Search
Close this search box.

Guy's Blog

Guy frequently keeps this blog updated with thoughts, challenges, interviews and more!

Ask the Sword Guy 6: on tournament safety, concussion, long-term brain trauma

Today's episode has just one question:

What is your opinion on the force levels in HEMA. Especially in regards to the research into the cumulative effects of repeated sub-concussive hits to the head. It seems there are no end of people reporting broken swords or bashed in helmets and I do not believe HEMA is that different or special from other sports that feature head hits.

Here's my answer:

https://youtu.be/5SkaBEdgDxo

Here are the show notes:

Game Brain book, now Concussion: https://amzn.to/2Xewdt4

Rates of concussion in rugby players: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC155428/

In NFL players: Vox article re American Football: https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/2/2/16956440/super-bowl-2019-concussion-symptoms-cte-football-nfl-brain-damage-youth

In boxing: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Concussion-rates-per-100-participants-in-combat-sports_tbl1_23665542

Blog post re head wound: https://guywindsor.net/blog/2012/05/bleeding-headwound-anyone/

 

I'm sure you have an opinion: do share!

2 Responses

  1. Thank you for this well considered response to the question. I am constantly asking the people I study with “do you feel that nuance?” in regard to bind etc The answer is often “No” and I wonder if they are just used to striking too hard, as you say, forgetting that the SLO is supposed to be a sword and not a bludgeon. Anyway, thank you.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Search

You May Also Like

Ask me Anything, again!

Well, anything within reason… I’ll be going live on Reddit this evening at 10pm UK

Recent Posts

Ready to Wrestle?

I’m delighted to let you know that From Medieval Manuscript to Modern Practice: the Wrestling

¡Viva la Panóplia!

I’m just back from the Panóplia Iberica, held in Alconchel, a village in Spain near

Categories

Categories

Tags