How To Improve Lower Back And Knee Function When In Pain

I recently received a email question from a gentleman who practices Shotokan Karate and is challenged with lower back and knee pain.
He has already adapted his stance accordingly and no longer pushes his lower abdomen/pelvis forward as he was originally taught to do.

His question to me was, did I have any further advice on improving knee and lower back function?

I’ve given a full answer in the video below, so I’m not going to repeat it again here.

If you have a particular challenge to your own martial arts training, feel free to drop me a line and ask me!

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Martial Arts Training With Joint Injuries (Part 3)

OK, this is the last post on this subject, I promise  🙂

There is a certain attitude in martial arts, that we don’t like to give in to pain or to complain about it.  We just soldier on.  But if you are suffering any kind of joint of pain or discomfort, get it properly checked.  I would recommend a good Osteopath, Chiropractor, Podiatrist or something similar rather than an ordinary doctor Read more

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Martial Arts Training With Joint Injuries (Part 1)

Having suffered with joint injuries myself, especially to the knee, I know how frustrating it can be and the limiting impact it can have on your training.

I have found some very minor adjustments in training which have helped me to cope with the knee problems that I have suffered with.  I don’t claim that this will work for everybody or that it will be a wonder-cure, I just want to share what has helped me and hope that it will help others too. Read more

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Diaphragmatic Breathing In Martial Arts

Diaphragmatic breathing is used in many traditional martial arts, but I don’t think that all martial artists completely realise the full extent of how important this really is.  It actually helps us on a number of different levels.

But first though for anybody new to martial arts (or this concept) lets have a look at what diaphragmatic breathing actually is.  Read more

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Do Our Training Methods Damage Our Bodies? (Part 2)

This post is following on from another posting that I wrote back in October 2011 about how some training methods introduced by the Japanese into Karate can be damaging to our bodies.

Going back further in Okinawan Karate history before Karate was introduced to Japan, they had the interesting concept of Shu-Ha-Ri, which I have discussed before.  However, to recap: Read more

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