Best of Kojutsukan Posts

Yes folks, it's time for a 'best of' post. What are the top 10 Kojutsukan posts?

Before the top 10, it is an opportune moment to reflect on the Kojutsukan mission. Yes, over the years of research a mission has evolved. That mission is to use theory to inform practice. To use theory to facilitate practice. This concept is relatively unique in the martial art world which is generally a bastion of anti-intellectualism - to its detriment. Many instructors attempt to provide theoretical support for their methods. Those same instructors should often refrain from attempting to explain the whys and stick to the hows. They have not done the work, nor have their instructors, into understanding the whys. My work is about providing the whys. Whys that have practical use; that facilitate the understanding and study of martial arts techniques and those used in violence generally in a practical way.

No. 10 Women Self Defence Courses: Effective or Not? Pt 1.

This blog was posted in December 2011 and the fact it made the top ten reflects the interest in women self defence and violence directed at women. These blogs have attracted the greatest amount of comments both on the blog site and to my personal email. Many from women thanking me for airing issues that they've experienced but did not understand or that they thought others did not understand.

No. 9 Can Martial Arts Falling Techniques Prevent Injuries?

In this blog I introduced the readers and the martial arts world to the work of Brenda Groen whose PhD thesis was on the use of martial arts falling techniques to prevent injury when landing from a fall. This technique has been included in a broader fall prevention program that has been rolled out in Holland, and which has recorded success according to various studies.

No. 8 Domestic Violence

Given statistics generally suggest that one if four women experience abuse or violence, it comes as no surprise that there is a great deal of interest in this issue.

No. 7 Jan de Jong Pt 3 - The War Years

Jan de Jong and myself would walk the streets of Rotterdam and Amsterdam when we were visiting Europe for his annual seminars. He would point to various buildings or locations and tell me this happened or that happened there during the war years. Standing in the same place he stood 50 years before made it all the more poignant.

No. 6 Women Self Defence Courses: Effective or Not? Pt 2.

My interest in WSD was increased after becoming involved with a woman who has recently emerged from a long-term abusive relationship. My work over the past few years in researching for my various books and articles provided me with the tools to understand, explain, and help this survivor. I suppose another project to add to my already existing projects is a WSD book and course. This book and course would be different than most others in that it would be based on knowledge of the problem.

No. 5 FOOSH Injuries

My first blog. Fall On OutStretched Hand injuries. I introduced the martial arts world to the concept of FOOSH injuries. Over 85% of all injuries to the upper limb are produced by falling on an outstretched hand. One consequence arising out of this fact is that there is very little information available concerning the physiological explanation of injuries that may be produced when executing kansetsu waza (joint-locking techniques) because the forces are applied in the upper limb in completely different directions in each case.

No. 4 The All or Nothing Law of Strangulation

I recently obtained a copy of another study on shime waza (strangulation techniques) or the more politically correct term neck restraints. There is a bit of controversy over the actual mechanism that causes unconsciousness or death in the case of these techniques or strangles generally. Four mechanisms are often cited, even in the coroners reports I've read which include reports by forensic pathologists or medical personnel. It's often a choice of one of the four mechanisms. I need to do more work on this issue because I am tending towards a combination of two. Stay tuned.

No. 3 Jan de Jong Pt 19 - What Does a Black Belt Mean?

It is interesting there is so much interest in this blog. This might reflect a general confusion about what the black belt qualification signifies. In some striking based martial arts you can obtain a black belt in 1 1/2 to 2 years. Does that imply a lowering of standards? Not necessarily. If you only have a few blocks, kicks, and punches to learn, and if black belt simply signifies proficiency, then not necessarily. For Jan de Jong, a black belt tended toward the teaching side of things rather than proficiency. For myself, anyone who I grade black will most definitely be a world class instructor. They may not be the world's best exponent, but they will most definitely be a world class instructor.

