How safe is Jujutsu or Judo?

[moonhill99]

I have read mix reviews on it and friend of mine said Jujutsu or Judo is fun but will wreck you body. And Jujutsu being worse will wreck your joints he said because of all the joint locks.

That getting thrown to a mat every night at 3x a week for over a decade can cause back pain or a sniff neck. All the pains and aches of the back and neck.

And it will wreck your knees, especially if you do a lot of competition.

And you can get osteoartheritis on all your fingers and wrist because of the joint locks.

And pinched nerve in your neck or back.


I thought Jujutsu or Judo was better on your knees than Taekwondo and some of the kung fu or some of the karate that are very big on very high kicks, spinning kicks,rounded kicks, jumping kicks and flying kicks and such that will have more toll on your knees and can destroyed the cartilage in your knees over time.

 

[K-man]

And you know what? You can sit in a chair and read books for the rest of your life and you can still get arthritis, you can still have heart attacks and strokes and I can guarantee that at some point in time you will die.

So let's see if there can be a case mounted for jujutsu or judo. Mostly these throws are trained on good mats so although there is a reasonable amount of falls they are break falls and rolls so they become part of the exercise giving an aerobic workout as well as the physical, and the force of the fall is largely taken by the mat.

Joint locks? Sure they put pressure on the joints but they also act to stretch everything as well. The more you practise the better you are at having them applied and in the case of shoulders you may well find you develop greater flexibility.

As to the very high kicks, spinning kicks, rounded kicks, jumping kicks and flying kicks and such, why do them at all?

From a personal perspective I damaged my back over 50 years ago as a gymnast. It plays up from time to time but is no worse now than it was decades ago. I have a weak elbow. It wasn't caused by any of my training but was damaged by a Hapkido guy, 4th dan, who couldn't make his technique work. My fault for telling him I would go with him and he applied full force on a compliant partner. Not the fault of martial arts, just an ego problem for the practitioner.

My shoulders? They are as stiff as stiff but I reckon they would be worse without the stretching they get when we are applying arm locks. Knees? Sure they creak and groan but I reckon they were damaged more by lifting heavy weights than caused by any martial art. Mind you, I don't like kicking air like you see in a lot of training. That certainly is bad for the knees.

Pinched nerves? You can pinch a nerve rolling over in bed. I have had pinched nerves in the past but to the best of my recollection, never in MA training. Arthritis? What's that? I've got lots of mates with arthritis who have never seen the inside of a dojo and I seem to have missed out. Sure I'm a little stiff in the joints when I've been immobile for a while but give me 10 seconds and I'll come good.

So there. I might be living proof that spending decades in martial art training, which had left me ten times fitter, stronger and more flexible that most of my friends who have not done MA training, is not harmful to your body. Then again, I'm only 66 so I don't know what I'll be like when I'm old!

 

[Dirty Dog]

Any martial art can result in unintentional injuries.
That's part of being a martial artist. Learning to minimize your risk is something you should be learning in your school.

 

[Buka]

No balls, no blue chips.

 

[Tony Dismukes]

Any martial art carries the potential for injury. The smarter you and your partners train, the more you can mitigate that risk. Regardless, the risk is always there.

In 33 years of training I have had:

A broken wrist
A broken hand
A broken finger
A dislocated shoulder
2 cut tendons
At least a couple of mild concussions
Countless bruises
Lots of strains and pulled muscles
A few sprains
I have a bit of arthritis, which might or might not be worse from my training
I have some deterioration of my lumbar vertebrae, which might or might not be worse from my training

I'm also in much better overall physical and emotional shape that I would be if I had spent my all my free time reading and playing on the computer, which is what I would be doing if I wasn't training martial arts.

For me the trade-off is totally worth it.

 

[Tez3]

My daughter was a jockey for ten years from age 16, she ended up with a bad back, bad knees a numb finger from a horse bite and a fair few other injuries, she, daft girl she is, is now a cheer coach and you should see the injuries those people get! Even worse. By all accounts fishing is one of the most dangerous sports going. Recently a very good Australian cricketer was killed by a ball being delivered. We had a footballer who collapsed on pitch and had to be revived, another died. Broken legs galore too. Rugby has numerous incidents of broken necks and deaths. I probably don't need to go on...
My knees are dodgy from parachuting and a lot of horse riding but the rest of me is as fine maybe a bit better than at my age I have a right to be but life is a risk you can't sit there watching it through a window, not if you really want to live!

