Sparring Accidents

[jdmills]

I was a Yellow Belt sparring with a Kenpo Blue Belt who held a Brown Belt in TKD. I threw a jab and as I did he spun and hit me with a spinning side kick while my forward arm was still extended. I didn't go down but my ribs hurt for a few months. I still wonder whether the were broken.

 

[Old Fat Kenpoka]

1. I was teaching a kids class. Prior to sparring, I was giving a lecture on control and pulling punches. I pulled the biggest kid in class...demonstrated "control" with a backfist...and gave the poor kid a bloody nose. Didn't hurt him. My face was redder than his nose. He thought it was pretty funny.

2. We used to spar with Tae Kwon Do from Foster City about 10 years ago. These guys train for professional full-contact kickboxing and have produced some professional kickboxing and Olympic TKD champions. Probably the best TKD school in the world! http://www.goldenstatetkd.com/

One Kenpo Brown Belt was going pretty hard with one of their Black Belts. The Kenpo Brown Belt got hit and sat down on the couch. I looked at him: One pupil was much larger than the other one. Had one of our Black Belts who is a doctor look at him. Diagnoisis: Head Concussion. Prescription: 911 and an ambulance ride to the hospital for an X-Ray. Result: Full and speedy recovery with no complications.

3. We went to an ATAMA seminar at a local Community College a long time ago. One of our Brown Belts took a good shot to the cheek during the sparring session. We went out for Pizza...he sneezed...His cheek blew up like a balloon and his eyeball descended a millimeter or two! Everybody lost their appetites pretty quick!!! Turns out he broke his eye-socket and ruptured his sinus. OUCH! He also healed pretty quick. If you look at him closely, you can see that one eye is a little lower than the other one...

 

[arnisador]

Any other such stories?

 

[FiveSwords]

I was sparring my yellow-belt friend one time when he tried to knee me in the groin. I went for the open-hand push-down block, but caught it with just my fingers and ended up pushing right past his knee. I broke the middle finger and sparined the ones on either side.

 

[Eggman]

My damgae has been slight but it seems that my eye seems to be the target of many a finger and thumb. Other than that, the only injury that i have caused was one broken nose to a female counterpart. When i spar, control is my main concern and would hope that in the future my sparring partners reciprocate my desires.

 

[Ceicei]

In 1986, I participated in a open style karate tournament held in the local college gym (Orem, Utah at Utah Technical College). I had entered the kumite division for the beginners level (yellow/orange/purple belts). My opponent threw a roundhouse punch aiming for the side of my head. I tried to duck and she missed, getting the full contact punch to my nose (she didn't pull back). My nose broke and blood splattered all over. She was disqualified, but I was allowed to continue once the bleeding stopped.

- Ceicei

 

[kenpo2dabone]

Originally posted by theletch1
I've been lucky in sparring. Worst injury (so far) was a broken bone in the top of my foot. Went for a round house kick to the ribs and had it blocked full force with the point of an elbow. Didn't really hurt at all until the next day.

I did this exact same thing to one of my instructors. I was an orange belt at the time and she was a brown belt. I was trying to block her wheel kick to my ribs with a downward block. I was always a little behind her kick so she would always make the contact and score the point. Incidentaly we always sparred pretty much full contact to the body light contact to the head. One of my other instructors came over and showed me how to block by simply dropping my elbow. It was a lot faster and I could counter very quickly with a straight punch with the same hand. So during the same sparring session she through the wheel kick and BLAM!!! That little drop of my elbow broke two bones in her foot and I nailed her with counter punch which was controled of coarse. I felt bad because I could see she was in pain. I looked at my other instructor and all he said was "See, I told you it works".

One other time, and I feel bad about this as well but... I was the sparring instructor by this time and I was watching to of my students spar. One of them nailed the other with a totaly uncontroled side thrust which lifted the other off the ground and he landed right on his keester. I warned him to watch the control because we were working on point fighting for an upcoming tournament. I let them continue and SLAM!!! he did it again. I warned him again and let them continue because the other student did not want to quit. Finally, he did one more time so I told him "O.K. you can spar with me now". I had planned on giving him a little tast of his own medicine. By the way these guys were both blue belts and I knew they both had good control when they wanted to. About ten second into the match I set him up for a spinning side thrust. Just as I started to rotate he tried to close the gap. Unfortunately, he did not quite get there in time and I even though I had not yet extended the kick a nailed him in the ribs. The combination of him moving in and my rotation, even though I saw him coming and treid to pull the kick, when my foot made contact with his ribs three of them broke. Luckily all he said was "O.K. I get the point" but I felt horrible because I had always concidered my self a good controled fighter and here I hurt some poor guy trying to make an example out of him. Anyway, I learned a lesson that day.

