Martial arts training requires physical exertion. Whether it be in warm ups, practice kicking or sparring, you need to exert physical force. As a result of this, injury is inevitable. When you kick or punch a sand bag, the impact can hurt you. But when done in an appropriate manner, injury can then result. That is the reason why proper positioning, technique and execution are taught. Martial artists are accustomed to injuries affecting the muscles, joints, tendons and ligaments. These common injuries are fractures, sprain and torn ligaments.
But what about bruises?
When your kick lands to a very hard, bony surface, you are bound to injure your leg. This usually happens when the kick you throw doesn’t quite land on the intended body part!. As a result a bone bruise occurs. As opposed to bruises on the muscle, bone bruises are quite different. A bone bruises is a direct injury to the cortex on the bone leading to fibers being broken. However, the injury is not as extensive as a fracture. The problem with bone bruises lies in the fact that it doesn’t have any outward manifestation aside from extensive pain. Also, the pain can last for about 8 to 12 weeks. Without any outward sign of injury such as discoloration of the affected area, misdiagnosis and incorrect treatment is common.
The key to treating a bone bruise is to identify the injury first and foremost. Although the injury can be so small that it can’t be detected by x-ray it still advisable to consult your doctor to ensure correct identification of the injury and its extent. However, an immediate intervention for such injury would be ice compress in order to relieve pain and swelling of the affected area. There are many things you can do in order to prevent and treat bone bruises, but rather than go into them all here… there’s great information on this article on fightingarts.com.
