muay thai health hazards

[birney29]

Damian,

you asked about my fights. its shin on shin, no gear except 12 oz Gloves.

something i think we should all remember, our bodies are an amazing piece of design. everything about them is there for a reason. So, the sensitivity of our skin is there for a reason. To change this, we are doing damage. you can dress it up all you want and call it "desensitizing" but its still damage

 

[Johnathan Napalm]

So, are you giving up MuayThai and just staying with your WingChun ?

 

[birney29]

no chance! i enjoy it to much

 

[sweeper]

I would say if it was that important you couldn't change it.

when you desensitise your shins you don't actualy "kill" the nerve cells they simply are less sensitive to that form and level of stimulus. I don't think that it is true dammage but rather adaptation. Actualy your nervus system operates like this in alot of regards to senses. For example if you repeatedly are around a specific smell the apparant potency of the smell will decrease. If you are away from the smell for some time it will seem like it got stronger, Simularly you can regain fealing in your shins over time. also you can feal other sensations like heat cold or even simly someone brushing your shin with their finger.

I'm not saying the conditioning of your shins isn't dammaging in the long term but rather it isn't simply the blunt destruction of nerve endings.

 

[MartialArtist]

However, I notice in arts like muay thai, combat TKD, kyokushin, and other hard arts have people retiring a lot faster than softer arts like aikido, taijiquan, and even jujitsu.

Reason is you get in VERY good shape, but sometimes, you wear yourselves out. You see 40 year old jujitsu people competing while in muay thai or TKD, they are in their 20's.

Of course, people over 30 still train in their art, it's just that their bodies can't handle it anymore. Most go off and become coaches, trainers, instructors, etc. They still have unsurpassed skill compared to the younger guys and can beat almost all of them in a fight, but they just can't duke it out round after round in the ring.

 

[birney29]

yeah thats a fair point, im 21 just now, but i cant see myself competing in muay thai past 30. its just too intense.

 

[Johnathan Napalm]

What? Not concerned about "damaging" your body anymore?

 

[Johnathan Napalm]

Originally posted by muayThaiPerson ....after my training, i kicked a helmet, it didnt hurt and i broke it (the helmet)....

How long have you been training? Can we see some pictures of you breaking helmets with your shin please?

 

[muayThaiPerson]

I didnt take pictures. It wasnt a demonstration, I just wanted to see for myself. Currently, I am in the 8th month of training. i go almost everyday for 1hr

 

[muayThaiPerson]

Originally posted by MartialArtist
However, I notice in arts like muay thai, combat TKD, kyokushin, and other hard arts have people retiring a lot faster than softer arts like aikido, taijiquan, and even jujitsu.

Reason is you get in VERY good shape, but sometimes, you wear yourselves out. You see 40 year old jujitsu people competing while in muay thai or TKD, they are in their 20's.

Of course, people over 30 still train in their art, it's just that their bodies can't handle it anymore. Most go off and become coaches, trainers, instructors, etc. They still have unsurpassed skill compared to the younger guys and can beat almost all of them in a fight, but they just can't duke it out round after round in the ring.

I dont understand the concept of this. When people train, the get stronger. Maybe Im really misunderstanding....when you say retire, you mean from fighting or Martial Arts completely (as in dont even train)

 

[MartialArtist]

Originally posted by muayThaiPerson
I dont understand the concept of this. When people train, the get stronger. Maybe Im really misunderstanding....when you say retire, you mean from fighting or Martial Arts completely (as in dont even train)

What I mean by retiring, is that their retiring from competition. Doesn't mean they quit the art or anything.

When people train, they get stronger. In contact sports however, the body does get in better condition but it gets beat up a lot. It's like comparing football and basketball. The average career span of a NFL football player is 4 years. The average for a NBA player is 8-12 years. The NFL has people like Jerry Rice, or Tim Brown, and the other aged people but they are rare. Most of the people you've never heard of can't take it 4 years, their bodies just got hit too much. Same with muay thai I guess.

