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When doing certain exercises, I get the feeling that they would cause stress on the joints after doing them for years and years (such as elbow joints in the instance of wing chun chain punches).

However, from anecdotal experience, it doesn't seem like long-time martial arts practitioners suffer joint problems. Is this because joints regenerate like muscles do, or because the development of martial arts focuses on ways to reduce joint stress? Or is it that practitioners do suffer joint problems more often than non-practitioners, and I just don't hear about it?

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  • I would avoid asking a "yes/no" type question and rephrase your question to ask what the long-term benefits and negative effects of practicing martial arts are on your joints.
    – user15
    Feb 4, 2012 at 4:03
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    Anecdotal evidence is not worth the paper it is printed on. Feb 4, 2012 at 15:18
  • Anyone interested in this question should also read the discussion of injuries in Is hitting hard objects really effective in making bones harder?
    – mattm
    Dec 8, 2015 at 17:08

11 Answers 11

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Any trained athlete, such as martial artists, will develop injuries due to accidents that will get worst over time. Joints are amongst the first thing to go because of the large amount of repeated motion that we use in all martial arts. However, if done safely martial arts pose no more dangers than any other sport.

Remember to warm up, not over exert any joins (stop when it hurts), see the physiotherapist when it does hurt for longer than a week, and keep good care of your body. We only get one of those, once it's broken, the game is over.

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  • Not true. If you do something that damages your body, it is something you shouldn't be doing. The fact that some arts damage the body over time indicates, to me, that they are not arts one should be studying at all.
    – Anon
    Feb 4, 2012 at 17:30
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    @Trevoke: Of course, you are right. What I meant that accidents happen and damage your ... Answer edited. Feb 5, 2012 at 15:29
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    Now, I wish I could disagree with you, but I know it's true :(
    – Anon
    Feb 5, 2012 at 17:07
  • @ZeroPhase I have seen serious sprains, dislocations, and even a collapse lung at normal training sessions. I have seen more sever injuries in competitions. The risk is very real. Aug 14, 2019 at 6:24
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Some techniques and training do not stress the joints, others do. It depends on the martial art, the teacher and the kind of training. For example, a lot of judoka end up with bad knees. Likewise a lot of capoeira folks end up with back injuries.

Joint damage can be understood in 3 factors:

Too much stress, bad applied

If you try to do too much force or weight and at a bad angle, the joint can be destroyed. Anything that involves a lot of bodyweight moving fast - your own or someone else's is typically what produces it. Martial arts that use acrobatics, throws, or pivots on one foot tend to get these problems more. Obviously, training/sparring with joint locks with someone who lacks control and goes too hard also produces this, since locks are designed to overpressure joints when used combatively.

Slow grind

Long term damage happens when the joint is used improperly over years. This is usually where we see stuff like meniscus disc damage on one side of the knee vs. the other, calcium deposits in knuckles or wrists, or spinal disc bulges/slips.

This is particularly hard to screen for, as it requires a lot of knowledge of anatomy and kinesiology - it's not as simple as "some positions are bad for everyone" as much as "Oh, your knee happens to have grown in this particular angle so this stance needs to be modified by this much to be the kindest to your knee cartilage".

Because nearly every martial art trains repetitive movements to make certain actions automatic, this becomes a problem over time as you slowly grind away cartilage or over stretch certain stabilizing tendons. Very few teachers have this level of anatomical understanding - a standard movement that is correct for 70% or 80% of the population is usually what folks know and they will simply repeat it as "the correct way" for everyone...

Muscle stabilization and tendon strengthening

On the positive side, some training can improve your muscle stabilization and tendon strength to help protect tendons.

Assuming you have a technique that protects your joints, the next factors are things that involve strengthening stabilizers and having you use them in reaction to constantly changing erratic movements (balance exercises, sticky hands work) are useful. That is to say - the strength to absorb the stress has to be there, but also you have to train the body to be able to turn on the muscles in time to do so as well - otherwise the strength is useless if it's not there when you need it.

