Also there seem to be a couple jibes in your post which i shall ignore also ( since if i respond i can sense an argument will brew up )
Well, first I will apologize if there were jibes in my post. It is hard to convey correct emotion in the written word sometimes, and perhaps I did get a little over zealous in my defense of the subject. Sorry if I offended you!
To answer your question I am a thaiboxer I have been subjected to quite a few broken bones,some of which i have delivered and some of which i have been unfortunate to suffer, and to be honest because of the amount of full contact fighting i am involved in I do have quite a good knowledge of what the Human body can withstand.
Of course, I did not know if you had first-hand experience with broken bones, which is why I posed the question, but now that you explained that you do, then I accept that you are speaking from personal experience on bone breaking from what you have observed.
your statment of '' you lack advance training, thus why you dont understand'' is lame i would have thought better of you, that sounds like a real mcdojo response, i will give the benifit of the doubt since you did explain what breaking consists of later in your posts.
I think you might notice that my actual statement is a bit different from the way you quoted me. What I said was, "I would not expect someone who lacks advanced training
in this skill to understand
how it compares." Since you seem to oppose board breaking as a beneficial practice, I am presuming (perhaps incorrectly) that you have not gone very far into the practice of board breaking, and that you might not have had very "advanced" instruction on the skill of board breaking by an instructor who is very skilled in it.
I did not mean to imply that "YOU lack any advanced training, but simply that your advanced skills are built on the type of practice you prefer (ergo: bag work) rather than the other advanced skill of board breaking. This is why I felt you were having a difficult time understanding the comparison between what it feels like to break 5 or 6 boards as to your known experience on the force it takes to separate or crack ribs, dislocate a knee or elbow joint, or break the clavical, sternum, ulna, radius, humerus, fibula, tibia, or femur.
I still dont think you fought a good enough case of how like bones boards are and after having a quick read i found this...
Perhaps one reason my case is not strong enough in comparing bones to boards (or bricks) is because, in all my years of study and researching this question, I have found very few accurate, thorough, and to the point research studies that specifically answer the exact question of "this board equals that bone." There have been some research of peripheral studies that examine bone density, resilience, and the amount of pounds per square inch (or newtons) that it should take to break a bone, but these studies are often generalized, and don't address each and every bone. They also rely on some of the only data available which is testing on animals, or dead people, which is going to have some differences in results.
The only exact study that can be done is to use a measuring device that calculates not only pressure, but striking force, and actually break the bones of live subjects (not recommended). The second closest research would be an educated guess as to the approximate force it would take to break any given bone through tissue, muscle, tendon, etc. and then try to duplicate that with artificial materials in the shape, and relative protection of a human body. I don't know of any research that has gone this far.
On the subject of the article you posted - - I find it very interesting! There is one thing to note about how durable the human body is as mentioned in the article. They seem to be talking about the amount of force the body can withstand when dishing out the power to cause a brick to break. In other words, the foot (or hand) hitting the brick. I don't see where they were considering what if the brick was thrust down to hit the foot (or the hand). In that case, I believe the brick would win, and you would have a broken bone.
It is like taking two, square pine boards - placing one horizontal and supported on two sides by bricks on the floor. Then place the other board of equal size and strength in a vertical position in the center of the other board. If you strike down rapidly with the vertical board, along the center line of the grain on the horizontal board, the stationary horizontal board will snap in half. Why does only one board break when they are both the same? Because of the angle of impact, and the fact that one board is driving the force, while the other is receiving the impact.
The human body is much the same way. Small bones of the hand can break larger bones of the arm, ribs, and legs if the angle of the hand is held properly, and the force is driven across the weakest position of the bone. Even the femur will snap if struck directly perpendicular at the mid-point.
One other important question is brought up in this article. It seems that their hypotheses is that
"When a boxer throws his fist, he usually ends the movement with follow-through" whereas "A karate chop, on the other hand, has no follow-through at all."
I wonder how many Martial Artists here at MT would agree with the above statement. Is this consistent with the way we have all been trained in Karate and Taekwondo??? Not me personally. They even use the follow through of a "golf swing" for an analogy, just like I did, only they attribute it to a Boxer's punch. This is quite the opposite of my training.
Boxers tend to jab for stinging effect, throw their upper torso into a strong cross-punch, and utilize the whipping effect of a hook or upper-cut to the chin in order to snap the head, and slosh the brain for a knock-out.
The "Karate strike" or Taekwondo punch are the techniques that demonstrate "follow through" more than anything else.
Of all those here who are skilled at breaking, how many of you feel you are successful because you "poke" at the boards (or bricks) and withdraw quickly like a cobra strike? I would love to hear some responses to that allegation! How many believe that you break boards by being supported in your stance, and driving the reaction force back into the boards as you "follow through" to the other side. If I am right on this, and others here agree with me, how did these MIT PhD's get it wrong?
Looking forward to some responses on this! :ultracool
CM D.J. Eisenhart
Anyway...
