Most unhealthy martial art?

[guohuen]

Ouch! Did something like that when I was studying Shotokan. Hit myself in the right thighbone with octagonal mohogany chucks. Haven't touched them since.

[Lice]

Juko-kai...

[old jong]

Take any martial art and a bad teacher and you get a very unhealthy thing!...But I think that any thing that preaches that heavy contact to the head will make you a tougher and better fighter has a serious risk potential to your health.It is a question of times before you start to pay the price.

[Former castleva]

Yeah.
Good thoughts,you mentioned arts that I could not think of.
boxing,muay thai (boxing) I´ve also heard that TKD practice is likely to bust your knees.
But can be also a matter of how-to as previously said.

[Fu-Pow]

Lol to Lice!!! Juko Kai rocks the house.

Overall, I think that there are two (if you chose to count them both) that tend to cause the most frequent injury in the USA. One is Tae Kwon Do. I love TKD, and I have a very good friend who is a 2nd Dan, and he is constantly injured.

I have some anecdotal evidence to back this up. My mom and sister started taking Tae Kwond Do with in a week my mom had blown out her MCL (Medial Crucial Ligament) in her knee. Apparently they were doing some weird partner stretching and doing it too quickly. On a positive note my Mom now studies Chen Taiji and loves it.

Anyways, I think any martial arts where the instructor is not qualified. Or if the instructor does not have an intimate knowledge of human anatomy and sports physiology can be potentially dangerous. Also, if the instructor pushes the students too quickly.

There are a lot of antiquated practices floating around that are simply not helpful and potentially dangerous. One that comes quickly to mind is bouncing in your stretches. While its probably OK to gently bounce when doing light stretching (it warms the muscles) I've seen people agressively bouncing which actually makes you tighter and increases your risk of injury.

These practices persist because it is hard to convince a MA teacher that a practice is harmful when they learned it from their MA teacher, especially if their teacher is very good. ( For example, bouncing might not have irreparably harmed the teacher's kung fu but might have increased their rate of injury.) So the practice gets passed down the line.

[chingei]

Wrestling and/or Boxing

[IronFist]

Good discussion guys. Any martial art can be harmful if not taught properly, however I was talking more about martial arts that even when performed properly can harm ones health/distort posture/damage the body/etc.

Kind of like Juko Kai Good call, Lice!

IronFist

[FatherDog]

Honestly, with the exceptions of such things as Juko Kai, I can't think of any art where performing it correctly will increase your risk of injury.

Now, arts like Boxing, Muay Thai, kickboxing, etc, probably produce a higher rate of injury among their practitioners because they have a well-established competition circuit. If you fight full-contact, you'll get injured, and your body will take a lot of punishment. That's just how it is.

I'd be willing to bet that if you took a group of Thai Boxers that regularly compete, Western Boxers that regularly compete, Kickboxers who regularly compete, and Kung Fu/other CMA stylists who regularly compete in San Shou, the rate of injury would be fairly comparable.

With that said... I'd say the art where practitioners are /most/ likely to develop health problems later in life is sumo. While there are a number of sumo weight classes, they're encouraged to become as weighty as possible and with as low a center of gravity as possible, to the extent of engaging in special high fat diets. That kind of weight takes a heavy toll on your heart and knees.

[Shaolindynasty]

Chung Mo Do-

i've met a few people from this school and they all have knee problems. Most likely from CMD's bad yoga crap

[chingei]

Originally posted by FatherDog

With that said... I'd say the art where practitioners are /most/ likely to develop health problems later in life is sumo. While there are a number of sumo weight classes, .

heh?

[fa_jing]

I hurt my knee pretty bad in TKD - due to hyperextension. IMO, they make too much emphasis on "snap" in your uniform, as a determination of the power of the technique. This IMO encourages hyperextension of the limbs.

-FJ

[IronKim]

He..." shaolin dynisty"

Why youi want to pick on CMQ.
Whats your name?????? Whos your teacher??????

I call your Sifu to a "Kung Sool Bope" for Grandmaster John C. Kim.

Dont be against CMQ until you trie it. Open your mind....

[ewallace]

Go jump off a building.......a ten story building.....and do a sidekick while in mid air.

[jun_erh]

SUMO

[neito]

tkd can be kinda rough on the knees, wrestling produces cosmetic damage like cauliflower ear. boxing gives yiou brain damage.