No. 2 O Mae Ukemi aka Bridgefall

This was the first blog I included YouTube vision. The YouTube vision came from a demonstration Greg Palmer put on as part of his 2nd dan gradings. I'm fascinated this polled so well.

I recall a seminar in Stockholm where Jan de Jong was teaching a hip turn which is a technique where the partner/opponent is dragged over your hips and made to fall to the ground. In a previous seminar, a participant shattered both radius and ulna when landing on an outstretched hand. I saw in the Stockholm seminar that people did not know how to land safely from this technique. I asked some of the instructors who were hosting the seminar why they were not using o mae ukemi or bridgefall technique to land safely. They didn't know the technique. I suggested to De Jong that we teach this falling technique, to which he agreed reflecting a certain open mindedness. However, he was reluctant to spend too much time on teaching this technique as he thought the participants wouldn't think they had got value for money from the seminar. In the mid-time break I had half a dozen of the senior instructors come up to me and ask for more instruction on this falling technique, not on any of the defences we were instructing.

This is what I found throughout my national and international teaching experience. It is the fundamentals that are lacking; the fundamentals that are of greatest interest to senior students and instructors.

No 1 'Shorter People Have Certain Advantages in Fighting and Warfare'

Sadly, I suspect the number 1 spot reflects the insecurities shorter people may have rather than an interest in strategy or tactics. I would suggest that shorter people embrace their height challenged status and stand tall, but they can't.

Injury and Pain - Book Update

I've completed 95% of the first draft of my tentatively titled: Throwing Techniques and Takedown Techniques of ALL Martial Arts. While the two terms are used within the martial arts, there is no understanding of what the difference is between the two types of techniques. In answer to the sceptics, if the difference doesn't matter, why are the two terms used? A definitive distinction based on biomechanics is presented for the first time in the English-language literature. In addition, the common conceptions and misconceptions are also reviewed. There is also a chapter on unbalancing (kuzushi) which also covers the misconception that is 'mental unbalancing'.

I was going to include a chapter on martial arts breakfalling techniques and injury science which can be used to understand and study breakfalling techniques, however, I found these chapters did not do justice to the subject. So, another book was born which I am currently working on. It is very tentatively titled: Injury Science and Pain Applied to the Martial Arts.

The introduction to the book asks, 'what is at the very heart of the tactics and techniques of the martial arts?'

Dolf Zillmann defines human aggressive behaviour in Hostility and Aggression as ‘any and every activity by which a person seeks to inflict bodily damage or physical pain upon a person who is motivated to avoid such infliction’ (1979: 33). He then subdivides human aggression into two basic subclasses:

1. Aggression is offensive when a person seeks to inflict injury upon a person who is not attempting or has not been attempting to inflict injury upon him or her.
2. Aggression is defensive when a person seeks to inflict injury upon a person who is attempting or has been attempting to inflict injury upon him or her. (1979: 39)

Somewhere between the definition of aggression on page 33 and the subdivision of aggression on page 39, Zillmann lost the specific reference to pain when describing offensive and defensive aggression. This could be explained in that the reference to injury in the subclass definitions includes both bodily damage and physical pain, or, it’s simply an oversight. In any event, Zillmann’s conceptualisation of offensive and defensive aggression will be taken to include both injury/bodily damage and physical pain.

At their most basic level, what are the tactics and techniques of the martial arts designed to do? They are designed to deal with a person who is seeking to inflict injury or pain upon a person who is motivated to avoid such infliction. That is, they are designed to deal with an offensive aggressor. How are the tactics and techniques of the martial arts designed to achieve that objective? They are often designed to achieve that objective by inflicting injury or pain upon the offensive aggressor, that is, through defensive aggressive activities. Zillmann provides the following expansion on his definition of defensive aggression which reflects this analysis of the purpose of martial arts tactics and techniques and the means by which they achieve their objective:

In general, defensive activities are aimed at warding off an attack; that is, their goal is to prevent the infliction of injury or harm. In pursuit of this objective, they can, however, develop into full-fledged counterattacks. The possibility that the offensive aggressor may suffer more injury than the defensive aggressor is not in conflict with these definitions. (1979: 39)

Aggression is often a judgement laden term. Many martial arts will suggest they are teaching methods to deal with aggressive actions but they will be reluctant to suggest they are teaching aggressive behaviour. Zillmann deals with aggression in a non-judgemental way and conceptualises both offensive and defensive aggression in descriptive terms only. This conceptualisation assists us in studying the whole of the aggression experience.

