Fear of Falling

Discussion in 'Judo' started by tkdally, Aug 23, 2006.

  1. tkdally

    tkdally Values sillyness in life

    I have been doing Tae Kwon Do for three years and love every minute of it. I unforunately had an accident 18 months ago whilst sparring whereby I went to kick my opponent, she stepped forward at the same time and I lost my balance and fell backwards. Rather stupidly in hindsight, but I guess a normal gut reaction, I put my hand out behind me to break my fall but instead managed to break my wrist. I am now PETRIFIED of falling whilst doing TKD as a result of this and I need to work out how to get over it.

    Falling, and how to break falls, is not part of my TKD training so I am thinking of taking up Judo to help conquer my phobia. Could you Judoka answer some questions for me:

    1) Will Judo help me achieve my aim (get over fear of falling)
    2) If not, can you recommend something that might help me?
    3) Is my injury likely to cause me a problem whilst training - the last thing I want to do is injure it again.
    4) Do you think Judo would complement my TKD training as we mainly focus on kicks and hand combinations, not how to fight on the ground or how to throw?
    5) I am not the skinniest of women so would my weight be an issue (I'm a UK size 16) - I wouldn't like to go into a class and other students not be able to throw me because I'm too heavy.

    Would be pleased to hear what you think.

    PS - I had considered taking up Aikido but my wrist can still on occasion cause me problems and wrist locks are something I need to avoid.
     
  2. CraigUsher

    CraigUsher Valued Member

    Judo will help you with your falling phobia as long as they teach breakfalls properly. In Jiu-Jitsu we run through all the breakfalls in our warmup at the start of each class - But we didnt do that for the short time I done Judo, they just expected us to know it.

    Im sure if you ask you will be shown the proper way to fall, its like riding a bike when you learn them.
     
  3. Big Ash

    Big Ash Bruised but never broken!

    1) Will Judo help me achieve my aim (get over fear of falling)

    Yes and then some! :)

    2) If not, can you recommend something that might help me?

    N/A


    3) Is my injury likely to cause me a problem whilst training - the last thing I want to do is injure it again.

    If it doesn't affect you whilst doing TKD, I can't see it being a problem in Judo. (You could try wearing a support just to be certain)

    4) Do you think Judo would complement my TKD training as we mainly focus on kicks and hand combinations, not how to fight on the ground or how to throw?

    IMHO Judo compliments most arts.

    5) I am not the skinniest of women so would my weight be an issue (I'm a UK size 16) - I wouldn't like to go into a class and other students not be able to throw me because I'm too heavy.

    I wouldn't worry about it, if they have trouble throwing you they're not doing it properly! :D

    N.B. Most schools that I've been to teach the breakfalls before anything else and they normally go through them as part of there warm up. It might take you a couple of lessons before you're comfortable with them but it will come.

    Ash
     
  4. tkdally

    tkdally Values sillyness in life

    I have to avoid weight bearing as much as possible (I can cope with a set of press ups but not much more than that). When my hand is bad, I avoid holding pads with it for people to kick/punch and also avoid using it for full force attacks. I probably have one bad week out of six. I wear a wrist support most of the time whilst training but it's more to remind other people of my injury (e.g. don't put a wrist lock on it) than it is to support the wrist as it doesn't make much difference to the pain level.

    I was thinking that if I found a club, I'd have a chat with the instructor before starting to make him aware of the injury and of my fear and hope (s)he supports me. It's important for me to feel like (s)he'll understand me and take some time to help me work through it.
     
    Last edited: Aug 23, 2006
  5. Rebel Wado

    Rebel Wado Valued Member

    Just maybe it isn't falling that you fear but you fear being injured again.

    Judo will help you with proper breakfalling technique. However, to be honest, it won't help you deal with the fear of reinjuring your wrist.

    First thing you need to do is get your wrist healed. Once it is healed, you will gain confidence back, then learning proper technique will be of value. You should be able to learn breakfalling from your TKD instructors if you ask them. TKD includes many throws and takedowns, or at least Hapikido should be in the mix. Judo, of course will help but one thing to consider, Judo uses a lot of grabs, so you will be grabbing with your injured hand/wrist and putting lots of force on it.

    Okay, back to my original comment about letting it heal. At 18 months it should be fully healed, sounds like you have a pretty bad break, sorry to hear that. It may never be 100% again if that is the case, but in some ways it might come back stronger.

    The human body remembers being hurt, even if your mind doesn't. You cannot fool your body when you are put in a situation where you feel vulnerable and the fear of repeated injury comes back.

    Healing comes in phases with broken bones and tissue:
    1. The first phase is to get medical attention as needed
    2. Then you got to let it heal correctly, often this means taking time off from training.
    3. Physical therapy or getting the range of motion and strength back into it.
    4. Once the area is strong again, the muscles help to keep everything tight, helping to prevent re-injury of the area.
    5. At this point the area should feel healed and strong, your confidence will return.

    You may have scar tissue formed in your healed wrist, that scar tissue is weaker than what was there before, however, with proper therapy, the scar tissue will break apart and reform over and over again until it aligns itself. Once it is aligned, the scar tissue could be even stronger than what was there before you were injured.