The body also wears down as you age and arts having hard principles get harder and harder to do. That's why some people switch to softer movements. Others still train in their art but they take it easy, they prefer to teach, coach, and pass their tradition on to their students and be a mentor. The 60 year old muay thai practitioners that I know of don't get in the ring to have a bout with their 20 year old students and go rounds. However, they still practice with bags, etc. and a lot of the older ones bring their 20 year old students down just like that. The only problem is that they can't do it in the ring.

In TKD also, the old guys don't spar full-contact. But they can still break your arm pretty easily. It's also like that in the military. The seniors can kill you, but they can't go in the ring and box other soldiers.

 

[birney29]

napalm,

of course im concerned about damaging my body. i wiegh up the risks and decide that i still want to train and compete

 

[MartialArtist]

Whether you train in a hard art or not, there comes a time where you just have to hang your gloves up. You aren't going to die any sooner because you trained in something like muay thai, but the other way around. It's just that you've made those years special by competing, or whatever you do.

 

[birney29]

well, if youve done youself serious damage while competeing, you are gonna die sooner.

 

[Damian Mavis]

Birney 29, you make 30 sound ancient!! I'm 29 and just starting to fight Muay Thai style....what are you calling me old! haha

Damian Mavis
Honour TKD

 

[muayThaiPerson]

EARLIER, IN THIS THREAD, SOMEONE POSTED THEY READ THAT SHIN CANCER RATE WAS HIGH IN THAILAND. HOWEVER THEY FORGOT THE WEBSITE.....IVE JUST FOUND IT

HERE

 

[MartialArtist]

Is it really due to muay thai? Not everyone in Thailand does muay thai, and the nutrition, sanitation, environmental conditions aren't the greatest. No, Thailand isn't the sweat-shop, prostitutes, and the 3rd world country ignorant people think it is, but the standard of living isn't say, like it is in Japan.

Other cancers are also higher in Thailand than compared with Japan.

 

[Kenpo Yahoo]

I'm not saying the conditioning of your shins isn't dammaging in the long term but rather it isn't simply the blunt destruction of nerve endings.

Actually you are destroying nerve endings, fortunately the human bodies peripheral nervous system is capable of regenerating (at least to some degree). If it takes more than a couple of days to regain "feeling" then you have damaged the nerves. Since in most cases the damage is superficial, the nerves will regrow in a chaotic fashion and may eventually make surface contact again. This is how it is possible to regain sensitivity, if during regrowth the nerves never again make "surface contact" then you will not experience any increase in feeling or sensitivity.

Your body is like a fighter jet, if you fly it real hard without maintenance or scheduled airframe work (relative to your skeletal structure) you are cruising for disaster. Make sure to eat calcium rich foods, and take supplements like Glucosamine Chondroitan to aid in the regrowth of ligaments and cartilage.

 

[sweeper]

well I personaly havn't seen any research report showing this (I know that doens't mean it's not true )

And of course in such (relativly) high impact all your cells in the emediate area take a beating, but I havn't seen any evidence to show that the nerve cells are dammaged to the point of loosing fealing. If that were the case all tactile sensation should be reduced correct?

 

[muayThaiPerson]

Originally posted by Kenpo Yahoo
Actually you are destroying nerve endings, fortunately the human bodies peripheral nervous system is capable of regenerating (at least to some degree). If it takes more than a couple of days to regain "feeling" then you have damaged the nerves. Since in most cases the damage is superficial, the nerves will regrow in a chaotic fashion and may eventually make surface contact again. This is how it is possible to regain sensitivity, if during regrowth the nerves never again make "surface contact" then you will not experience any increase in feeling or sensitivity.

Your body is like a fighter jet, if you fly it real hard without maintenance or scheduled airframe work (relative to your skeletal structure) you are cruising for disaster. Make sure to eat calcium rich foods, and take supplements like Glucosamine Chondroitan to aid in the regrowth of ligaments and cartilage.

what do you mean by "if during regrowth the nerves never again make "surface contact" then you will not experience any increase in feeling or sensitivity".....so you have to keep kicking to get you feeling bag??