What is at the very heart of the tactics and techniques of the martial arts? Based on Zillmann’s conceptualisation of offensive and defensive aggression – injury and pain. The avoidance and infliction thereof. The martial arts teach ways to avoid the infliction of injury and pain on oneself by an offensive aggressor and ways to inflict injury or pain on another in the role of the defensive aggressor. Even those tactics and techniques which are not designed to inflict injury or pain on an offensive aggressor are at the very least attempting to prevent the offensive aggressor from inflicting injury or pain on oneself. Injury and pain are at the very heart of the tactics and techniques of the martial arts, and to the best of my knowledge they have never been explicitly studied within the martial arts literature. Not until now that is.

Included in this book are chapters looking at a relatively new science which specifically studies injuries - injury science. The concepts and theories are then used to undestand and study nature's and martial arts breakfalling techniques. Nature's breakfalling techniques are evolved strategies we use to reduce the risk of serious injury in a fall. We look at the clinical studies associated with my so-called nature's breakfalling techniques before we look at the martial arts attempts at improving on nature with their breakfalling techniques. A unique study in the Netherlands looked to the martial arts for techniques to reduce the risk or severity of injury from falls. These studies have been referred to in previous blogs and are looked at in these chapters. The breakfalls taught by Jan de Jong jujutsu are included, which includes the relatively unique sideways roll. A model developed from injury science is then used to understand and study ALL percussion techniques, unarmed and armed. I'm then planning to include a chapter which uses the work from injury science to assist us in our duty of care when it comes to training the tactics and techniques of the martial arts. Finally, the subject of pain, including pain tolerance, is covered. An expert in the field of pain suggests we have learnt more about pain in the past 10 years then we have in the past 1,000. For the first time, this knowledge will be used to shine a light on a discipline which has pain at its very core - the martial arts.

All of this knowledge is developed and presented to facilitate the understanding and study of the tactics and techniques of the martial arts as per Attillio Sacripanti's previously referred to dictum.

'Can martial arts falling techniques prevent injuries?'

I'm currently working on chapter 10 in my tentatively titled Throwing Techniques and Takedown Techniques of ALL Martial Arts. This chapter concerns breakfalling techniques (ukemi waza). A GREAT deal of research has gone into this chapter. I thought I'd share just a little at this stage to hopefully garner further interest in my work and some comments.

The World Health Organisation has this to say on falls:

Globally, falls are a major public health problem. An estimated 424,000 fatal falls occur each year, making it the second leading cause of unintentional injury death, after road traffic injuries. … Though not fatal, approximately 37.3 million falls are severe enough to require medical attention occur each year. Such falls are responsible for over 17 million DALYs (disability-adjusted life years) lost. … In addition, those individuals who fall and suffer a disability, particularly older people, are at a major risk for subsequent long-term care and institutionalization. The financial costs from fall-related injuries are substantial.

Human movement specialist, Arthur A. Chapman, is a big fan of teaching techniques for landing safely from a fall to the wider community. In Biomechanical Analysis of Fundamental Human he describes the two basic landing strategies taught by the martial arts and suggests 'all good school physical education classes should teach [these techniques]' (2008: 88). In their chapter entitled 'Biomechanics of Combatives' in Biomechanics of Human Movement, Marlene J. Adrian and John M. Cooper likewise recommend the benefits of teaching breakfalling techniques to the wider community: 'Falling and landing effectively with a minimum of injury are also necessary skills to attain longevity in sports, industry, and daily living' (1995: 279).

