Toughening up the "non muscled" parts.

[still kicking]

I should probably just let this go, but I am stubborn, I guess. The thing is, we do spar with a fairly decent level of contact, I think. For brown and black belts we use what I would call medium hard contact to the body -- hard enough so if you're not built up it will hurt -- and light contact to the face and head. We do not use any chest protectors, but it's that bone on bone thing that is so painful, and I do not see the point, so I like to use shin and forearm pads. It turns out that in my little episode last week, I got some "regular" bruises on one ankle and forearm, which though painful at the time was no big deal. Now they are just greenish purple reminders of how much fun I was having. However, on the other side, which is actually the lower outside part of the shin, just above the ankle, I may have a bone bruise. It is still extremely painful to even touch it, though I iced it a lot the first couple of days. Even if not a bone bruise, whatever it is is definitely more than just a regular bruise, and though even if not permanently disabling, is definitely slowing me down. I haven't gone in for an x-ray or MRI, since whatever it is I know I just need to go easy and take ibuprofen, but it might take a while. In any case, even if it is a sign of general wimpiness, this kind of pain bums me out because it could have been prevented. But I'm trying to have a good attitude. Anyway, I will now stop arguing with you, Bushidoman.

[DWx]

Contact is good for you as long as its controlled because your body will react to the stress and form harder denser bones (Wolff's law). As long as it isn't too hard to the point where your breaking bones instead of knocking them, you will benefit in the long run. As a martial artist, or in any contact sport for that matter, pain is something you just have to deal with and attune yourself to. After a while you can overlook superficial pains and learn to ignore and push yourself through, but you'll also know when something is serious and when you should step-out and get it seen too. In any case, given a SD situation or whatever being able to get hit and think nothing of it is surely going to beneficial?

[still kicking]

That's really interesting, DWx. Although I had been aware of weight bearing exercise being important for bone strength, I wasn't up on Wolff's law. I wonder if making contact with pads on also has some positive impact on bone strength, even if not as much. This discussion has really gotten me thinking about the issue of levels of contact. Obviously one of the things we work to develop, as we improve and advance in rank, is control -- hitting the target we are aiming at as hard as we want to and mean to (mangled grammar, I know). There seems to be quite a bit of variation between different styles, and between different schools within the same style. Even within the same school, what to one person seems to be a reasonable amount of contact, to another seems way too hard. If the goal is to stop just short of serious injury, in some cases that might be discovered only in retrospect. Maybe it's mostly a matter of knowing yourself and your sparring buddies. In any case, I think it's kind of hard to reach agreement on this topic, knowing that there are people from all kinds of styles and philosophies on here, but it's fun trying.