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Yes! Martial arts can help you with posture, improve you overall fitness and stamina, and give you the discipline to do things correctly. No! There are much better ways to get a good posture and behaviour while working at a desk than joining a martial art class. You can see a physiotherapist, get a new chair, have a work station safety analysis done, take ...

Everything that's physically challenging carries the chance of injury. Deal with it. Running risks joint degeneration. Bicycling can be bad for sexual function and mobility. Hikers get lost and freeze to death. Tennis causes elbow pain. Soccer players blow out their knees. Baseball players risk concussions from wayward pitches to the head. Lifting weights ...

As a former LAPD police man who went through academy training in the early 70s, I can give testimony about the bar arm control hold and its effects, on other police cadets and myself as well. We were taught to know what to do when gaining consciousness, how to identify by hearing, where our main threat was (man with a gun) and how to proceed. Naturally in ...

Dit da jow is a classic. There are a variety of recipes, each supposedly for a different purpose. The stuff we use at the school seems pretty good for reducing bruising, and is a mild pain-reliever on par with Arnica Montana (neither is as good as Tylenol, IMO). I've seen it available from an acupuncturist I tried once, but I didn't get any from her.

Since you're basically asking for anecdotes, here's a third hand account of a technique used by a purported 80+ year old Korean war veteran who still runs marathons. Ice bath. Yup, after your exercise, you take a bath full of cold icy water. OK, so it's not from martial arts exactly, but it seems sufficiently anecdotal. I think you'll find lots of cultures ...

Visit a couple of dojos that interest you and ask about their injury record. Look for older students; once you cross 50, injuries count more and heal slower. Moreover you're more likely to have other injuries that complicate your practice. Ask about training with injuries, and "opt-out". I can no longer do kneeling work, and when I visit a new dojo I ...

Yes! I have a very strong opinion on this because of my accidental discovery. I was a very sedentary techno-geek and starting to get a lot of back pain, which I babied in fear of worsening. Then my daughter got promoted to the adult class in Karate, because she was too tall. I joined, because I prefer to do things together, and I would otherwise be sitting ...

Most places I've trained have seen bruises and soreness as a badge of honour. Perhaps modern sports medicine would suggest ice, pain killers, and anti-inflamatories, but as I understand it, your question is about traditional techniques. Conditioning has often been a component where I've trained. Beat on the makiwara until your hands are too tough to hurt. ...

After getting my nose broken I had perpetual nose bleeds for about a month, I usually had about one each day that would just spring up randomly. My brother was training to be a paramedic at the time, so he knew how to deal with it and taught me. Presumably as it was from his paramedic training, it's well researched. 1: Look down, not up. You don't want the ...

The biggest risk with concussions is getting a second one shortly after the first. For competetive boxers and kickboxers, this means the 10 count and standing 8 count are sentencing them to long term brain damage. If you're training casually, wearing very good headgear (Winning FG-2900 if you can afford it, Rival d3o would seem to be a good second choice) ...

Although, both answers so far have made good points I happen to agree with, I would like to weigh in with an alternative albeit perhaps not so very popular answer. I would argue that by selecting just a small subset of the whole system, you are already forfeiting some of the benefits that the whole system can offer. Or to quote the words of Yang Cheng Fu ...

The distinction between "blood choke" and "air choke" does not make sense from a medical point of view, especially when unconsciousness is involved. Any form of unconsciousness is perilous (in a sense of "possibly lethal"). You are entirely right about feeling scared, unconsciousness is scary. The body loses its adverse-effects reflexes, which can easily ...

Uh, Great Question: I love it. Let's go. The main thing to understand is that your are in charge of how you train. So if you would like to train light contact, or no contact at all, you should be able to. If your club does not respect that, they are not worthy: Martial Arts nowadays is not as it used to be in terms of need. We need it less for warfare ...

I've been training Karate for the last 11 years. You get hurt sometimes, accidents or clashes happen. You get over it. I've had a few injuries over the years, broken foot, hand, ribs, all from accidents. It happens. You try to learn from it (block with your hand closed!) and carry on. Our Dojo is very strict on having control, which should be a factor in ...

