Would you compete in a tournament with badly bruised ribs?

[rivergirl]

I was injured last week during practice, and ended up having x-rays for possibly fractured ribs. They turned out negative, but I am living on Advil right now and we have a tourney this weekend. I went to practice last night and did pretty good but it hurt like crazy to kia. I'm doing kata and kumite in the tourney and there is a huge likelihood I'll get punched in the same spot as my injury (as i'm just a white belt and haven't had much practice in kumite yet) I was just wondering on other people's opinions, am I crazy to go to the tourney? Our club is very small and I feel like I should participate because there's other people who can;t be there, what would you do?

[ninjanurse]

Sorry to say but bruised ribs will hurt for a long long time! The important thing is that you are breathing deeply and doing your kias....this will help avoid pnuemonia that can occur when people with rib injuries guard and don't breathe deeply enough. I can't tell you what to do but if it where me I would go. Pain is only relative to how much fun you are having !

[Sauzin]

Uhhhh...DON'T DO IT! Trust me, it's a bad idea.

I know from experience. I had badly bruised and possibly broken ribs entering a tournament when I was a brown belt. They had been healing for about 2 months but still hurt like heck and I really couldn't move very well. My sensei admonished me, saying that he had a student about 10 years ago who sparred with a busted up rib in a tournament. He did OK in the tournament even though he got hit in his ribs a couple of times. He went home that night and was found dead in his bed the next day from internal bleeding.

Unfortunately I didn't listen to him and I sparred anyway. I did learn a few things. Like the fact that good opponents have a sixth sense for weaknesses and injuries. The first place I got hit was with a solid side kick to my bad ribs. I literally flew out of the ring. I got back up (after a couple of minutes) and kept sparing but I'll tell you what, when you can't breath because your ribs are busted up you make a fine sitting duck. I got a few shots in but I wasn't able to maneuver well enough to get out of the way. I basically had to stand there (which was an effort in itself) and wait for them to come in and try and get me. Which they did. I went on to spar 2 other opponents, and got hit in the ribs a couple more times but managed to finish the matches. I'll tell you what, that was stupid and it took about 5 months before I was able to really move and train like I wanted to again.

The moral here? Any way you look at it, it's not worth it. Also listen to you're sensei, especially when it comes to matters of personal safety over stupidity.

[Jussi Häkkinen]

Broken ribs: No.

Bruised ribs: Yes.

[1st KYU]

uh.....no.

thats just common sense.

if your sensei is any good he would not let you go. Have you told him?

[Meguro]

Going into a tournament with bruised ribs is a very bad idea. You are in no condition to fight. You will be guarding your ribs to prevent further injury and pain. While your guard is down, you open up your head or other body parts to attack. The likelyhood that you end up with another injury, say a concussion, dislocated jaw, detached retina, whatever, is higher. Why risk it? There will be other tournaments.

[AnonymousOne]

Umm ... No

[Master Jules]

You simply do what you must.

[RaidenTB]

No.

I know someone who graded for a blue belt with fractured ribs. And yes, it wasn't a good idea.

My advice to you is - skip this tournament, there will be others. Or enter only the kata competition if you really really want to.

I trained and competed with injuries a lot and recently learned my lesson. If you're hurt and want to continue training, listen to your doctor, listen to your body and train alone. Avoid sparring, etc. Training with an injury makes you more prone to getting another one...

Take care of yourself.

[rivergirl]

I'm really torn with what to do...what you guys have said really makes sense, although the tourney is tomorrow and I'm worried I'll screw the schedule up if I back out at this late date...my sensei seems to think it's ok for me to compete but I guess I'm the only one who can really tell how I'm feeling...