Severe Injuries During Sparring?

[Bhattman]

I train in full contact kickboxing and I was wondering what are the chances of there being long term effects from the sparring? Obviously when sparring full contact, I accept injuries will occur, but I am not so sure about long term injuries -ie. ones that occur from getting hit in the head.

I know this thing happens in boxing, but the fighters get punched in the head much more often than say a kickboxer, and their fights are much longer than at my kickboxing class and at the tournaments (usually 2 rounds of 2 mins each). I have read similar posts about this, but they tend to be the kind of: 'I have been injured like this in sparring and now have to ... - so you should not spar or you will get injured...' . I do not agree with this - accidents happen - but I was wondering what the chances of long term head injuries occuring are to the average full contact sparrer, after say 10 years of training.

I'm fairly new to the forum, so if there have been previous threads on this I am sorry, and if so could you please post links to them?

Thanks for your time,

Bhattman

[old timer]

Dont wait for long term effects, do something about it now, trust me.I always wear a good quality head guard, some may think it not cool but who is the sensible one at the end of the day. I was originally the only one in the entire class who wore a head guard, now many of them do, perhaps they were waiting for some one to lead first. Also wear a box and a good quality gumshield made by your dentist then you will limit the severity of injury, be under no illusion, in full contact you will still get hurt. Oh and dont forget to use Thai oil and divine balm, it does help.

[alex_000]

As long as you don't experience any dizzynes after training your head will be fine. If you do you you'll probably have some brain damage long term.

Brain damage doen't just happen one day. It's the result of many headaches and dizzy heads after training.

[oldshadow]

As long as you don't experience any dizzynes after training your head will be fine. If you do you you'll probably have some brain damage long term.

Brain damage doen't just happen one day. It's the result of many headaches and dizzy heads after training.

This is a good general answer. A lot of brain damage fighters get is from sparring as you spar much more then you fight. You most of the time just shake it off and keep going if you get stunned in sparing. One bad sign I can tell you is when you “wake up” in the shower and really don’t remember anything after the 5th round of a 10 round sparing section.

[old timer]

Once you have had a full contact shin kick to the head, it will knock you sick, you will see stars and you will get a head ache to beat all hangovers. dont risk it, get a head guard.

[silentwarrior]

well i know some people say that training in full contact for that amount of time will no matter what result in some brain damage weather that be a little or alot. i myself believe this because even getting hit in the head once resultsin a little "brain damage" thats just the nature of the sport.

[d33pthought]

I'd be more concerned about permanent damage to the rest one's body from sparring hard like that. In the fall and winter we spar hard almost every day (I don't go that much, thankfully), but after only six months, my knees are starting to ache.