug 27, 2015)

salnation said:


> Well I have friends that practice in some 3-4 different clubs and say that they focus on kicks only because of WTF.. This could be limited to those few clubs but I thought it might be useful OP



So second hand information based on a minuscule sample size and that is likely misunderstood. Got it.

Even schools totally focused on WTF-style sparring practice punching. Maybe not as much as other schools, but they do punch.

You do get that "focusing on kicks" and "only kicking" are not the same thing, right?


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## salnation (Aug 27, 2015)

Dirty Dog said:


> So second hand information based on a minuscule sample size and that is likely misunderstood. Got it.
> 
> Even schools totally focused on WTF-style sparring practice punching. Maybe not as much as other schools, but they do punch.
> 
> You do get that "focusing on kicks" and "only kicking" are not the same thing, right?



Sorry master was just trying to help. 


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## Dirty Dog (Aug 27, 2015)

salnation said:


> Sorry master was just trying to help.



Please do. You might want to start by going over to "Meet & Greet" and tell us something about yourself, your training, and your experience.


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## salnation (Aug 27, 2015)

Dirty Dog said:


> Please do. You might want to start by going over to "Meet & Greet" and tell us something about yourself, your training, and your experience.



Will do so soon!


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## Argus (Aug 27, 2015)

Tez3 said:


> If you want just a foot only style it should be shin kicking, yes it's real
> Shin-kicking championships at the Cotswold Olimpicks – video



Ouch!

Though, I must say, that seems like a pretty practical thing to train!


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## Langenschwert (Sep 6, 2015)

Is it her dominant hand?

If the hand is really fragile then the chance of another catastrophic injury is higher. She may want to avoid hard contact arts. I would recommend fencing, either sport (which is only one hand and two legs for footwork) or historical (HEMA) which has many one-handed weapons such as military saber, dussack, messer, sidesword, singlestick and rapier. With practice one can achieve proficiency with the non-dominant hand if necessary. Even if the contact is hard the protective equipment will protect her well. Some Tai Chi sword might be appropriate as well, but from what I understand swords are not taught to beginners. Am I correct there? Classical fencing would be right down the middle between Sport fencing and HEMA and also worth a try.


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## geezer (Sep 6, 2015)

Argus said:


> Ouch!
> 
> Though, I must say, that seems like a pretty practical thing to train!



We _do_ train it, Argus. Just Chi Gherk:






With my bad knees and ankles my Chi Gherk is much more basic. I generally avoid the knee locking do a lot more shin stomping. Of course it's all light and easy, not like those guys in _Tez's_ clip. That would really drive away students. Especially with hard street shoes!


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