Tendon strengthening is done through light weight/resistance, repeated hundreds of times. Low stance work can help a lot in this regard for protecting the knees.

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I refer you to this question that I asked. There is a natural, proper way to use the body, and ... Other ways. A martial arts should follow the natural way and only enhance body movements and effectiveness, not put undue stress on the body. This goes for forms, striking techniques, and calisthenics.

Training joints, tendons, ligaments - this is done through, for instance, careful Chin Na (joint locking) training with a partner. It is a good way to put some stress on these weak parts and let them get used to it over time.

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The following answer is based on my personal experience and information I have gained in 10 year of martial arts practice. I hope it will be of use.

As many other sports, martial arts also fall into the category of 'impact sports'. Indeed the joints are stressed not as much by practices such as shadow boxing but by striking hard surfaces as for instance heavy bags. Impact also happens during running or jumping on concrete as it does not absorb the impact force. The explanation based on physics and medicine is that the force you strike with also has an equal reaction force which goes back into your body so the harder you strike the more reaction force you absorb which has a negative effect on your joints from the extremities(striking part) up to your spine which are all affected by this shock. Also keep in mind the the body(muscles, tendons, ligaments and bone) needs weeks, months or years to adapt to striking hard surfaces without injury depending on what you are striking.

To sum things up if you don't push yourself too far at once you will be in no more danger than a runner or any other sports player. You should also see the amount of benefits regular and proper practice brings compared to not practicing. Also, at least as far as my knowledge goes wing chun is more gentle on the joints then for instance boxing or muay thai but still there are champions and master in every martial art and sport who are old and very healthy, much healthier and stronger that other people of their age so I wouldn't worry about it.

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  • I guess in BJJ everyone smokes pot first as it makes your joints more flexible and you can fall better.
    – ZeroPhase
    Aug 13, 2019 at 20:14
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My knees think so.

Honestly, every form of exercise stresses something. Be careful about form, and don't do things that hurt.

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I did Taekwondo for 6 years, and yes I love the sport, but it did have lasting effects on my body. Ever since I was around 12 or 13, I’ve had problems with my feet. My bones grind and pop causing a lot of pain sometimes. I didn’t have the problem before starting Taekwondo back in 4th grade. Eventually I quit after getting my black belt because of the effects the sport had on me. I went to a foot specialist and they said I had really weak ankles and that I needed a lot of support in my shoes. Now at the age of 23, I have problems with my sciatic nerve, my hands and fingers, and my feet. I wish my instructor had been better at teaching us the proper way to stretch and to avoid injury.

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My sifu told me this: advanced martial arts practitioners were willing to "break" their body a little in order to gain the upper edge in a fight (life or death situations). This means that not all advanced techniques are safe for all body parts such as joints.

Moreover, certain martial arts have been designed by and for smaller people (e.g., southern Chinese martial arts vs. northern Chinese martial arts) so taller people have to adjust if they don't want to put too much pressure on their knees.

That being said, this was a long time ago. Nowadays, still according to my sifu, competent instructors won't teach techniques that are fundamentally dangerous for the body. In general, if you feel a burning sensation, that's good. If it hurts, that's not good.

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GRADUAL PROGRESS!

In the more internal Chinese martial arts we mostly believe in doing slow gradual training, hardening our body over time and not abusing our bodies so we can be effective at a ripe old age.

Hard styles tend to do things faster and end up with hard bodies, but with injuries. The best example is Mas Oyama which had hands like steel but suffered from Osteoarthritis.

In my opinion train gradually pushing your limits slowly and you will not suffer major injuries.

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I am a professional martial arts instructor. I can tell you that Tae Kwon Do emphasizes speed and power while minimizing damage to the joints. We learn to shift our weight and deliver blows with minimal impact ending up on our joints. We distribute the force throughout the body; i.e. we twist the bottom leg torso and focus on snap which is to say you do your kick then immediately bend your legs back to absorb the impact onto other parts of the body.