Salute,
Mike Miller UKF

 

[LadyDragon]

Well, I was a purple and we were running some kicking drills is class. We started doing some double reverse cresant kicks, and I thought I had gotten the hang of it. Well sure enough, I got a little to confident and tried to put a little to much power behind one of my kicks. Needless to say, I ended up on my behind.

 

[hardheadjarhead]

I'll let you decide which one was the worst...

Blew out my ACL in 1977. That was the most painful of all I list here. Oddly, I didn't discover that I did this until this year when I had an MRI done on the knee. When it happened a guy did a jump axe kick on me, I stepped in to jam him, and he landed on my shoulder. He would have fallen very neatly to the floor in embarrassment (if not on his head) if my foot hadn't slipped to the right on a somewhat wet gym floor (it was raining that day, and nobody bothered to swab the decks).

Crushed left testicle. Impromptu sparring match...told the guy I didn't have a cup. Gentlemen's agreement. So much for honor. That sent me into shock and tetany. I walked like a homo neanderthalis for three weeks. When I went in for a vasectomy years later I asked for half off...doctor didn't extend it to me. I should have shopped around a more, maybe?

Broken left fibula when a very big guy blocked a kick. I'd been doing a ton of running, and might have had minor stress fractures contributing to this. This also hurt really badly.

Bruised liver. Tournament. Put me down for about a minute. My opponent was six foot something and weighed 236. I was just under five eight at 164. In the 4th dan and up divisions they combine weight classes when nobody shows up. We were the only two fighting that day. He beat me by one point in a five-points- wins match.

(I scored three of my points AFTER he bruised my liver because I thought..."The quickest ways for me to get out of this ring are on a stretcher, or by winning. The slowest way out of this ring will result in me getting beaten black and blue." I fought pretty hard after that. I went to the hospital two days later for a liver enzymes test to see how bad the damage was. I was fine.)

And then a knockout occured in 1976 when a guy kicked me in the mouth and I went totally out...but never fell down. That was one of my weirdest experiences. I could feel my body, my mouth filling with about a half cupful of blood, but I couldn't see or hear. I've been knocked out plenty of times where I fell down and couldn't move, but retained consciousness and could see and hear. This one was just the reverse. My teeth almost went through my lip, and the laceration was an inch long.

Except for the testicle, all of these were against guys that outweighed me by thirty pounds or more.

These were the acute injuries of significance.


Regards,


Steve

 

[OULobo]

Originally posted by hardheadjarhead
I'll let you decide which one was the worst...

Blew out my ACL in 1977. That was the most painful of all I list here. Oddly, I didn't discover that I did this until this year when I had an MRI done on the knee.

Training or even just walking for 25 years without an ACL must have done some serious damage to your meniscus.

I have seen two really good incidents of damage that I think people might get a kick out of (no pun intended).

Both were in full contact matches on different occations. The competitors had cloves, shinguards, headgear, cups, and mouthpieces. In the first one I watch a friend take a spinning back kick in the ribs. He took it and then fell down crying. Diagnosis: lost 70% of his spleen to concussive shock.

In the second incident I saw a guy in the corner of the ring try to bob-and-weave an assumed hook that ended up being a Thai round. He ate it at full blast right in the chops. After he hit the mat the on site doc ran in to examine him and try to get him conscious. When he removed the mouthpiece to open the airway it came with four pearly white upper incisors. Ouch.

 

[hardheadjarhead]

Training or even just walking for 25 years without an ACL must have done some serious damage to your meniscus.

Apparently not. My orthopedist says that some people are able to do this if their legs are strong enough. Another doctor in his office also lacks an ACL, and they didn't find it necessary to do his.

