Broken hands

[Garland]

I was wondering if any Vale Tudo guys have any advice on how to hit without crunching those little tiny bones in my fists...because lately, despite not having a fight or hitting shit in awhile, my hands have been KILLING me. I'm not worried about my wrists, they don't hurt, and I've never hit in such a way that I'd mess that up, but it seems like my knuckles are starting to...chip, or something, they swell up for awhile like they're broken if I punch something, but if not, and I sort of place my other fingers in between the knuckles of my middle and ring finger on my right hand and clench a fist, I feel these orbish little calcium deposits (I can see them, too, but they're not what's getting to me, because I have them on both hands and only my right fist feels fuckered up), and then what feels like pitting of the knuckle, where it seems like there's bone missing, at the main source of the pain.

[Hardball]

Be old school and tough it out. Condition your hands daily in a bucket of sand or if you can afford it buy a makawara board or make a makawara board. Gradual conditioning will make your knuckles/hands tougher.

[Garland]

Oh yeah....why didn't I think about that?!
I hope you're not serious.

[EmptyneSs]

well if ur nuckles are bothering u theres not much u can really do until they are healed and toughened up. just stick with hammer fists and palm strikes i guess, but be careful with palm strikes cause u can easily mess up ur wrists if u do em wrong.

[LoneWolf1]

It might be the same thing I had, it ended up being a tiny piece of my pinky knuckle chipped off and it was really painfull to puch anything even the heavy bag. I went to my doctor he took an x-ray, he ended up doing minor sugery and took the tiny chip out. Other than that all u can really do is tough it out. Eventually it will heal just lay off punching for awhile.

[KonrinzaiKirema]

http://www.nexicom.net/~guyjohnston/pf_folder/makingmaki.htm

basic instructions on makawara board making

[Jeremy Lobdell]

Hand injury

Garland- forget the makiwara board, it's too far from the type of training you do. First off, get an x-ray to see if if there is a fracture. Chances are, that's not it. It's probably a soft tissue-tendon problem. The best way to help speed up the healing process is to increase the blood supply to your hands. Any kind of sports cream will do this, but I recommend a product called Bio Freeze. Check with the chiropractors in your area, a lot of them sell it out of their offices without requiring an appointment. It should run you between $12 to $15, but it's well worth it.
Good Luck - Jeremy

[Hardball]

Garland- forget the makiwara board, it's too far from the type of training you do. First off, get an x-ray to see if if there is a fracture. Chances are, that's not it. It's probably a soft tissue-tendon problem. The best way to help speed up the healing process is to increase the blood supply to your hands. Any kind of sports cream will do this, but I recommend a product called Bio Freeze. Check with the chiropractors in your area, a lot of them sell it out of their offices without requiring an appointment. It should run you between $12 to $15, but it's well worth it.
Good Luck - Jeremy

Where did you learn all that stuff? Not at the dojo?

[Jeremy Lobdell]

Knowledge is power.

My degree is in Sports Medicine Sciences. The VA put me through college after I got out of the military.

[Hardball]

My degree is in Sports Medicine Sciences. The VA put me through college after I got out of the military.

Has that degree greatly impacted upon your martial arts skills/career or is it just a seperate field you study?

[Jeremy Lobdell]

Having additional knowledge in joint and body mechanics has probably helped a lot. It helps me personally because I've been able to use it so I can continue my training with some serious orthapedic injuries. I also have the benefit of one of the guys in my school is a physical therapist, so he's gone a lot farther with his college and hands on training than I have, but I've got enough of a base in orthapedics to understand him and pick his brain for ideas. He's a great guy and very supportive. My injuries are healed as good as they're going to get, and I'm pretty lucky to be in the shape I'm in. It could of been a whole lot worse. The knowledge I got from college helps me to continue training at a relatively high level and know how to take care of myself, so I will be able to continue for the rest of my life, hopefully. It's also helped me, in the past, when I had my own students, I had a good level of knowledge to deal with the tipical dojo injuries, at least as far as who needed ice and who needed to go to the emergency room.
Mahalo, Jeremy

[JIMI]

I would go to a doctor Garland. That sounds pretty bad. No advice in here would be better than to see a doctor, get some xrays and go from there. Hope you got insurance coverage....