Any recommendations? I totally understand the need to toughen and condition hands, but I hurt my thumb running punch and punch-defence drills a week ago and it has impacted on other training (took two days before I could put my thai gloves on and unscrewing jars is still a problem!). Some guys I train with wear MMA gloves so that might be an option. Really I want support for the bones while allowing for some hand conditioning. Thanks for your thoughts!
Thumb injuries are unfortunately quite common in systems that involve a lot of punching. Both myself and my brother have incurred "boxers breaks" in our thumbs: my solution was to let it rest and heal. His solution was to cut the cast off and continue training/sparring as if it never happened. In my case the injury healed well and even though it sometimes aches a little, it doesn't give me trouble while i'm training or sparring. His one, however, has continued to impede his ability to train, and is a constant annoyance to him. I'm no expert, but i'd say that applying repeated heavy impact to your injury will do more harm than good to your hopes of recovery. Also, whilst MMA gloves (which i also use) are a viable way of providing wrist support and reducing abrasions to your knuckles, the padding they offer is actually quite minimal. You're better off training with well padded boxing gloves (16oz is what i use) if some shock mitigation is required. Bottom line: If you insist on training through your injury, i'd suggest focusing on your footwork, evasion and handspeed for the next few months. Power striking, conditioning and sparring should be considered off the menu.
Thanks for your reply. I think you are right about rest, I admit I did do a thai sparring session at the end of the week but I am now going to take some enforced time off over the Christmas break. Thinking long term injury prevention would you recommend MMA gloves?
Really depends on what you're specifically training at any given time. Panantukan (aka suntukan, mano mano, or pangamot) is essentially just "empty hand." So you might have cause to wear MMA gloves for some things and boxing gloves for others. I doubt I'd have much luck training an inside bicep gunting wearing 16-oz. boxing gloves, for instance. But if I were practicing taking punches on the point of my elbow (a siko gunting, I suppose), I imagine the other guy would sure as hell like to be wearing those 16-oz. gloves.
I use MMA gloves - they seem to fit all categories well, but as Ap pointed out there needs to be a little adjustment for specific techniques
Riffing off what Hannibal says above, in my particular example, you could make the guy doing the elbow destruction where elbow pads versus you wearing boxing gloves, for instance. Mind you, if you're practicing this at full speed, you may want BOTH.
A middle-road option might be MMA sparring gloves, sometimes called Shooto gloves. Same open-fingered construction, but with more padding in the knuckles. I've owned several pairs of these and have no complaints: http://www.renegademmagear.com/Combat-Sports-MMA-Safety-Sparring-Gloves.htm
I have mixed feelings on protection. On one hand it is good to keep your hands safe. On the other hand, pain is a good teacher. I suppose the happy median would be to get light protection. Something that will keep the bones intact without removing too much of the sensation of being hurt.
...and as soon as you've got any kind of skill you can't train with any intensity without injury unless you have protection.
Most injuries are a waste of time, I agree. Some are necessary to some degree. A bad sprain or a contusion on the arms and body are sometimes par for the course.
if your training bare knuckle then you need to be sensible about the training,particularly if your just starting off, youve no choice but to wear protection and still get injuries underneath,it takes time to condition the hands,and i still use mma style gloves with a bit of padding you can train longer with less times waiting for things to heal.
That they are. There's no avoiding it completely. But sensible precautions can stave off the sorts that cost you recovery time or (God forbid) permanent injury.
We are about three weeks down the line now and the injury is only partially improved. I'll look into a pair of mma sparring gloves, thanks for the advice.