Injury Science published a research letter submitted by Dr. Frank J. Leavitt (Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel) titled 'Can martial arts falling techniques prevent injuries?' (2003: 284). I'd like to take this opportunity to inform the reader that there is some professionally researched works related, or which can be related, to the martial arts which unfortunately are hidden away in academic journals and would never see the light of day in the normal course of events. Secondly, I'd like to use this article to inform the reader of some of the work they can expect in this chapter.

Leavitt explains that 'although falling techniques are taught to martial artists, athletes and paratroopers, a BMJ search of Highwire listed journals has discovered no mention of "falling correctly", "safe falling", etc.'. My research has revealed there is very little research published on fall-arrest techniques (falling techniques are pretty simple but landing safely is the tricky bit) - but there is some. I start out my chapter with a paper investigating the natural (evolved) way humans try to land safely from falls to the front, rear, and side. I refer to these as 'nature's breakfalling techniques'. Part of nature's breakfalling techniques is the use of landing on outstretched hands which often results in a FOOSH (Fall On OutStretched Hand) injuries (see a previous blog). I then intend to write about the studies that have investigated proposed improved methods of falling safely from falls to the front, rear, and side.

'Although correct falling is neglected in the medical literature, there is much semi-scientific literature by martial arts masters.' Fall-arrest strategies are virtually, not totally, ignored in the medical literature as the abovementioned published papers demonstrate. I would take issue with the suggestion there is much semi-scientific literature by martial arts masters. There is a veritable dearth of such work within the martial arts. One notable exception is Attilio Sacripanti's Advances in Judo Biomechanics. This veritable dearth in semi-scientific or scientific literature in the martial arts is one of the driving forces behind my work.

'The ease with which martial artists take even very hard falls suggests the hypothesis that falling practice while relatively young can prevent injury from falls incurred later in life.' Here's hoping this is true given I'm entering the later in life period of my life.

'A Japanese study of 11 deaths and serious injuries in aikido from 1972-75 listed eight due to falling. Most of the victims were relative beginners, suggesting that those who practice over long periods are more protected.' Since commencing training in 1983, oh so long ago, I've seen relatively few injuries due to falling. The most severe was in a seminar conducted in Sweden in the 90s. We (Jan de Jong and myself) were teaching a throwing technique (definitely not a takedown technique)and one of the seminar participants, a yudansha (black belt holder), used an outstretched hand to arrest his fall. Both the radius and ulna were shattered requiting plates on both bones.

'Martial arts tend to have rather specialised falling techniques. Aikido falls may not protect you in cases where judo falls will be effective.' Too true. The types of ukemi waza taught reflect the types of techniques taught. Aikido tends to 'project' (a term that is often used in aikido to refer to throws) so rolling ukemi waza tend to dominate. Judo tends to throw down so 'flat falls' tend to dominate. Interestingly enough, virtually nobody teaches a sideways roll. They teach a forwards, backwards, and sideways flat fall, and a forward and backwards roll, but not a sideways roll. Again, this tends to reflect the types of falls initiated by the throws and takedowns taught within these schools. Jan de Jong jujutsu is relatively unique in teaching a sideways roll. Very useful when practicing ukemi waza by leaping from a scooter as Jan de Jong demonstrated in one of my past blogs. The ukemi waza of Jan de Jong jujutsu will also be included in this chapter.

'There is plenty of anecdotal evidence of martial artists coming out safely from quite dangerous falls.' A previous blog of mine added to the anecdotal evidence when I described Greg Palmer's use of ukemi waza to survive a motor cycle accident and Hans de Jong's use when falling from a tree while tree lopping.

