Comments | cloudscudding: ACL-safe martial arts?

cloudscudding

ACL-safe martial arts?

Jun 13, 2010 18:56

In the last couple of years, I have blown out both my ACLs (1. landed badly from a jump split kick, 2. lunged forward while sparring and my weight shifted badly) and had (patellar ligament) surgery to repair them. At this point, if I tear one of my ACLs again, the surgery repair will be a best-outcome day-to-day function, not good enough for ( Read more... )

knee injury

Comments 35

susanofstohelit June 14 2010, 01:07:10 UTC

Tai Chi may be your only bet for not tearing your ACL again. but I only found one article comparing styles.

Abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15618336
Article: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1725005/pdf/v039p00029.pdf

Have you talked to your orthopedic surgeon or physical therapist? they should be able to get you better citations and info.

cloudscudding June 14 2010, 01:43:58 UTC

Yay! I'd found the abstract (elsewhere) but not the article before.

Since my surgeon keeps thinking I already do karate, I don't think he would help. And my physical therapist wasn't familiar with martial arts really. Although I guess I could email him and ask.

Looks like, of the sample groups, Shotokan Karate would actually have the lowest rates of ligament injury, and the lowest rate of lower extremity injury. Nothing on ACLs specifically, but that does help. And anecdotal evidence backs up that Aikido has a significant number of ACL injuries too.

susanofstohelit June 14 2010, 01:50:53 UTC

there were other articles about injuries associated with particular styles, those might be helpful later. pubmed is a great resource.

if you want a specific article, I can ask my brother to grab it from one of the medical databases he has access to.

cloudscudding June 14 2010, 01:51:23 UTC

Other articles?

Thread 10

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cloudscudding June 14 2010, 16:28:01 UTC

It's the torquing and being off-balance part that can be damaging, I guess? Lots more soft-tissue (ligament) injuries.

cloudscudding June 14 2010, 18:54:25 UTC

The Assics Gel pad is good advice, though, if I do something involving kneeling.

scott_lynch June 14 2010, 04:03:38 UTC

Have you given a thought to kendo? There's an awful lot of foot and stance work, of course, and constant foot-stomping, and barefoot training. But I don't think it generally involves the same sort of twisty-cork-screwy-jumpy-leapy stuff you have to shy away from.

cloudscudding June 14 2010, 05:04:27 UTC

Corkscrews are the devil.

But yeah, I have actually thought about weapons styles.

fayde June 14 2010, 12:07:42 UTC

I'm a huge fan of Aikido, but I don't know if it is your thing. The reason I think it would be better on your knees is that it is all self defense, so you don't do kicks really, or any of that. I could walk you through some of the basics so you could try them out on your knee. However, I will warn you that there is sitting on your knees, but usually allowences for injury/disability if you can't. The proper way to sit is on your knees with your toes curled under to prop you up a bit - and that is hard on your feet until you adjust to it. Also, there is knee walking, which I don't know if it would acaully hurt you, but it may.

I would have to say that I love Aikido because it is fun, but it really isn't agressive at all, so if you are looking for that you should try something else. Otherwise, getting thrown across the room is super fun! - You do a lot of falling and rolling to your feet in it.

cloudscudding June 14 2010, 16:29:01 UTC

Unfortunately, I looked up Aikido and ACL injuries and got way too many hits (anecdotal, but....). It also has a significant rate of soft tissue (ligament) injuries, according to that one comparison study.

yanni85 June 15 2010, 20:11:56 UTC

I had thought about Aikido too but on further consideration it involves lots of twisting which could be problematic.

cloudscudding June 15 2010, 20:39:55 UTC

So sad. Good to figure it out without injuring myself though.

discoflamingo June 14 2010, 12:52:35 UTC

If Judo is bad, Aikido may not be much better, since Aikido will have a similar number of throws.

cloudscudding June 14 2010, 16:29:10 UTC

Yeah.

fayde June 14 2010, 19:38:58 UTC

I can't think of any that involve falling with impact on your knees though. They teach you to either roll out of it (an actual throw), or how to fall in a roll out on your side (when they hang onto your arm), neither should have any impact on your knees.

I could imagine that twisting of the knee could be a problem if you don't rotate your feet enough when in stances, but...well...that would be kind of a "user error".

Hmmm...eitherway, it sounds like it isn't for cloudscudding...I'm interested to see what she/you decide on.