 

[Tony Dismukes]

BTW - I've noticed that the majority of injuries are things I do to myself, not stuff my training partner does to me. I don't think it's just me being a klutz - I've noted the same pattern with other people as well.

 

[Instructor]

Actually Hapkido (derived from jujutsu) helps my arthritis in my wrists immensely. The worst thing you can do is stop moving. The motions from our training provide a complete exploration of the range of movement in every joint in my body and helps keep aging at bay. I actually start to feel pain when I stop practicing for awhile. After a good workout I feel like a new man!
K-Man, sorry a Hapkidoin hurt you man, that's not cool.

 

[Dirty Dog]

Honestly, when I hear people say things like the OP, it just sounds to me like they're trying to make themselves sound badass.

 

[K-man]

K-Man, sorry a Hapkidoin hurt you man, that's not cool.

Ah, that's OK. He's not the only one. Even Chris P got to hurt me last night with his 'stick tricks'.

The difference was, he didn't cause any damage! My wife tells me it's my own fault for playing with guys who run around in white pyjamas.

Thank's for the sentiment.

 

[moonhill99]

I ask this because my family has a history of knee and hip problems. And this year my knee have been giving me problems.

One of my family had back problems.


And arthritis runs in the family. And I think I may be prone to it. In the morning or if it is cold my knees are a bit stiff.


I'm trying to eat cheese and dairy products every day to have strong bones and joints. My bones are bit thin and bonny

 

[moonhill99]

My daughter was a jockey for ten years from age 16, she ended up with a bad back, bad knees a numb finger from a horse bite and a fair few other injuries, she, daft girl she is, is now a cheer coach and you should see the injuries those people get! Even worse. By all accounts fishing is one of the most dangerous sports going. Recently a very good Australian cricketer was killed by a ball being delivered. We had a footballer who collapsed on pitch and had to be revived, another died. Broken legs galore too. Rugby has numerous incidents of broken necks and deaths. I probably don't need to go on...
My knees are dodgy from parachuting and a lot of horse riding but the rest of me is as fine maybe a bit better than at my age I have a right to be but life is a risk you can't sit there watching it through a window, not if you really want to live!

From what I read there are more injuries in competition Judo or if you try to resist a move.

If they are trying to throw you and you don't go with it you are more prone to injuries.

 

[drop bear]

I ask this because my family has a history of knee and hip problems. And this year my knee have been giving me problems.

One of my family had back problems.


And arthritis runs in the family. And I think I may be prone to it. In the morning or if it is cold my knees are a bit stiff.


I'm trying to eat cheese and dairy products every day to have strong bones and joints. My bones are bit thin and bonny

Fish oil and exercise.

 

[Tez3]

From what I read there are more injuries in competition Judo or if you try to resist a move.

If they are trying to throw you and you don't go with it you are more prone to injuries.

I've never heard of people being killed in Judo whereas in horse racing jockeys are often killed, there's a jockey in Ireland that has been in a coma for two years now. In road cycling the riders can die or suffer serious injuries such as broken bones and other career ending injuries. In boxing even boxers can die, Judo...not so much. I think you should give up reading whatever it is you are getting this info from.

 

[K-man]

I've never heard of people being killed in Judo whereas in horse racing jockeys are often killed, there's a jockey in Ireland that has been in a coma for two years now. In road cycling the riders can die or suffer serious injuries such as broken bones and other career ending injuries. In boxing even boxers can die, Judo...not so much. I think you should give up reading whatever it is you are getting this info from.

Unless of course you live in Japan.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/18/sports/japan-confronts-hazards-of-judo.html?_r=0

 

[Tez3]

Unless of course you live in Japan.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/18/sports/japan-confronts-hazards-of-judo.html?_r=0

Luckily the OP isn't though and the chances of him being injured are very small. If you watch some of the Japanese television programmes you could be forgiven for thinking they all have a death wish

 

[Instructor]

Well you don't have to train competitively anyway, just learn the art for its own sake. It's a whole different mindset and you will find when people are focused more on learning than winning they tend to be a bit gentler with each other.

 

[Hanzou]

Judo translates into pain and agony in several different languages.

Seriously, every other martial art I've ever trained in felt like a brisk hour-long walk compared to Judo.

 

[tshadowchaser]

I agree that in Judo there are injuries usually caused by not doing a break fall correctly or the constant landing hard on the mats. Judo involves hard practices and the longer your body is put through the riggers of this training the more likely you are apt to have an injury but that is true with most martial arts that have hard contact of any kind

 

[Martial G]

You think kung fu is dangerous? Ffs man try football!