The Ninja Nurse KFP 218

KFP 218 Injuries and the Ninja Nurse

 

 

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Injuries, ailments and bruising are part of being a martial artist. Sore muscles, joint tweaks and broken bones can happen in martial activity with many variables dictating the outcome. We want to identify the most important variables or potential risks. 

 

The injury rate in martial arts is similar to other contact sports. In a study,

 

# Comparison of Shotokan Karate Injuries against Injuries in other Martial Arts and Select NCAA Contact Sports

 

By John-David Swanson, Ph.D.

Department of Biology and Biomedical Sciences,

Salve Regina University,

Newport, RI 02840

 

Martial arts has "myriad physical and mental benefits. Physical benefits include improved balance, meaningful exercise, and the ability to protect oneself against a physical threat [2]. It is also a physical art, with flowing movements that support one’s connection to his/her movements."

 

A review of research revealed there is a 1 in 5 chance of being injured in a shotokan tournament and 1 in 4 chance of being injured over the course of time training.

 

The mean percentage of reported injuries thru 10 studies

1. Contusions 47%

2. Epistaxis (nosebleed) 20%

3. Laceration 14%

4. Sprains/strains 3%

5. Concussions 2% some as high as 7%

 

the most injury-prone arts appear to be Jujitsu (97.5%), Aikido (51%), and Kung Fu (38%), followed by Judo, Karate, and Tae Kwon Do which all were at 20-21%. The least injury prone martial art of those studied is Tai Chi (14%). Which I define as the Wellness versions, but may include pushhands and some strengthening work.

 

Over a 16 year NCAA research study, the only collegiate sport that had a higher injury rate than shotokan karate was football witha 36% injury rate. Soccer and ice hockey following respectively.

 

The major risk factors for injury in the Martial Arts are the 

1. time spent in training,

2. age of the participant,

3. the experience of the participant. 

4. Specifically, it was found that overtraining, and older and inexperienced participants presented the highest risk of injury. As you might imagine, these factors compound, so an older, inexperienced person has a much higher percentage of getting injured.

 

Professor Swanson states, "The single most important factor in preventing injury is the education and experience level of the instructor [14]. This indicates the requirement of having a strong organizational “apprenticeship” or instructor qualification that includes specific instruction in warm up and cool down procedures, injury prevention and the mechanisms of prevention, the ability to determine overtraining, the ability to give appropriate advice to students in the implication of techniques in both execution and results of delivery"

 

Segways to why this is an important book, Ninja Nurse by Peter Jones. The Essential Guide to Injury Management in Martial Arts. It is available on amazon, goodreads and several other locations.  

 

Contributing to the validity of this 300 page book is that Peter is a nurse, has over 30 years of multi-martial experiences and deposits volumes of this information into one book.  

 

Ninja Nurse is an excellent guide to all aspects of injury prevention or reduction in martial arts. Chapters include health screening, risk assessment, and aspects of the training environment. Also, You Get a deepdive into children and to combat sports. 

 

It also includes true stories, useful links, and where to find important forms if you have a school.  Peter takes you through a process, how to: 

 

1. Reduce and prevent injury

2. Treat injury

3. Learn from the injury

 

The book emphasizes content for the instructor. Peter walks through potential problem actions such as :

 

1. Breakfalling

2. Striking and padholding

3. Chokes and strangles

 

As I read through the book, I noted that Peter provides you a good idea of what a legimate martial arts first aid kit might look like.  Granted, any is better than none. However, This is particularly useful if you are not sure on how to build your martial arts first aid kit. Then please, make sure that you can use everything that is in it.

 

https://www.nationalcprfoundation.com/courses/standard-first-aid-3/. $12.95 2 years

 

Reality Moment: Indiana Personal Injury Lawsuit Involving Karate Kick Moves Forward. Kicking Held Bags, Johnny the jackass has already been warned twice about trying to crush people, and on third, gets a lady, jump kicks her when she wasn't ready. she injures her knee in the fall that required surgery. She has sued Johnny, and the court has stated, "an individual’s actions during a particular exercise or drill in a practice session can be viewed as “within the range of ordinary behavior of participants in the sport” or whether it is dangerous is for a jury to decide." It continues, "Responsible trainers and athletes keep themselves aware of both the risk of injury and the steps to prevent them."

 

My understanding is that the injured lady is only seeking damages from Johnny Jackass and not the martial arts school. My guess would be that they did things as close to right as possible, except for yanking johnny on his second warning.

 

Ninja Nurse is an excellent clinical reference broken into areas, such as: 

 

1. Spinal injury

2. Chest 

3. Neck

4. Limbs

5. And smaller join injuries.

 

Peter discusses Mental Health Awareness and there associations to problems in your training hall.  Depression, anger, bi-polar students will bring unique concerns that you can reduce with awareness.  Peter states, "consider an acute mental health episode like an acute injury."

 

Iain Abernethy said, ""it focuses on how to ensure training partners don't get hurt and how to help them if they do."

 

Jamie Clubb says, "this is as an exhaustive work on the subject as one could hope to find."

 

I would tell you that this book addresses a critical area of any  martial arts training center. Its value is well worth more than the cost. 

 

Thank you Peter.

 

References

 

[Shotokan and Other Martial Art Injury Rates](https://thesportjournal.org/article/comparison-of-shotokan-karate-injuries-against-injuries-in-other-martial-arts-and-select-ncaa-contact-sports/)