'It remains to be seen whether safe and enjoyable methods might be developed to teach selected falling techniques to the general population.' They have been developed. Only Brenda Groen and her Dutch colleagues have studied martial arts techniques to reduce the severity of falls. Her PhD thesis which she finished this year and which she kindly sent me a copy, is entitled 'Martial arts techniques to reduce fall severity'. The technique she studies is included in an expansive fall prevention program currently being taught to the elderly in Holland. There have also been studies published which have investigated the efficacy of this technique within this program and participants. I'm intending to include discussion of these studies within this chapter as well.

Any and all comments are appreciated. My work can only improve with these comments. Thank you.

Martial Arts Techniques to Reduce Fall Serverity

I've added a new book to the 'books of interest' on my blog. It is a printed copy of Brenda Groen's PhD thesis entitled 'Martial arts techniques to reduce fall severity.'

I came across Brenda's work while researching the science being martial arts breakfalling techniques. Quite surprisingly, given the relativly large impact of falls without our society, virtually nobody has looked to the martial arts even simply to investigate the possibility that the techniques taught within the martial arts might have something to offer the wider community at large. This, to me, is symbolic of the relative lack of credibility the martial arts holds within our society. Tennis, golf, any game involving chasing a ball of any size or shape appears to have more credibility than the martial arts in our society. Part of what I hope to achieve is to lead the initial wave in amending this credibility deficit.

Brenda is, not relativly, absolutely unique in looking to the marital arts to look for solutions to problems experienced in the wider community.

I contacted Brenda after researching all the studies I could lay my hands on with respect to 'landing strategies'. The martial arts refers to 'breakfalls', as in breaking a fall, but some misguided individuals refer to these as falling techniques. As the saying goes, it's not fall that kills you, but the sudden stop at the end. The marital arts techniques are pragmatic enough to be concerned with the sudden stop at the end, as is Brenda.

I'm referring to Brenda by her christian name as we've developed a (platonic) relationship based on our correspondence. She is very kind and generous to share her time and work with me. She sent me a copy of her competed and printed thesis before it has been accepted by the powers that be. It includes the results of six diffent studies that she and her colleagues conducted in Holland concerning various aspects of martial arts fall techniques - OK. Sorry Brenda - she also refers to the inappropriately named 'fall' techniques.

I ensured Brenda would not be wasting her time as I did extensive research and contemplation before I deinged to contact her. I always advise anyone to do the work before contacting any academic or 'professional'. I've found many to be very generous and very supportive, but, I'd always done the work before hand. I must have done something right as she informed me the questioned I'd raised over certain other studies were the same ones she herself had raised. This confirmed to me that I was heading in the right direction and at a level I was aiming at.

Brenda's work will be referenced in my proposed Throwing Techniques and Takedown Techniques of ALL Martial Arts book. I'll be maintaining contact with Brenda and will hopefully visit her laboratory, which she has gaciously invited me to do so, next year. I'd love to see if there is anything else the martial arts can contribute to the wider community in addition to dealing with personal violence.

Good luck Brenda and thank you very much.

FOOSH Injuries

What is a FOOSH injury? FOOSH is an acronym for Fall On OutStretched Hand and a FOOSH injury is an injury caused by falling on an outstretched hand.

In an article in the Journal of Biomechanics, James Chiu and Stephen N Robinovitch (1) explain that falls on outstretched hands are a significant cause of upper extremity injury, including approximately 90% of fractures at the distal radius, humeral neck, and supracondylar region of the elbow. They suggest that among these, fractures at the distal radius is especially significant, as it represents the most common type of fracture for the under-75 population. This mechanism of injury is so common that the medical fraternity use the FOOSH acronym to describe all such these injuries.

