sparring safety

**joopa** · Posted On: 9/06/2008 10:47pm

I just started Muay Thai recently so Im not allowed to spar yet but I am becoming paranoid as I think about it. How safe is sparring? How hard do people typically go and is there a high rate of injury?? What are your experiences in sparring?

**Over the Hill** · Posted On: 9/06/2008 10:56pm

Sorry I havnt trained in Muay Thai, but I would imagine like any other art its going to depend on whom you are training with. You need to look hard at the group YOU are training with to answer your question?
Ive had training friends who did Muay Thai over the years and all had very different experiences of it, under different instructors.

Hand over to more experienced Muay Thai persons....

**1point2** · Posted On: 9/07/2008 1:16am

Moderate to hard sparring, done correctly, with supervision and a good training partner, will rarely produce serious injury. Minor injuries are fairly common, but if you stick with it, you'll learn how to manage and treat them.

IMO, it's safer and healthier to deal with a few scrapes, scratches, and bent toes than to not train.

**Sang** · Posted On: 9/07/2008 2:26am

Well i've had a broken foot and a hand injury from sparring. Both of these were caused by my own foolishness. Make sure you use good quality protective gear and ALL the protective gear they reccomend.

I bought crappy Everlast shinguards because they were half the price of the other ones, checked a kick and they swivelled away leaving my foot unprotected, then fired a roundhouse back hitting an elbow and breaking a small bone. I also was too lazy to rewrap my hands after the sweat made the wraps fall apart 1 hour into a session and then screwed one of my tendons hitting a guy in the forehead. That 3 minutes laziness is costing me 4 months recovery time.

If you spar hard often it is only a matter of time before you get some kid of injury though. A lot of the people at my gym are nursing one injury or the other, cracked ribs, stuffed shoulders, broken noses, bum knees. Everyone also has more bruises than a paintball team.

Injuries are a part of the sport, you just have to do your best to dodge the big ones and reduce the overall risk. You WILL get bruised, limp 2/7 days a week and bloody noses, enjoy :).

**Rask** · Posted On: 9/07/2008 3:43am

The thing that's always scared me about sparring is getting hit in the nose. I'm scared that I'll either get a broken nose, nose bleed or simply cop a lot of pain. Why doesn't this bother those who do full-contact sparring? Don't you guys ever cop punches in the middle of the face?

**Sang** · Posted On: 9/07/2008 4:23am

Because broken noses and black eyes are cool? It seriously does not hurt that much to get punched in the face by someone with 16 ounce sparring gloves on, stop being a girly-man.

**Over the Hill** · Posted On: 9/07/2008 4:26am

It might be a bit off thread, but it struck me reading this it might be interesting (and useful) to hear about peoples injurys over the years and how they happened?
Probably should be another thread?

**Rask** · Posted On: 9/07/2008 4:57am

The worst injury I ever got from sparring was when I was kicked in the jaw and knocked out. My kneck hurt for days after that, but I was pretty much fine. Not much of an injury but it was damn cool :p

**pyromaniac1918** · Posted On: 9/07/2008 7:03am

worst injury i got from sparring was when i was trying to block a kick and i didn't time it right and dislocated my middle finger. The finger still hasn't fully healed yet but there's probably going to be many more injuries in the future.

**Odacon** · Posted On: 9/07/2008 7:29am

In terms of safety something more important to newcomers than actual safety gear is supervision, someone to tell them not to leave their hands there, or to block that way, or to punch and kick like that etc.

Originally Posted by joopa

Im not allowed to spar yet but I am becoming paranoid as I think about it.

I think this is the number one reason why you should spar on your first night, the longer you leave it the more of a big deal it becomes, and if you're super nervous and afraid of getting hurt you most likely will spazz out and end up hurting yourself and your partner, whereas if you spar your first night you'll get it out of the way and it'll be just another part of your training.