My meniscus is a little torn, but that was recent. I was roleplaying as a bad guy for a police exercise and twisted the knee. It swelled, I went in, and the doc did the test for an ACL. An MRI follow up showed it was gone, and a radiologist determined it was an old injury.

No surgery on the horizon...but I've got arthritis. I was told I'd have that years ago as a result of this. No surprise.

All in all, I consider myself pretty lucky.



Steve

 

[jkn75]

I sprained my ankle a few years ago when I threw a front leg kick and then landed on my opponents foot. My foot rolled off and I strained the ligaments.

My hip is injured currently. I was doing some groundfighting and my instructor hooked my leg to pull me from guard to the ground. It's no fun. I'm going to see a sports medicine specialist next week because my regular doctor's treatment didn't help.

The worst injury I dished out was when I was a TKD yellow belt. I threw a Roundhouse and my opponent ducked into it. He dropped but only ended up with a shiner. Thank goodness for my foot pad from my shin guard, my foot guard and his head gear.

 

[OULobo]

Originally posted by hardheadjarhead
Apparently not. My orthopedist says that some people are able to do this if their legs are strong enough. Another doctor in his office also lacks an ACL, and they didn't find it necessary to do his.

My meniscus is a little torn, but that was recent. I was roleplaying as a bad guy for a police exercise and twisted the knee. It swelled, I went in, and the doc did the test for an ACL. An MRI follow up showed it was gone, and a radiologist determined it was an old injury.

No surgery on the horizon...but I've got arthritis. I was told I'd have that years ago as a result of this. No surprise.

All in all, I consider myself pretty lucky.



Steve

I tolre mine out on a bad hip toss. They told me that another option to surgery was to strengthen my legs to the point that the made a virtual and natural brace for my knee. That sounds like what you did. They also told me that this was not recomended for someone as young or active as me. They did mention the arthritis and said I would still get it early, but that I would buy a significant amount of time if I opted for the surgery. I always wondered what people did in the past before they knew what the damage was or had the surgery to fix it. I guess you made the perfect answer to my question.

 

[hardheadjarhead]

I always wondered what people did in the past before they knew what the damage was or had the surgery to fix it. I guess you made the perfect answer to my question.

God, this dates me...

When the doctor checked it originally, it was too swollen to do the standard manipulative checks. I'd scream too loud when he tried it. He thought it was a sprained medial collateral ligament. I got a Zimmer splint and crutches and was encouraged to exercise it.

Back then, no MRI's. No surgery, even. It usually just ended a career and a person would have a "trick knee".

You know, reading this thread, I hope this doesn't scare too many of the newer martial artists. If done with safety kept paramount in the mind, martial arts can be fun and beneficial. There is always risk, however.

A lot of my injuries were do to stupidity or negligence on my part or the part of an opponent/partner/coach. There is an upside, though. MY STUDENTS TRAIN MORE SAFELY.


Steve

 

[TheEdge883]

Everyone who knows me knows I hate getting hit in the face. During my second degree test, I was going heavy contact three on one against MY instructor, my instructors instructor, and another head instructor at the school. Wasn't fun, I musta cracked two ribs, and was knocked unconscious twice. First time I was knocked out for a couple seconds, I got back up and they started the beating again. Got my instructor with a sweet right hook to the jaw, but that pi$$ed him off, he came right back with three punches to the face and I was out again. The second time I woke up and really didn't understand where I was, so they made me sit out for a few minutes.

That was one of the funnest tests I have been in

Had two of my other instructors go at it one on one, one of them broke (no that's not the word, shattered) the other's nose. That was not a pretty sight. But they kept fighting. I wish I could fight like nothing hurt.

 

[cali_tkdbruin]

Well, as for me, I really didn't have a sparring accident, but I did have a breaking test accident. :shrug:

In one of our interim tests on the way to promoting to 2nd BB, one of tests on the way up is that we do mini tests every 3 months. Last week we tested and part of that test was a 2 station break, roundhouse kick then a quick side kick. Anyway, I was so fired up that I didn't target my 1st roundhouse kick properly and instead of hitting the board in the middle, I smacked it with my instep right on the sharp edge...

Needless to say I ripped open the top of my foot, and of course there was blood galore. But, I didn't wimp out, and on the 2nd try I did break both boards, bloodly *** foot and all.

