On another forum they were discussing injuries from MA activities. Now the jousters seemed to get an outrageous collection (including one guy having his scrotum half torn off! ) but the majority of injuries seem to be in safer, normal sports. my personal list... Rugby - tore the muscle/tendons/ligaments away from the bone in both knees, at least one concussion (American) Football - 4 concussions in 4 years including (allegedly) 2 in the same afternoon - never hold on field goals!, fractured ribs, dislocated every finger, chipped a 5p sized piece of bone off my right elbow thats still lose in there 20 yrs on, severely bruised kidneys to the point I was urinating blood but the best is my spine (cervical) is 25 years older than the rest of me due to the wear and tear from tackling people much bigger than I was. Skiing - dislocated right shoulder in scotland and re-tore my right knee in france Karate - fractured fingers, fractured cheekbone Parachuting - remember that right knee ........ made an arrse of it again (when I landed badly in a turnip field) ... and got turnip up the bottom (and yes, that HURT! ) and finally a very small collection of WMA Longsword - many bruises and sore fingers but the only one of note was hit in the back of the head with a zwerchhau, went down and concussed when I hit the floor face first. Following day I was a key person in a 1 million UK pound software implementation ... but no one noticed I was totally out of it. Implementation still went well. (oh yeah ..... and tedi-kuma dislocated my finger yesterday ) so based on the above personal list .... (w)ma seems to be an extremely safe pastime. Is it the same for you guys?
Come on give Tedi his due. He did do a textbook krumphau (which you did teach him to do that way) that Leichtenauer would have been proud of. What surprised me was how easily it got through the maile those Armour Class swords are heavy duty. The next time someone says maille is decent protection I'll remember that day. It's 21st Century Armour for me! Triple denisity foam and high impact plastics. The Bear.
Nope, credit where credit is due ... I never saw the krump coming..... Last time I stand in ochs in front of Tedi I'll tell you that! The maile did take the edge off the blow but there is limited padding under the gauntlets. My underpadding ends at my knuckle ... which Tedi unerringly targeted and hit. I think mostly its my pride thats taken a battering. Would have thought my students would have taken more care of their old Meister!
Well,I've never been (seriously) injured. My most dangerous injury was in the army, when I got hit in my head with a sledgehammer (not during sparring ) I've both been active in football and skiing, and have never been injured during those activities. In WMA-weapon-sparring, my worst injury was a "ven dente" chop across my eye during a demo (with wooden swords, luckily). As it was a demo with audience and all, I kept sparring, allthough I didn't know how my eye was. Afterwards, it turned out I only got myself a black eye. During wresteling, I've (probably) damaged my right shoulder permanently. There's allways some pain in there, and I think too eager partners during Fiores "keys" are to blame. In re-enactment, I've gotten an axe in my forehead that was more blood and pain than atually dangerous (that's why my avatar).
I know this ain't gonna be popular with those who have forked out for the quality 'heavy duty' swords but for sparring purposes I think the lighter, flexiible Hanwais which have a bit of 'give' in them, are probably slightly 'safer' when it comes to sword blows and thrusts. As to injuries... only bruising due to fists, kicks and sticks but was nearly skewered with a kung fu spear once - it made a hole in my t-shirt as it scraped past my stomach Louie
The hanwei's are fine as long as you are facing another hanwei but against a heavier swords like Armour Class or George's Heron Armouries sword the hanwei I was using was being bent too much in the bind. If the hanwei was alittle stiffer I would completely agree. The Bear.
Personally, that's what I'd recommend - beginners in 'light' sparring go hanwei to hanwei - whereas those who are more advanced in sparring can use the stronger, heavier weapon. Louie
I think it's what you are used too. I think, if you train with an Armour Class sword you learn to control that sword. The problem is when you train with a Hanwei then use the AC for freeplay, it's quite a shock. The Bear.
Its a good point ... I always used the same sword (borrowed) in my early days and then I had my own so I never experienced sword shock in changing up weapons. Personally (when I think of it) I'm going the other way. Using my big/heavy heron armouries b@stard sword then stepping down to the A/C gives me better control (you'll notice if you take a hanwei, I use the A/C). But if you use the A/C, then there is NO WAY ON EARTH than I can safely use the hanwei ... I'd throw it away its so light in comparison to to my swords. will need careful thought if we buy more club swords in the future in light of this. light hanweis or heavier ie next gen hanweis or kovex ars or a yet to be discovered swordsmith.
Stinging!!! The photo shows an 'injury' to my thigh, just above the knee which was sustained during a bout of stickfighting - I was armed with a singlestick and my opponent (fellow Mapper and Dog-Brother instructor, Elhig) was armed with a heavy escrima stick!!!! Needless to say I was a bit slow that day in slipping my lead leg back.... :cry: Louie
I took up martial arts to strengthen my arms. I broke both of them in an accident when I was a blacksmith the smith pulled a job that was too hot away and I struck the anvil with a forehammer. Both elbows came out. I started to fall and of course to save my face I put both arms out. NEVER ATTEMPT PRESS UPS ON BROKEN ARMS. Regards koyo
When I was a young lad I had a slight issue at school and a chap took a knife across my eye and scratched my cornea. It felt like someone sticking a needle in my eye for two weeks. Had to wear and eye patch too. Arrrrrrrr. The Bear.
