Is Aikido Dangerous to pracice?

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[joeysola]

I am a big fan of grappling arts. I have done Jeet Kune Do, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and I am now doing Judo. I have been doing Judo for 1 year and I have found that injuries are very common. The majority of black belt Judokas have had at least one very serious injury on their way to a black belt, usually in competition. My current instructer has had his arm broken along with two other black belts at my school. I can not remember ever coming away from a Judo workout without looking down and seeing blood on my Gi or pain in one of my joints. I am interested in studying Aikido and I was wondering if any high ranking Aikido practitioners could let me know how common Aikido injuries are and to what extent.

Also, can anyone recommend a good Aikido school in the Washington DC metro area.

[Erik]

joeysola wrote:
I am a big fan of grappling arts. I have done Jeet Kune Do, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and I am now doing Judo. I have been doing Judo for 1 year and I have found that injuries are very common. The majority of black belt Judokas have had at least one very serious injury on their way to a black belt, usually in competition. My current instructer has had his arm broken along with two other black belts at my school. I can not remember ever coming away from a Judo workout without looking down and seeing blood on my Gi or pain in one of my joints. I am interested in studying Aikido and I was wondering if any high ranking Aikido practitioners could let me know how common Aikido injuries are and to what extent.

I'm probably not high ranking by the definition I'm guessing you are looking at but after 12 years I could tell you my own history. My worst injury occured about 3 months ago, I grabbed the leg of a 5th dan, who pinned both arms and a leg causing me to land on the back of my neck. My neck went "pop-pop-pop". I'm fine today but realize I was very lucky. I did this once before on the mat when I got my foot caught on a jo but it was not even close to this one. I've also caught my foot in a hakama during a hip throw. Yes, mid-air splits are not a good thing.

I've never broken anything though and no concussions that I'm aware of. Some joint wear and tear, mostly shoulders in my case but some on the knees. I see lots of bad knees but they are endemic to a lot of physical activities.

I've personally never seen a major injury (something broken) but do know of a couple pretty big time injuries. In my opinion, injuries will happen, but they can happen in any practice. I certainly don't see blood very often and I'd take an Aikido throw over a Judo throw any day of the week. Overall, I think you are pretty safe in this neck of the woods.

Also, can anyone recommend a good Aikido school in the Washington DC metro area.

If Saotome is still in DC you'd probably want to check him out as at least one stop on the list.

[Edited by Erik on September 21, 2000 at 12:26am]

[andrew]

Here is essay by a 5th Dan on what Aikido training (ie injury preventative) should be like:

http://gargas.biomedicale.univ-paris5.fr/eurocal/ecrits/ukemi1.html

Read it! There's some simular articles (although mainly in French) here:

http://gargas.biomedicale.univ-paris5.fr/eurocal/writing.html

Ideally the co-operative nature of Aikido training prevents injury. There's certainly fewer than in competitive Judo. I do have a friend who recently got some ligament damage somehow (haven't spoken to him yet..), but he's been doing Aikido for the last five years because he was sick of Judo injuries. (Including two broken wrists.) I think it's partly about who you train with rather than what you're training in, though.
Certainly normal dynamic aikido training is MUCH safer than competition. Like Erik, my injuries have never been severe.

There's dojo search engines on this site and at http://www.aikidofaq.com...

andrew

[Bob]

I studied judo for 12 years before starting aikido 22 years ago and my overall opinion is that in aikido there are less injuries but more pain than in judo.

This of course has to be tempered somewhat. It depends upon (1) your age because as you get older you tend to be more easily injured, (2) your flexibility as a naturally stiff person will be more easily injured than a flexible one, (3) you do suffient warmups as a cold body injures more easily than a warm one, (4) your conditioning as a tired person is more prone to injury. These are true whether you are in judo or aikido. However, in aikido you can control the pain of the techniques by tapping or moving at the appropriate time, and you can reduce injuries by learning to harmonize with first the mat and second with your nage.

Further to those generalities. In aikido training we know what is going to happen and that removes the element of surpise that can sometimes be dangerous in judo. In aikido, the partners should be working together at a point that is 'comfortable' to the one that is (least trained, lower ranked, least sore, least tired, youngest, oldest - pick one or add your own) so that we develop a knowledge of 'where our partner is' whereas in judo the object is to throw the opponent down without much regard for their situation.

[akiy]

I haven't had enough experience in judo to comment. However, in my experience, aikido has given me more injuries than did my days in karate.

The most serious injury I've had in aikido was probably my concussion. It didn't hurt or anything, but it sure messed me up for a while. The worst injury (as opposed to the most serious one) was probably my hyperextended/jammed elbow when I landed onto my hand with the arm straight. I was off the mat completely for more than three months. It gave extremely sharp pains in mundane movements like reaching for my seatbelt or closing a door behind me. Another serious injury was when, I believe, I hurt a ligament in my left knee.

Outside of that, I've gone through countless sprained wrists and ankles (including my current sprained right ankle)...

-- Jun

[Mike Collins]

I've caused myself infinitely more damage eating than training in 11 years. I don't think Aikido is very dangerous at all, if you are reasonably sane, and follow the directions and precautions that a decent teacher will provide.

It's like anything else, be intelligent, be responsible for yourself, and things'll work out okay.

[Nick]

I have yet to hurt myself to a point where I feel it the next day (outside of soreness), but then, I am young, and quite lucky in that respect.

-Nick

[onslaught1]

after practicing aikido for 3yrs., the pain lies on doing the technique/falls wrongly. there are also some body aches if you stop practicing even for a week.
hoping this wouldnt discourage you from taking up aikido.