head gear

cagefan

Hi,

Just always wondered why no one ever really wears head gear when sparring. I've been involved in boxing, kickboxing and thai and rarely have I ever seen someone put on head gear.

It seems strange considering all the evidence in regards the potential impacts e.g. the accumulative effect of taking blows to the head and also given that it reduces the risk of getting cut ect.

I know sparring isn't meant to be full contact and I personally have never been injured but I would think that clubs and coaches would insist upon it - I mean if amateur boxers wear head gear it follows that it might be best practice for mma gyms to follow suit?

Anyway, its just an observation - I'm relatively new to mma (but not striking) and its often something I wondered about.

Stephen

thegreatiam

was compulsory at one gym I went to.

arybvtcw0eolkf

My preference is not to wear a head guard, but if its club rules then I've no problem wearing it.

I never wear a cup either.

thegreatiam

Jakob Shaggy Tide wrote: »

My preference is not to wear a head guard, but if its club rules then I've no problem wearing it.

I never wear a cup either.

they havent built a cup big enough for me.
headguard either for that matter.
;-)

cagefan

haha, sadly I have no issue finding a well fitting cup and I admire anyone willing to take one to the goolies. Although if you arm-barred me cupless I'm sure Id be tapping the second I realised there was genital/arm contact so I suppose it has its advantages (not that you'd need one with the way I roll).

Seriously though, I think that its just another way to make the sport safer and also reduce the negative stereotype of the sport. I know they are a pain in the ass though

thegreatiam

cagefan wrote: »

haha, sadly I have no issue finding a well fitting cup and I admire anyone willing to take one to the goolies. Although if you arm-barred me cupless I'm sure Id be tapping the second I realised there was genital/arm contact so I suppose it has its advantages (not that you'd need one with the way I roll).

Seriously though, I think that its just another way to make the sport safer and also reduce the negative stereotype of the sport. I know they are a pain in the ass though

mate, if i arm-bared you and there was genital contact I'd tap out before you did.

The few times i did wear a cup for BJJ i much preferred it, it feels weird but you can relax a little more knowing you aint going to get squished.

although it was a little weird when then was cup on cup contact. even more strange if you made eye contact at the same time. they really should warn you about that going in.

I wouldn't choose to wrastl without a cup, despite my boasts.
Id likely wear the head guard too if I was sparring regular, tho only for striking arts ofc.

arybvtcw0eolkf

thegreatiam wrote: »

they havent built a cup big enough for me.
;-)

Mine just sounds like two pebbles rattling around in a bucket

darced

This post has been deleted.

El Guapo!

darced wrote: »

I could be wrong but are they not doing away with headguards for ammy boxing,they do more harm than good supposedly.

Something to do with making the brain rattle around inside them,cowzerp will know if I dreamt this or its true.

As far as I remember, that was only for top level amateur boxers, (world championships, Olympics etc).
I think the head gear was staying put for youths and lower level amateurs.

Mr. CooL ICE

Bottom position half-guard caused me a lot of pain in the nuts until I figured out what I was doing wrong. A cup probably wouldn't have made me as urgent to not be flat on my back

cagefan

El Guapo! wrote: »

As far as I remember, that was only for top level amateur boxers, (world championships, Olympics etc).
I think the head gear was staying put for youths and lower level amateurs.

Yeah I thought they are trying to make it more exciting with more knockouts ect. Could be wrong though

cowzerp

cagefan wrote: »

Hi,

Just always wondered why no one ever really wears head gear when sparring. I've been involved in boxing, kickboxing and thai and rarely have I ever seen someone put on head gear.

It seems strange considering all the evidence in regards the potential impacts e.g. the accumulative effect of taking blows to the head and also given that it reduces the risk of getting cut ect.

Evidence suggests that Headguards cause more head trauma and that is why they are been removed from the Olympics, The WSB World series of Boxing has been using the no headhuards for a couple of years now and the same lads who do the Olympics have lower cases of Concussion than when they compete with the headgear on, Main reason is they get hit more as the head target is bigger with headgear on

El Guapo! wrote: »

As far as I remember, that was only for top level amateur boxers, (world championships, Olympics etc).
I think the head gear was staying put for youths and lower level amateurs.

It's staying for jrs and ladies, Political correctness gone mad, how they can say in 1 breath the headguards are causing more concussions then leave them on kids and ladies is mad, Main reason i believe is it looks better and cuts and bruises will certainly be higher without the headgear, Maybe they feel Kids and Ladies lack the power to concuss and are thinking cuts, Just an observation

cagefan wrote: »

Yeah I thought they are trying to make it more exciting with more knockouts ect. Could be wrong though

The opposite is the case, Less concussion as explained above and this has been studied vigorously, The putting the head gear on in the 1st place was never studied and was just assumed to be the best course of action

Ko's in Pro is mainly due to longer rounds and more mismatches than at Amateur level where most matches are very well matched.