    If you are at 18 months and you are not confident the area is healed. This is a problem. Maybe a physical therapist can help give you directions of things you can do to gain strength back to the area.

    I hope this helps.
     
    Last edited: Aug 24, 2006
  6. tkdally

    tkdally Values sillyness in life

    To me the two things are linked. It took me a while to get over my fear so that I could do jumping and flying kicks. I was worried I'd fall upon landing and injure myself. Only by making myself do such techniques did I stop being scared. I still am not confident to do them over objects because I worry that my trailing/supporting leg will not raise high enough and catch the object resulting in a fall and injury.

    I'm not solely scared of injuring myself because I will use techniques on pads and spar where injury is a possibility. Falling is the bit that I get hung up on - the one time we did some break falling I really had to pysche myself up to do it and I had butterflies - I just wanted to be anywhere else at that moment in time (fight or flight in action).

    I see my lack of confidence in this area as a major weakness and I think only by making myself face up to it, will I conquer my fear and become confident.
     
  7. Rebel Wado

    Rebel Wado Valued Member

    Interesting, did you ever fall badly when you were younger? Have dizzy spells or trouble with your balance? Do you think your excessive fear is because you feel vulnerable and that you are "getting into something over your head"? Do you feel that you hold your breath and tense up, thus instead of relaxing and accepting you are only making things worse?

    You know yourself better than I do. Good luck with your training and building up your skill set for learning how to better protect yourself from a fall.

    ----------------------- On a related note -------------------------


    You said:

    Have you ever heard of the 95% rule? This rule is that you commit to an attack 95% but you keep 5% back to protect yourself and your training partner(s) in the case of an "emergency" and you have to bail out.

    Your example of not wanting to jump over things, is probably causing you not to commit to your jump kick as much, say now you only have 50% commitment to the jump kick and 50% is held back in case you fail. However this lack of commitment is what increases the chances of you failing.

    It actually isn't confidence but commitment that becomes a key factor. Confidence can be a bad thing to have because too much confidence can cause you to not commit as much, thinking you don't need to. Confidence is more of a mental thing. Confidence can save you before a battle because you don't look afraid, others will see this and maybe they will be intimidated by you.

    However, commitment is not the same as confidence but more related to determination, the will to never giving up no matter what. It is like courage. It is perfectly natural to have fear, but it takes courage to accept and commit to something when you are afraid.

    This courage is often referred to as fighting spirit. Spirit is NOT a purely mental thing, it is both mental and physical. Basically you have to believe what you are doing is the right thing to do. Have FAITH and ACCEPT.

    This is why it is very important that you heal your injuries. If your body does not feel it is ready to do something in training because it is injured, then even if your mind thinks you can do it, you will have an internal conflict. Internal conflict means you may have a lack of commitment.

    I believe that many do not think that something is really related to their body and think it is only a mental thing. The body has its own memory, it remembers pain, it remembers panic, it tends to react to the stimuli that caused the pain and panic.


    Anyway, sorry for the long post. Good luck.
     
    Last edited: Aug 25, 2006
  8. JayKayD

    JayKayD Meet my friend PAIN!

    Judo will definatley help with your fear of falling, and will teach you to fall properly so you don't re-injure yourself. Falling with an outstretched arm is a cardinal sin in Judo.

    Also, don't worry about your weight or anything like that. Infact, being heavy could be an advantage.
     
  9. Doublejab

    Doublejab formally Snoop

    Familiarity breeds contempt. In judo you fall so many times in a single session that in the end you don't even think about it. When you don't think about it you relax and the more you relax the less it hurts!

    In terms of akido I would give it a miss with your wrist to be honest. The art usually contains many and varied wrist locks which will be benifial to a damaged wrist!

    I would find a judo club and speak to the instructor first and explain the situation. Practicing break falling, without being thrown for the first couple of sessions, would prob be good for you.
     
  10. littleFMF

    littleFMF New Member

    I understand your fear of falling. I was once a TKD instructor, and it was never an issue. Once I began Jujitsu, back rolls really threw my nerves for a loop. It was an incident that occured as a child when I rolled backward down a flight of stairs. It took a long time to get to the point I could say "getting over it", though I still lose my breath in a roll from time to time. :) It will sneak up on you, but persistance and strong support from you instructor and team will make all the difference for you. Jujitsu (and judo) focus on body movement - circles- where TKD works more on lines and personal space, rather than closing space. This will defiantly give you an edge. With your wrist...always tell your instructor and your training partners which is weak until they are familiar with training with you. If a specific technique irritates it, tap out quickly and inform them kindly. Stretch it well, but know limits. Work on gradually regaining strength and mobility. That will pay off the best.
    Best wishes in your endeavors. I cannot think of any regrets you would have by deciding to broaden your horizons. GOOD LUCK, and FALL EASY. : )
     
  11. Cosmo Kramer

    Cosmo Kramer Valued Member

    Judo, JJJ, Hapkido....any of those will help you learn how to fall. Judo is prob the most intense about falling in general, but that depends on other factors as well. i have heard karate schools often teach it as well
     

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