Joints and cartilage heal faster with proper circulation of the blood and martial arts can help with this. This is the concept of acupuncture. It improves circulation by channelling energy and distributing heat for enhanced circulation of the blood and heat to heal areas of the body faster. Also strengthening of the core muscles and the muscles around your joints minimizes the impact on your joints. When we punch, for example, we have our elbows slightly bent (but never 'locked' straight) which allows me to punch as hard as I can without worrying about the impact on my joint.

I have been training for 35 years and I do not have any joint problems. My instructor is 78 years old and has no joint problems.

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  • I teach (ITF) TKD and a snap-kick is brought back quickly to ensure your leg can't be trapped, not to spread the impact. The impact has already happened when the leg starts moving backwards.
    – Mike P
    Dec 8, 2015 at 10:53
  • Maybe it's a terminology thing, but I would disagree with several of your assertions. A bent elbow while punching is not to avoid impact directly on the joint - it's to avoid hyperextension and to maintain control and focus (there's minimal or no benefit in letting the fist travel that 1/2 inch further). Also bending your legs and absorbing the kick force will lead to sloppy weak kicks - force you "absorb back" isn't going in to your opponent. Like I said, maybe it's just a terminology thing.
    – slugster
    Dec 8, 2015 at 11:48
  • Not a TDK practitioner, but I don't see why there is an the issue with this answer's discussion of leg recoil to reduce injury to the leg. Physics analyzes collisions in terms of elasticity: elastic with recoil, inelastic without. If you allow recoil, there is less energy that needs to dissipate somewhere else (your joints, possibly). Sure this may make your kick less damaging to the recipient, but it will also make it less damaging to you.
    – mattm
    Dec 8, 2015 at 16:58
  • @matt I think that physiology and physics are getting all mixed up. Recoiling as the kick lands is bad from both a physics and physiology POV - you've got force/momentum going everywhere as you recoil, which will also mean you're off balance and/or twisted. If there is recoil down the leg then that is energy that is not dissipating through the opponent. Retracting the leg after impact is not recoiling, hence my comment about terminology. In any case I think concentrating on just the knee/elbow is wrong - they don't take anywhere near the same impact as the knuckles (which are a joint).
    – slugster
    Dec 8, 2015 at 22:05
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The answer is generally joint wise minimal. However, there is a big caveat on that. It's minimal only if you get it right, which can be harder than it sounds.

Your movements might look right enough to an instructor of a class who can't tell exactly where your weight is on your foot and how you're balanced and bone angles... It may not be spot on and by repeated action over time it can then put a lot of strain on something, which doesn't when you do it right.

What can then really make it worse are kumite injuries. Anyone who spots a weakness and prays on it, which let's face it would be the right thing to do, may be adding to the complications.

It's important to reflect internally a lot in doing slow actions to be sure you have got them right, that the angle in your stances is right, that the weight is where it should be, that angles in ankles and wrists for strikes are spot on, or else the impact will make it much worse.

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This is such a complex subject and my intuition is that even experts in medicine, kinesiology, etc. don't have many answers proven with science. My intuition is that even if there are "answers" it is not certain if they "work" on any individual person. I have been practicing martial arts for more than 40 years and have suffered from back problems. I cannot be certain the problems would not have occurred sans martial arts. My intuition tells me, if you are interested in a life-long training in martial arts, that you should build your training up slowly and steadily. Stop if there is any sign of pain. Work technique over power. Substitute techniques with ones that don't cause problems if your body. Consider water training to offload your joints from stresses on land. I have trained Korean "Kwon Do", Muay Thai, BJJ, "JKD", "kali".

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  • Pretty good answer over all, but just a note is that having intuition isn't the same as knowing the answer to a question.
    – LemmyX
    Nov 5, 2020 at 19:56
  • Thanks LemmyX. I agree knowing is preferable to intuition. I could have said I know such-and-such but I cannot provide references to scientific articles substantiating my claims (I don't see much of that in other postings either!).
    – Waterman
    Nov 11, 2020 at 17:22

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