Wrists hurting from breakfalling?

Discussion in 'General Martial Arts Discussion' started by JamesR, Dec 20, 2011.

  1. lyotomachida

    lyotomachida Banned Banned

    start doing wrist curls,and stretch your wrists\forearms more
     
  2. Alansmurf

    Alansmurf Aspire to Inspire before you Expire Supporter

    Do you use strike pads for your atemi ?
    Have you tweaked the wrist doing strikes ?
    having uked for years on varying mats I have never had a problem as you have described , ask your instructor to critique your ukemi

    Alan
     
  3. Kurtka Jerker

    Kurtka Jerker Valued Member

    Your hand is probably flying out way away from your body to exaggerate the slap, which is incorrect. Keep it next to your hip. Much safer, healthier and less obtrusive with regards to transitions. Might help.
     
    Last edited: Dec 21, 2011
  4. m1k3jobs

    m1k3jobs Dudeist Priest

    I think the idea behind slapping the mat is to keep you from doing the natural thing of trying to land on your hand and ending up breaking your wrist.

    When I coached softball and I taught sliding I had the girls grab some dirt in both hands and throw it over their heads when landing in the slide. It added nothing to the mechanics of the slide but it taught them not to land on the hand/wrist.
     
  5. righty

    righty Valued Member

    If the soreness is from breakfalling and presuming it's joint soreness and not bruising, I would hazard that it's from incorrect technique. Proper technique shouldn't really put stress on the wrist at all.

    When you 'slap' the mat every part of the body should land at the same time. This includes everything from the wrist to the shoulder. An easy and common mistake for new people is to reach out with the arm so that the palm or elbow makes contact before the rest of the body. This jolts the wrist and other joints and can cause injury.

    I've never had or heard of anyone having similar symptoms. I would talk to your instructor and get them to have a good look at your ukemi from being thrown in different throws just to check out it's correct.
     
  6. JamesR

    JamesR Valued Member

    I boxed for 2 years and never really hurt my wrists at all, I do still strike pads, punch bags, other people etc but I have never noticed any wrist pain from that.

    Like I've said, it's more a slight weakness when I turn it a certain way lifting weights or grappling etc
     
  7. JamesR

    JamesR Valued Member

    Found out tonight, it's because sometimes I do land with my hand first to slap it, instead of my whole arm, causing it to jerk slightly.

    Problem solved :)
     
  8. YouKnowWho

    YouKnowWho Valued Member

    I don't slap with my arm when I fall. As long as the back of my head does not hit the ground. I'm safe. I prefer to use my slapping arm to make myself a comfortable pillow behind my head instead. It's pretty much like the parachute landing fall.

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Dec 21, 2011
  9. HarryF

    HarryF Malued Vember

    Hmm, often pain is associated with physical injury, so (as others have said) give it a rest for a while and speak to your instructor about what could be causing it.

    As an aside, I usually try to breakfall using the guy throwing me if at all possible...
     
  10. YouKnowWho

    YouKnowWho Valued Member

    Are you talking about "don't release your grips and drag your opponent down with you?"
     
  11. HarryF

    HarryF Malued Vember

    Yeah pretty much, I know it might not be 'clean' technique, but we train on a hard wooden floor sometimes and traditional breakfalls aren't painless!
    Glad you seem to have found the reason it hurt, best of luck with your training.
     
  12. YouKnowWho

    YouKnowWho Valued Member

    If you train on hard wooden floor, it's your opponent's responsibility to make sure that you can land safely.
     
  13. Mangosteen

    Mangosteen Hold strong not

    i've never actually used my hand before, i curl my arm and instead aim to slap the mat with my triceps.
    when you think about it, the main reason for slapping is to pull the shoulder blades together and protect the spine so the hand doesn't really need to be used.
    i think the tricep slap is better cos i can keep my guard while falling.
     
  14. Dean Winchester

    Dean Winchester Valued Member

    Lol not if the waza they are doing makes taking ukemi difficult.

    It all depends on the system and methodology.