I've been going without a bit lately but wearing far more vaseline to stop grazes etc, Haven't had any ill effects as far as ko or concussion goes.

cagefan

cowzerp wrote: »

Evidence suggests that Headguards cause more head trauma and that is why they are been removed from the Olympics, The WSB World series of Boxing has been using the no headhuards for a couple of years now and the same lads who do the Olympics have lower cases of Concussion than when they compete with the headgear on, Main reason is they get hit more as the head target is bigger with headgear on



It's staying for jrs and ladies, Political correctness gone mad, how they can say in 1 breath the headguards are causing more concussions then leave them on kids and ladies is mad, Main reason i believe is it looks better and cuts and bruises will certainly be higher without the headgear, Maybe they feel Kids and Ladies lack the power to concuss and are thinking cuts, Just an observation



The opposite is the case, Less concussion as explained above and this has been studied vigorously, The putting the head gear on in the 1st place was never studied and was just assumed to be the best course of action

Ko's in Pro is mainly due to longer rounds and more mismatches than at Amateur level where most matches are very well matched.

I've been going without a bit lately but wearing far more vaseline to stop grazes etc, Haven't had any ill effects as far as ko or concussion goes.

Thats interesting about the lower level of concussions due to a smaller target - its probably something that's hard to represent in any sort of quantitative study.

The stuff I'm seeing online (which is always very accurate as we all know) is basically saying headgear has some disadvantages but for the most part significantly reduces the impact of punches. Two links below

http://news.discovery.com/tech/headgear-protects-boxers-brains-120208.htm

http://www.asbweb.org/conferences/2006/pdfs/242.pdf

Basically the info says while headgear may provide protection from straight punches - little protection is offered from rotational punches.

Interestingly, one expert was quoted as saying (from the dubiously source of NFL of all places);

“It’s not really clear until you basically eliminate headgear and see what happens,” said Dr. Charles Bernick, who heads a study on brain damage in fighters for the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas. “It wouldn’t surprise me if it wasn’t a big difference with or without headgear"


Which is not the most confidence inspiring or ethical way to research the practicality of head gear

I'm not expert in this at all and I defer to your opinion as to how valid these sources actually are and Id be interested in your take on it?


Obviously - I'm very busy in work today!:)

cowzerp

On the 2 tests the test was done on dummies, In the updated Boxing one it was done on actual live boxers in Competition and done over thousands of fights, The results and reason why they are removing them from the Olympics showed lower cases of Concussion, This was compared to the same Boxers competing in the Olympics/Seniors etc

The Headgear itself doesn't seem to make any negligible difference to the impact, but the larger target means getting hit more frequent which makes sense

I never really felt Headgear mattered as far as concussion in my experience, this just confirms it, It certainly has a difference to scratches, Bruises and Cuts though so could still be wise to wear them, Also all joking aside, boxers don't get Cauliflower ears too often these days due to the head gear pinning your ears in!!

I suspect to see more Cauliflower ears in Boxing in the future than now.

Dtp79

cagefan wrote: »

haha, sadly I have no issue finding a well fitting cup and I admire anyone willing to take one to the goolies. Although if you arm-barred me cupless I'm sure Id be tapping the second I realised there was genital/arm contact so I suppose it has its advantages (not that you'd need one with the way I roll).

Seriously though, I think that its just another way to make the sport safer and also reduce the negative stereotype of the sport. I know they are a pain in the ass though

What's worse is rolling with somebody and you don't know if he's wearing a cup. He takes your back, hooks in, goes for the choke, and something hard is digging in your back!!

calex71

cowzerp wrote: »

On the 2 tests the test was done on dummies, In the updated Boxing one it was done on actual live boxers in Competition and done over thousands of fights, The results and reason why they are removing them from the Olympics showed lower cases of Concussion, This was compared to the same Boxers competing in the Olympics/Seniors etc

The Headgear itself doesn't seem to make any negligible difference to the impact, but the larger target means getting hit more frequent which makes sense

I never really felt Headgear mattered as far as concussion in my experience, this just confirms it, It certainly has a difference to scratches, Bruises and Cuts though so could still be wise to wear them, Also all joking aside, boxers don't get Cauliflower ears too often these days due to the head gear pinning your ears in!!

I suspect to see more Cauliflower ears in Boxing in the future than now.

The head gear you see them use in wrestling that only covers the ears might counter the cauliflower lugs maybe? not sure how practical it would be for Am Boxing etc though would surely be an option for the gym and sparring outside of competition i guess

cowzerp

calex71 wrote: »

The head gear you see them use in wrestling that only covers the ears might counter the cauliflower lugs maybe? not sure how practical it would be for Am Boxing etc though would surely be an option for the gym and sparring outside of competition i guess

I've actually got a pair on the way to me for that exact reason-I'd say most will still spar wearing head gear to avoid cuts anyway though.

Mr. CooL ICE

Just wondering in a competition scenario, where fighters compete a few times within a few days of each other. Would the removal of head gear not increase the likelihood of somebody not being able to fight due to a cut sustained in their previous fight?

cowzerp

LordChessington wrote: »

Just wondering in a competition scenario, where fighters compete a few times within a few days of each other. Would the removal of head gear not increase the likelihood of somebody not being able to fight due to a cut sustained in their previous fight?

Yes it would, there will be more cuts.