Just goes to show that the next time I won't load up on the caffiene, and instead rely on my own adreneline. I'm sure that it's more than enough... :asian:

 

[karatekid1975]

Eeeekkkk. That had to hurt, Cali

I had a similar (no broken skin though) situation. I once broke with a roundhouse, like you. I was aiming with the ball of my foot, but missed and hit the board with my instep on the edge of the board. %$#@!! That hurt LOL. My foot was purple for two weeks. But I did break the board and not my foot, thank goodness.

Another breaking "mistake" I made was listening (or getting dared) by a black belt. We were doing a breaking clinic. I did a speed punch, jump front kick, front leg suspended hook kick break, and a lot of neat breaks (showing off basically).

Anyways, he (the black belt) asked me to do a jumping axe kick. I said ok, that's easy enough. But he held the board way too high (he was standing on a chair). I told him it was too high. He told me that I could do it. He said, "You came from another style, you can do it. I dare you." I was a yellow belt at this school at the time. I just couldn't say no to this dare. I thought I'd feel like an @ss if I turned down a black belt with an easy break, so I went for it. I shook my head, and thought this is going to !@#$ing hurt. It did I jumped up as high as I could, stretched my leg as far .... wait, past it's range of motion, and tore my hammy in mid air. I broke the board. My leg hurt so bad, but I could still stand and walk. I ended up feeling like an @ss anyway LOL

BUT I played it off long enough to do on more break. With the same leg that I just hurt, I broke two boards with a side kick. That REALLY made my leg hurt. I dropped to the floor in pain thinking to myself, "You are an idiot for doing that." It took 5 months for it to fully recover

I had various broken fingers and minor sprains in sparring, but nothing major. I hurt my knee also, but that was another "showing off" injury :shrug:

The most recent one was during throws/grappling class. I was going to do a hip throw on someone that out weighted me by 30 pounds. I didn't get under his center of gravity enough, so I ended up using more muscle that I really had to. I hurt my lower back and left hip. I'm going to see a doc for that soon (sports doc).

 

[Old Tiger]

In 27 years of training I have seen and suffered some interesting accidents. One that was pretty wild was when we were knife sparring once. These two guys had aluminium trainers and were going at it, however they forgot to put their safety goggles on. One slashed at the others face and open his eye lid up at the top. It just sagged down to the bottom of his eye because it was cut all the way through. Lots of blood. Just think what a real knife is capable of.
Personally, I have had almost all toes and fingers broken thai boxing and grappling with the gi. Right now I have a torn tendon in my hand. My wife says I am getting too old for this ****. The thing is...it is a way of life. My worst injury was teaching leg locks to a guy. I said go right...he went left...destroyed my knee. Surgery and three years to rehabilitate it.

 

[OULobo]

not my injury, but still a story worth telling. Not long ago I was grappling with a begginer. He's an older, very stubborn guy and an instructor in one of my other systems. I had a sunk and well placed lock on his elbow; good body position and grip. This was a textbook lock. The guy had grappled before and knew how to tap/shout/snap out. I knew he was still learning so I just held the lock for a little while to make sure he knew he was caught, then I started to apply force, as slowly as humanly possible. He started to thrash and roll and do anything he could to find an escape, but I was locked in for the ride and I just continued to apply slow steady pressure. He refused to tap and I continued to raise the pressure, that's when I heard it. It wounded like when you slowly break a toothpick. You can hear the fibers in the wood fail, a few at a time, before the whole thing goes. That's what I heard in his arm, before he yelped. I released as soon as I heard it. He jumped up and said he was alright, demonstrating how he could move everything fine, but one particular motion I noticed was weak at best. He refused to admit it was hurt, refused to ice it, refused to go see a doc. The next time I saw him was a week later and he was taking it really easy. he said his arm was swollen 200% the night it happened and that he was having problems with it. Still it took him over a month to go to the doc.

 

[MA-Caver]

The only sparring accidents I had was with the same person (he ninjitsu, me JKD) ... first time was I went to block a low kick and didn't tuck my thumb in enough and thus broke it (a mild break). Then days later we sparred again and he blocked one of my low kicks and cracked the upper bone in my foot... fortunately it wasn't dibiliating enough that I couldn't walk but I did limp for a couple of weeks.