    Especially when you keep in mind that in some of the older systems uke will be the senior.
     
  15. aikiwolfie

    aikiwolfie ... Supporter

    I'm reading some very disturbing thinking about breakfalls in this thread.

    1. If your wrist hurts when you're slapping the mat. You're doing it wrong. Simple as that. The only pain you should feel is the initial sting in the palm of your hand. Which should not cause any permanent damage.

    2. You should not think of martial arts breakfalls in terms of parachuting. Skydivers have the support of their parachute when they land. In martial arts there shouldn't be any support from your partner.

      Without being too dramatic. If your partner interferes with your breakfall, they are playing with your life. In arts where people are being thrown head over heals it's very easy to land on your head.

    3. Uke is responsible for their own breakfall. Nobody else. If uke does something stupid, like choosing an inappropriate breakfall, nage gets the hell out the way.

    4. Pulling your shoulder blades togerther does nothing to protect your spine. You're vertebrae will always protect your spine far better than your shoulder blades. And if you're thrown hard enough to damager a vertebrae in some way or slip a disk. Your shoulder blades will do nothing to stop that. Relatively speaking the shoulder blades are very weak and easy to break.

      I'd also wager that you are in fact risking injury by pulling them together in this manner.
    5. Making a "pillow" with your arm risks breaking your arm, dislocating your shoulder, breaking a clavicle, breaking your jaw and fracturing your skull. Well done. Uke should not be able to perform this type of breakfall if they are attacking true.

    6. Break falls work in three ways. They either dissipate the force of impact by spreading it over a large area. They negate the force of impact by changing the direction of travel away from the path of direct collision. Or they provide a shock absorbing effect where the aim is to slow the rate of travel but not to stop travelling.

    7. When we slap the mat in a breakfall, this is normally to absorb the initial shock, slowing the rate of travel. The remaining force of impact is then normally dissipated over a larger surface area, (the back for example), or negated by changing the direction of travel so uke receives no more than a glancing blow. Since the aim is not to stop dead, the arm must be allowed to collapse naturally. Otherwise the shock of the impact travels through the arm. Great pain is then felt as bones may be broken and muscles and ligaments strained. It's even possible to burst a vein. I know because I've done it.

    8. If you are having trouble with your breakfalls then speak to your teacher.
     
  16. Mangosteen

    Mangosteen Hold strong not

    I was told this when i started with TJF by a chiropractorr so its probably false.
    thanks for that info though its really explained a lot.

    in judo i do typical breakfalls but i haven't seen them used that often in wrestling, in fact we never even practiced or learnt them...
     
  17. YouKnowWho

    YouKnowWho Valued Member

    When your body is rotating and spinning in the air and you don't know which part of your body will land, you can only protect your head and nothing else. As long as the back of your head doesn't hit on the hard ground, you will survive.

    Your arm slapping break fall will not help your body landing if your opponent stops right there (throw you "1/2 way"), your body slide down, and your head hit on the ground first.

    [​IMG]

    If your opponent smash your body like this, your arm slapping break fall will not save you. You have to protect your own head. It's your head after all.

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e94JbMpgRbg"]head smash - YouTube[/ame]
     
    Last edited: Dec 22, 2011
  18. aikiwolfie

    aikiwolfie ... Supporter

    When you're body is rotating and spinning in the air you can kill that rotation and spinning more or less dead by spreading your body flat. Just because you have no contact with the ground doesn't mean you can't control your body or you should lose all sense of coordination.
     
  19. YouKnowWho

    YouKnowWho Valued Member

    When your opponent throws you, he should not release his grips on you. Instead, when your body lands, he should pull you toward him. This will give you a chance to do a complete body rotation and also pull your head and upper body off the ground.
     
  20. YouKnowWho

    YouKnowWho Valued Member

    Again, it's very important that you try to protect your head as much as possible. Broken arm or broken leg may not kill you but head concussion may kill you. There is a good reason that motocycle rider will require to wear helmets.
     
    Last edited: Dec 22, 2011

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