Question

nisse's avatar

If i bruise alot, will it eventually harden and stop bruising?

Asked by nisse (275points) | asked 2 weeks ago | 8 responses | “Great Question” (1points) | Flag as…

No, i am not being abused. Started martial arts class about three months ago and there is a lot of blocking, which causes alot of bruises on forearms and shins. It’s not hurting too badly but i am just curious, if i keep bruising in the same spot, will it eventually stop? (I’ve heard some stories about people “hardening” themselves, but is this an urban legend?)

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Answers

troubleinharlem's avatar

I don’t know if that applies to bruises. I know it’s true for cuts, though.

Jayne's avatar

I would guess that part of “hardening” is in fact subconscious learning of techniques to avoid injury, such as a subtle rotation of the member in question to direct the blow onto a more padded area. However, I would very much like to learn if there is more to it than that; I am no stranger to bruises, myself :)

Darwin's avatar

As a former martial arts student, except for the destructive “hardening” of the knuckles of the hand, I believe through personal experience that much of the disappearance of bruising really is due to better technique as well as greater speed and awareness of what your body is doing.

jackm's avatar

Yes definitely. Look at UFC fighters, they bruise so much less than you or I would in the same situation.

Also, when I first started playing volleyball, my forearms would bruise, now they show nothing.

nisse's avatar

@jackm
How sure are you your volleyball story is not due to what jayne and darwin are saying, namely better technique?

I’ve never really seen what the UFC guys look like the day after a hard fight..

Thanks for the answer also :)

reacting_acid's avatar

Well I used to bruise a lot because me and my sister fight a lot ( sibling rivalry and all that) and she packs a pretty mean punch! Anyway I have started to notice that even though she still punches just as hard (even harder actually) I don’t bruise any more. So yes I do think people can harden themselves, I just don’t think it can happen in just three months. Eventually your body will probably ‘harden’ itself. It will probably just take a while.

jackm's avatar

@nisse
I know it’s not that because if I don’t play for a few months, I bruise again, but my technique is still the same.

hookecho's avatar

I took 3 years of kempo karate (very physical form of karate involving lots of grappling) and was a mess with bruises for the first few months, much less after that.

I also did “pro” wrestling for about 2 years, which is VERY hard on the knees. After that I could jump from a standing position and land on my knees on concrete and barely feel it, not because my knees were tough, but because the nerves were probably damaged (today 3 years later, it probably would hurt)

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