In another study, Robinovitch teamed up with ET Hsiao (2) to investigate the natural response when falling unexpectedly from standing height. They found, as expected, that the predominant balance recovery technique was stepping with only one of their trials involving stabilisation of posture through sway. However, the effectiveness of stepping in preventing a fall was highly directional dependent. Falls were avoided in 78% of the cases where stability was disturbed to the front and 72% of the cases where stability was disturbed laterally, but only 37% of the cases where stability was disturbed to the rear. Subjects were more than twice as likely to fall when balance was lost to the rear than when lost to the front or side. Hsiao and Robinovitch suggest the observed directional nature of stability may be related to an inability to visualise the environment behind the body, or achieve large step sized during rearward stepping.

The direction of balance disturbance also effected the type of fall. Hsiao and Robinovitch used the terms 'partial fall' to refer to a fall which involves contact with hands and/or knees but no trunk and/or pelvis contact, and 'complete fall' to refer to a fall which involves contact to the trunk and/or pelvis. Complete falls run the risk of injury to the pelvis whereas partial falls do not. They found that 92% of the falls to the rear were complete falls, 23% of falls to the side were complete falls, and no complete falls were observed in falls to the front.

Wrist contact was observed in ALL complete and partial falls. Braking the fall with the outstretched hand allowed for complete avoidance of upper body impact in falls to the front and reduced the incidence of upper body impact by over fourfold in falls to the side. In falls to the rear, subjects were just as likely to first impact their pelvis as they were their wrists. Hsiao and Robinovitch suggest the time difference between impacts is of greater significance than the order of impact. Previous studies have shown that 50 ms is required to reach peak force after contact with either the hip or wrist during a fall. Hsiao and Robinovitch observed the time difference in their falls to the rear trials was less than 50ms in over 75% of the cases. This suggests the near simultaneous impact between wrist and pelvis is chosen to allow sharing of impact energy between the upper extremity and pelvis.

Robinovitch had concerns over the findings of the falls to the side in the above study. He teamed up with Fabio Feldman (3) to investigate the protective response that allow young adults to avoid hip impact during a sideways fall. In their study they found that only 5% of participants were able to avoid falling altogether and another 5% fell but did not impact the pelvis. The remaining 90% fell and impacted the pelvis. However, they also found that the hand impacted before the hip in the vast majority of the falls, and the knee impacted before the hip in most falls.

A martial arts breakfalling technique is a technique designed to reduce the risk of injury during a fall. Nature's breakfalling technique then, based on these studies, is to fall on outstretched hands. Falling on knees and buttocks is also used in attempting to land safely but the predominant technique of nature's breakfalling techniques if falling on outstretched hands.

But falling on outstretched hands runs the risk of incurring a FOOSH injury.It is an evolutionary trade-off. This reflexive protective response in stretching out our hands to allow for a safe landing from a fall has been selected for in nature. Nature, or evolution, is prepared to sacrifice the upper extremity in order to protect the head, neck, and torso. Trauma to these regions poses the greatest danger to our physical well-being. Injuries to the upper extremities result in disability but rarely with fatal consequences. Injuries to the head, neck, or trunk, in contrast, have real and immediate potential to be fatal. (4)

Nature's, or evolution's, breakfalling technique is effective. It allows Mr and/or Ms Caveman to live to fight another day after falling, albeit with a damaged wing.

Nature's breakfalling technique and FOOSH injuries has implications for the martial arts. Firstly, the martial arts breakfalling techniques is an attempt at improving on nature. Martial arts breakfalling techniques are designed to reduce the risk of injury to the head, neck, and torso and the upper extremities in a fall. Arthur A Chapman, in Biomechanical Analysis of Fundamental Human Movement, suggests that all good physical education classes should teach basic martial arts landing strategies. Marlene J Adrian and John M Cooper likewise recommend the benefits of martial arts breakfalling techniques to the wider community in Biomechanics of Human Movement: 'Falling and landing effectively with a minimum of injury are necessary skills to attain longevity in sports, injury, and daily living' (p. 279).