This might be in a similar vein to the Dit da jow mentioned by GraduateOfAcmeU, I have heard that Tiger Balm works wonders and have used it from time to time myself as well. In general its one of those remedies that tends to work best on some things, but not on others. For example, the Arnica montana gels seem to work to help bruises heal a bit faster, but ...

Physical activity > Physical inactivity Martial arts can help with combating the ill effects of sedentarism, but martial arts aren't very special in that regard. Some instruction on proper posture is common, but exercises or practices to maximize it are not common. I'd recommend martial arts because it's a fun way to stay active while learning a skill, but ...

I give this answer as someone who also spends many hours in front of a computer all day. Note that I am not a doctor, as well as seeing a general practitioner you should also consult a sports oriented doctor (one who deals with more structural problems and physical injuries rather than illnesses). No, the martial arts will not help you with the pain you ...

1) Working conditions. Good posture while working, a good chair, proper setup of desk and monitor, those are simple things to do, so you should always do that. 2) Stress. You sit too long in the same position. Get up for a drink, don't let your colleague do that. Drink a lot, so get up a lot. A ping-pong table at work might be a very good idea. Make a walk ...

You need ask yourself a question: What do I want to achieve in martial arts? If you want a sport first place - injury guaranteed If you want the cultural experience - no injury If you want self-defense - depends on the system, injury might occur Usually martial arts are without contact or more usually instructors are keeping everyone safe so nothing ...

Sparring is not intended to be full-on, kill-or-be-killed, or even MMA style attacking. It's intended to be paced to your level, where you can practice closer to a real world situation. It lets you work on timing, evaluating the techniques you have learned & seeing how they fit with your personality, as well as integrating everything into a whole. It ...

Well, life is not safe at all. I believe that getting injured in a card accident is much higher than getting seriously injured during a training practice or even a competition. You can always ask your partner to be "less harsh" with you if you feel uncomfortable. And keep in mind that no martial art is safe enough. E.g. there are no sparrings in aikido, but ...

Dit da jow is the traditional liniment of Chinese martial arts. Arnica cream is a popular Western herbal analog. More than a few higher-level martial artists lovingly brew or compound their own secret/proprietary recipes for these. I've used both jow and arnica successfully. I've come to suspect that the exact formulation and ingredients of the liniment ...

I also think it's worth mentioning that if you are a beginner then you should either, not be sparring until you learn proper technique, tactics, and defense, or spar with someone of your same level. Frankly, as a kickboxer, if you are sparring with someone who rings your bell two or three times each session, then you are sparring with someone who is too ...

I have found it extremely good at dealing with RSI (tendonitis). Daily practice of Tai Chi helped me reduce nodules on an almost unusable right wrist to the point where the problem is a distant memory. My late mother also benefited hugely from some very simple Tai Chi, not much more than warmup and about half the short form, for her balance. As a long-term ...

As has been mentioned here, when studying Tai Qi, you need to study the system as a whole. When studying any martial art for only health benefits, you lose the majority of the benefit of that art. That said, the primary benefit of Tai Qi, health or otherwise, is strong Qi development. As this occurs, health will improve. The problem I have with Tai Qi ...

I agree that if there are nice people at a gym, this will motivate you. But you must choose the art based on your personality, I'm sure MMA or BJJ will fit you, based on "I am a huge fan of MMA in general". If you have an idol in the MMA and dream to become like him I'm sure you will decide very quick. Hope this helps you.

I think chokes are some of the safest submissions in BJJ/Submission grappling and thus it's okay to train them as often as you want. I think the main factor in terms of danger is making sure you're training with someone you trust. Anything in martial arts can potentially be dangerous if your training partner has the wrong mindset.

I recently found an article by Wendy Gunther Sensei, which asserts that during a controlled study there was no long term damage from chokes. Short term interruptions in blood flow, transient EEG anomalies but in each case the recipient of the choke returned to full functionality quickly. The referenced article does mention some more serious consequences ...