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Old 09-18-2004, 10:43 AM   #18
George S. Ledyard
 
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Dojo: Aikido Eastside
Location: Bellevue, WA
Join Date: Jun 2000
Posts: 2,670
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Re: Crippling Injury?

If you look in the archives of Aikido Journal you will find tha there was an article about this a number of years ago. There has been several fatalities on the mat and some serious injuries. In all cases they were found to have occurred at the universty club level when a not very senior person was running class. The accidents all occurred when the "hazing" type practice was going on in which folks did things like 1000 vreak falls from shihonage in a row. People simpy got too tired to protect themselves.

Severe injuries in Aikido are a rarity. Less severe injuries are not. I have two vertebrae that sustained a compression farcture at some point inthe past, a big toe on one foot that got jammed so many times that the joint doesn't bend any more, a knee that will occasionally lock on me and isn't completely stable, etc. You want to train hard in Aikido don't expect that there won't be a price because there will be.It's a very physical practice. I just happen to think it's worth it.

George S. Ledyard
Aikido Eastside
Bellevue, WA
Aikido Eastside
AikidoDvds.Com
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