Injuries and fatalities from falls is a major health issue around the world. Interestingly, only two groups of researchers have studied martial arts breakfalling techniques in an attempt to develop techniques to reduce the risk of injury during a fall for the general population. In 1999, MB Sabick (5) and her American colleagues used seven young adult male and two young female aikidoka (aikido practitioner) to investigate impact forces at the hip and shoulder in falls to the side. More prolific studies have been conducted by a team of Dutch researchers led by Brenda Groen and Vivian Weerdesteyn. They have developed a method of falling based on judo breakfalling techniques which has been included in the Nijmegen Falls Prevention Program (NFPP) which is being taught in Holland. Various studies conducted by Groen and Weerdesteyn investigating the efficacy of the breakfalling technique taught within the NFPP have found that elderly participants could learn to the basics of this technique in falls to the front, side, and rear in five weekly sessions of 45 minutes duration. An interest result coming from one of these studies (6) is that the fear of falling was significantly reduced after the martial arts fall training. The authors of the study suggest that since the fear of falling has been shown to be an independent predictor of falling, the reduction in fear of falling might have an additional effect on hip fracture prevention.

These and other studies are discussed in chapter two 'Breakfalling Techniques' of my book on the science behind the tactics and techniques of the martial arts. Chapter eleven, 'Injury Science', is also applied in chapter two to facilitate the understanding and study of breakfalling techniques. Along with the basic breakfalling techniques is a unique technique taught by Jan de Jong - a sideways roll. Most martial arts follow judo's lead and teach forward and backward rolls, Jan de Jong jujutsu is unique in teaching a sideways roll.

Secondly, since the majority of injuries to the upper extremities are FOOSH injuries, there is very little information available on the types of injuries which may be inflicted when applying a joint-locking technique (kansetsu waza). The forces applied to the upper extremity in both instances are entirely different. For instance, when an arm breaking (ude kujiki) technique is applied, the forces are applied to the opponent's elbow in a lateral direction whereas in a FOOSH scenario, the forces are applied at the hand up the arm. The different forces result in entirely different injuries. Also, FOOSH injuries occur when the hand is usually hyperextended, however, the wrist joint-locking techniques (e.g. wrist twist, or tekubi hineri or kote hineri) are nearly always applied with flexed wrists. The prevelance of FOOSH injuries may account for the fact that there are NO descriptions of the physiological effects of joint-locking techniques in the English-language literature to date - until my book of course. It has not been easy attempting to discern the physiological effects of joint-locking techniques, but it has been worth the effort in that it provides a unique contribution to the general body of knowledge, and the martial arts body of knowledge in particular.

Before I finish this lengthy (again) blog, I must thank Brenda Groen for her generous support. Having an interest in her work, I contacted her and she generously corresponded with me and assisted me in coming to grips with some of the studies that have been conducted on falls. She has also been kind enough to provide some positive feedback concerning my grasp and interpretation of these studies. In my journey in researching this book, I have found that many academics have been particularly generous in their support.

Until next time.

John Coles

(1) J Chiu & SN Robinovitch 1998, 'Prediction of upper extremity impact forces during falls on the outstretched hand', Journal of Biomechanics, 31, 1169-1176.

(2) ET Hsiao & SN Robinovitch 1998, 'Common protective movements govern unexpected falls from standing height', Journal of Biomechanics, 31, 1-9.

(3) F Felman & SN Robinovitch 2007, 'Reducing hip fracture risk during sideways falls: Evidence in young adults of the protective effect of impact to the hands and stepping', Journal of Biomechanics, 40, 2612-2618.

(4) WC Whiting & RF Zernicke 1998, Biomechanics of Musculoskeletal Injury.

(5) MB Sabick, JG Hay, VK Goel, & SA Banks 1999, 'Active responses decrease impact forces at the hip and shoulder in falls to the side', Journal of Biomechanics, 32, 993-998.

(6) BE Groen, E Smulders, D de Kam, & V Weerdesteyn 2010, 'Martial arts fall training to prevent hip fractures in the elderly', Osteoporosis International, 21, 215-221.