“Sensei, my knees hurt because of training too much.” “My old back pain has gotten worse by training too hard”. Since I have been teaching karate for a long time, I’ve often heard about the people blaming their physical problems on their karate training. Because I run a clinic that sets bones, these complaints are not new. I often meet patients who have similar problems. As a bone setter, I would take care of these people, study their damaged body parts, and prescribe medications. As a karate instructor, these injuries are not pleasing to me at all. Attributing these injuries to karate training does not sound right. Although in Kumite (karate fighting), an accidental injury might occasionally occur, one would never damage ones health by proper training. This is what we refer to as “karate-do training”.

Let us start by examining why those physical problems do happen from the medical point of view and how karate training should be from both mental and physical aspects as well. The human body reacts to the various movements of the muscles and bones. Exercise is an activity that requires reasonable stretches of the joints by the contractions of the muscles, which are controlled by the nervous system. However, it is not true that one could put enough pressures on one’s joints in the normal course of karate to cause damage to bone and joint structure. ” Karate-do training” involves finding the correct degree of pressure to place on the joints so as to tone but not to damage them. Damage comes from extreme pressure either at an acute or obtuse angle on the joints and can cause breakage. It has been said recently that this has led to the prohibition of bunny hops, because it causes fracturing of bones. Sit-ups with one’s knees stretched gives excessive pressure on one’s spine and back. Using the proper angle will cause less pressure on one’s knees and make one’s bones and muscles strengthen in an efficient and safe way.

The ideal karate training sessions are structured with sufficient warm-ups with both speed and pressure exerted one’s body controlled, maintenance of one’s joint flexibility with stretches, developing aerobic abilities through basic or katas drills, and most of all, designing a flexible workout that allows individuals to choose one’s own karate style. As you know, our bodies are designed symmetrically except for some organs. If one would punch in the air, the direction of movements is toward one’s back and legs and a pull back arm (Hikite). It provides a degree of forced pressures upon somewhere in one’s body. If these forced pressures are repeated successively on the same joints in the same direction, it will lead to bone and muscle damage. The greatest degree of damage is found in one’s lower back, but it tends to develop slowly with little notice in the beginning. By the time one realizes there are problems, it is usually too late to correct. Katas are designed as a perfect symmetric exercise with only a few exceptions. Katas have been designed so that if one would practice in a proper manner and apply pressure on as many body parts as possible in balanced manner, it is believed that damage should be prevented.

One should consider these warnings and note that it is best to practice symmetric well-balanced training exercise, not to mention the use of basic drills as the best and most reliable methods to prevent bone breakage and joint damage. Katas are not only a treasures of technical skills, but they also provide excellent training menus.

Now let us examine the problems from the mental point of view. In general, maintaining one’s focus and concentration would prevent any accidents and it said will bring excellent results in one’s performances in competitions. This is the same reasoning that allows athletes who compete in the Olympics, who often are seen on TV, to do so well in their performances. Concentration makes one ready for the races before they starts. However, in Budo, being focused would rather mean not being excited but concentrating as a state of mind. If the Western sports are the positive, then the Eastern sports are the negative. They are placed in opposition to one another.

One’s ultimate state of mind is concentration while being encouraged to be relaxed. These are important factors, which allow one to exert maximum power while not affecting the level of performance under any circumstances. This allows the competitor to analyze the situations promptly and react with the appropriate actions consequently, while maintaining one’s self-composed state of mind. Though the purpose of both is to maintain one’s awareness, the difference comes from the interaction of the participants. With the one, the proper movements applied are scripted through practice and restrain while the other is a reaction of combatants. An example would be the difference in methods of fighting. It can be shown that boxing, a typical Western fighting sport, displays actions based on the opponent’s attacking movements whereas Budo, an Eastern fighting competition, focuses more on the value of self-defense. Budo is primarily for defence, not attack. This explaines the reason why all katas begin with the defense techniques, not the aggressive or attacking movements. In short, whether they are katas or kumite, the principle of judging the proper extent of movement can prevent breaking of bones and joint damage. This is especially true in kumite fighting which can result in serious accidents if a participant misjudges the principle for successful competition. Breathing is an important factor to develop to aid in concentrating. One type of breathing is very calm and quiet similar to Zen breathing. Another is very fast is generated when doing technique drills. Here I mentioned that breathing is not an action simply for the exchanging of oxygen and carbon dioxide, but which is enabling the storage of energy for the power and spirit it generates.