Instructor's Role in Reducing Injury

Have you ever wondered if you could reduce the number of injuries which occur during training and competitions?  If you could take steps to reduce the risk of injury would you do so?  I have no doubt that everyone reading these questions would answer yes to both.

             In order to reduce the risk, and as a consequence the number of actual injuries you must first decide what it is that causes the risk in the first place.  I am aware that injuries occur for numerous reasons and I do not intend to discuss them all.  The intention of this article is to limit the discussion to the instructors’ role, as he will usually have the biggest influence on training methods, etc.

             Before you read on ask yourself, ‘when I instruct are my methods as safe as possible, and do my actions ever put my students at risk?’

             The author’s personal philosophy is that prevention is better than cure and I would always put the health and welfare of my students first.  If this is your policy, I applaud you, if it is not then I urge you to change, if you are not sure then consider the following examples which may give some guidance.

EXAMPLE 1

An instructor notices that one student is using gedan barai incorrectly when performing basics by holding his body in the wrong position.  He continues to count and as the student steps forward to execute the block the instructor turns and sends a front kick to the students’ stomach.  The student’s block makes contact with the instructor’s shinbone and a broken arm is the result.

• Was the student in the wrong for blocking incorrectly?

• Was the instructor wrong? (he was genuinely trying to highlight a fault)

• Would the answer still be the same if the instructor had told the student a number of times he was blocking incorrectly?

• Was the injury an accident?

EXAMPLE 2

A student is competing in a National Tournament and is leading by a waz ari when hit with contact in the mouth.  As a result of the blow, a front tooth is slightly loose.  The doctor states that the student is fit to carry on.  The student wants to continue.

• Should the instructor withdraw the student from the contest?

• Should the instructor advise the student to withdraw and leave the final

decision to the student?

• Would your decision be any different if the incident occurred in the final?

• Should you ask the student if he or she can continue?

EXAMPLE 3

During a pre arranged kumite sparring session an instructor asks one person to attack with a side kick, and the defending person to keep the feet still and to sway back whilst sweeping the kick across the body.  The attacker is quite tall and the defender quite small and the defender is unable to sway back far enough to block the kick and receives a broken arm as a result.

• Is the instructor, the attacker or defender responsible or was it an unavoidable

accident?

 EXAMPLE 4

During training, the floor becomes wet and slippery with condensation.  The instructor warns everyone of the problem and asks everyone to be extremely careful.  The class continues and an individual slips and pulls a leg muscle.

• Is the injured party or the instructor responsible or was it an unavoidable accident?

EXAMPLE 5

A student rejoins a class after 3 months absence due to injury.  The training concentrates on sparring at full speed and this student makes contact and injures an opponent.

• Who is responsible, the instructor, the student or was it an unavoidable accident?

EXAMPLE 6

            An instructor has a team at a tournament who start well, but, as the day continues suffer a number of warnings and disqualifications for heavy contact.  When asked about it the instructor states, ‘I do not understand it, we trained intensely for 2½ hours yesterday and everyone’s control was perfect, it must be the pressure of the tournament.’

• Who is responsible, the instructor, the competitors or simply the stress of the day?

             If you had any difficulty in answering any of the above and you are curious about my views then I will put you out of your misery.  I believe all of the above are risks within the control of the instructor, which can be reduced with careful thought, and I support my views with the following explanations.

EXAMPLE 1. COMMENT:  I personally witnessed this one and have no doubt at all that the instructor believed he was trying to help despite the tragic outcome. A better method would have been to explain what was wrong and then teach the student how to correct the problem.  Once understood, the correct method should have been introduced slowly at first to allow the student to develop the technique in a safe environment before building up speed.  It takes time to change habits and knowing it was incorrect would not remove the problem in the short term.

EXAMPLE 2. COMMENT:  This happened to one of my students in a quarterfinal.  I strongly advised her to withdraw and immediately dropped her from the team. She followed my advice and withdrew from the event. I have no doubt she would have continued and risked further injury as she has an excellent attitude and very strong spirit.  The following week her dentist confirmed that if she had received a further blow she would have lost her tooth.

            In my experience most Karateka will say they can continue if asked by their instructors.  This is a result of the philosophy that we continually teach, i.e. in a real situation you cannot quit and you should never give up.  Whilst this is essential in the street it is often unwise if in a tournament when the injury could become much worse and risk the health of the competitor.

            I believe that you should never ask a competitor if they can continue as they will usually say yes.  You should instead ask the doctor the extent of the injury, and the risk to your competitor if he or she continues.  You should also consider the mental state and look for signs of fear, loss of confidence, etc.  Only when you have all of the facts should you discuss the implication of continuing with your student.  I feel quite strongly that if you are in doubt you must take the safest course of action and, at all times put the health and well being of your students first.

EXAMPLE 3. COMMENT:  This was a prime example of the instructor trying to make the student fit the technique when it would have been better to make the technique fit the student.

            The techniques did in fact work when opponents were of similar size or the attacker was smaller than the defender.  The instructor however should have realised that the defence with no foot movement, would simply would not work for the smaller student, as the attacker had too long a reach.  In this situation, the smaller person should have been allowed to adjust the distance by moving the feet.  The smaller person could then make the defence work and it would have been much safer.

EXAMPLE 4. COMMENT:  This situation has only one solution and the training must stop.  To allow training to continue and risk injury to everyone would not be wise.

EXAMPLE 5. COMMENT:  An instructor should not allow anyone who has had a lay off to join kumite a class training as full speed.  One of the first things to deteriorate during a lay off is timing and distance in parallel with fitness.  Anyone returning to training must be allowed time to recover their fitness, skill and control before allowing them to spar at full speed. The same principle should apply when any stranger joins a class, as the instructor does not know how competent they are.

EXAMPLE 6. COMMENT:  This is a good example of an instructor not allowing his students enough time to sufficiently recover from the training.

            Recovery from intense training can take between 24 hours and 4 to 5 days, depending upon the intensity and the length of training.  An intense 2½-hour session would, in my opinion, need a recovery period of 2 to 3 days.  It is quite possible to dehydrate in an hour and to completely deplete your glycogen stores (the body’s fuel stores), in 1½ to 2 hours.  The competitors described above were suffering from exhaustion and it became more obvious as the day progressed and they tired further.

            It is never wise to train the day before a tournament and I would recommend two days rest, if possible.  The only exception I would make would be if a great deal of travelling was involved immediately prior to the tournament and in this case I would recommend a very light brief session (¾ hour) of mostly stretching and light aerobic work to loosen the body.  The thing that you do not want is to be overtrained and unable to sleep because you are hyped after an intense session.

CONCLUSION

            All of the above are all real situations which I have been involved in as a competitor, student and with example No. 2 as an instructor.  I have changed the details of each situation to ensure that the parties’ identities are protected.  I have trained and competed with numerous styles and organisations over the years and many of the incidents are from those experiences.  Hopefully you will read my comments with an open mind and will give consideration to my opinions.  The intention behind this article is to open the minds of all instructors with a view to improving safe practices during training and competitions.  I am aware that some of you may feel uncomfortable after reading the examples, as you may well have been involved in  similar situations.  If this is the case, please accept my sincere apologies as my intention is to help other instructors and not to allocate blame.