{"id":112,"date":"2012-02-17T21:10:48","date_gmt":"2012-02-18T02:10:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.karate.gregoryzone.org\/?p=112"},"modified":"2012-02-17T21:10:48","modified_gmt":"2012-02-18T02:10:48","slug":"always-punch-with-the-first-two-knuckles-to-avoid-borking-your-hand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/backinthegi.com\/?p=112","title":{"rendered":"Always punch with the first two knuckles to avoid borking your hand."},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the first things new karate students learn is how to make a fist and how to punch. Specifically, one must learn how to punch using the proper fist form and with the right part of the fist so as to avoid damaging one’s hand. Thumb on the outside, and strike with only the first two knuckles. Every new student learns this — either quickly, or the hard way.<\/p>\n

For those of you who doubt the importance of punching with the proper technique, I present Exhibit A:
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Ok, I don’t actually have confirmation that this injury resulted from an improper punch. But I do know, first-hand (sorry, bad pun), how incorrect punching technique can have painful consequences. When I was in high school (before I started training in karate, I should point out), I once got upset and punched a heavy wooden garage door. The garage door won that particular fight: it sustained no significant damage, whereas I ended up with a broken fifth metacarpal neck — better known as a boxer’s fracture.<\/p>\n

If you are unfamiliar with skeletal anatomy, the metacarpals are the bones in the main part of the hand, each of which is connected to the bones that extend into the fingers (phalanges).
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A broken metacarpal neck means that the rounded ball-like end of the bone breaks off. The net result is a painful injury and a cast and regret.
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Striking with the wrong knuckles can lead to a broken bone. A star may not actually appear.<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

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Not my actual x-ray, but the same injury.<\/p><\/div><\/center><\/p>\n

It’s important to practice punching with proper technique to avoid such injuries. It is also more effective to focus a strike on a smaller area (i.e., two knuckles rather than all four), and the first two knuckles are more robust than the other two. Some traditional karate practitioners go to extremes to strengthen these knuckles, including striking a makiwara, a kind of punching board developed in Okinawa. Because traditional makiwara were wrapped in rope, the knuckles would also become very tough through long-term use.<\/p>\n

Most western karate students do not make use of the makiwara. I never did, although I am planning to start — not to condition the knuckles but to develop greater striking power.\u00a0 One reason people avoid makiwara training these days is that the results can be quite visible and unappealing. Consider, for example, the photos below, taken from Eiichi Miyazato’s book Okinawa Den Gojuryu Karate-do<\/em>. This is not a look I would personally like to have, though I have no doubt that such highly conditioned knuckles would be very effective.<\/p>\n


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You don’t need to turn your knuckles into sandpaper, but do be sure that you don’t bork your hand by punching with the wrong ones.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the first things new karate students learn is how to make a fist and how to punch. Specifically, one must learn how to punch using the proper fist form and with the right part of the fist so as to avoid damaging one’s hand. Thumb on the outside, and strike with only the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-training"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/backinthegi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/backinthegi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/backinthegi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backinthegi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backinthegi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/backinthegi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/backinthegi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backinthegi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/backinthegi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}