The Anatomy of Impact

Tiny clubs are being thrust at someone’s head over and over again. Someone is holding a few small wooden dowel rods in their hand, and stabbing at their head with the tips of these little rods.

These half inch rods are padded, so they don’t break as easily, but they also don’t do nearly as much damage as if they were just bunches of wood.

Nevertheless, imagine the damage you could do by stabbing someone over an over again with these blunt instruments, or by thrusting them at a person repeatedly. You could really mess someone up.

This is a punch.

Those dowel rods are the metatarsals in your hand, those big bones that make up the biggest parts of your fingers.

Decades in martial arts have had the interesting side effect of thinking about the underlying body parts any time a technique is done. What’s really happening, and why does this move work? You have to stop and ask this question frequently.

My understanding of anatomy is different than that of a physical therapist or a doctor—instead of helping, my goal is to understand the opposite, how to dismantle the human body. Nevertheless, feeling these moves at both ends, and practicing them with some consistency over several decades does give you a very deep level of comprehension most people won’t ever have.

This way of thinking has also been heavily inspired by the likes of Richard Feynman, who frequently encourages taking a look at things through a very different lens. Here’s the entire Take the World From Another Point of View program that aired on BBC television back in the 70s, where Feynman discusses how he does this. If you have today free, it might be just the thing you need:

Back to our punch example for a moment. What if we flip the script, and imagine the person being punched instead?

Most folks will cringe at the idea of being hit. They focus mostly on the pain to your skin and surrounding tissue and muscle, like getting a black eye or bloody nose. Those abrasions and bruises really do suck, but there’s much more.

As you get hit in the face with a punch, your brain—a soft, jelly-like organ—stays mostly where it is while your skull flies backward at a rapid clip. When your brain gooshes around and crashes into your skull hard enough to cause significant damage, we call that a a concussion.

Splat!

A concussion is like an internal bruise to your brain. It's not just about the immediate pain or the black eye you might see; it's about how your brain, this incredibly important organ, gets shaken up inside. Back when I started training, we didn't fully grasp how serious this could be. “Getting your bell rung” was just part of the game.

Today, we understand that concussions are a big deal. They can lead to headaches, dizziness, and sometimes even long-term problems like memory loss or difficulty concentrating. In the worst cases, repeated concussions can have lasting effects on your brain health, potentially leading to chronic issues like depression or even more severe neurological conditions.

So, while a punch is a quick event, a momentary action, its impact on the brain can be profound and lasting.

As I reflect on my experiences with martial arts, I'm led to a deeper sense of gratitude for the journey, and for those who have joined me along the way.

For me, the study of martial arts extends far beyond memorizing techniques you can use to defend yourself. Like Feynman encourages us, I like to take the world from a different point of view as often as possible. It is only through many different lenses that I can begin to get a sense of what’s really going on.

Martial arts can be one of these helpful lenses. Sure, it’s an incredible workout, but it’s so much more than that. It’s a tool to help you think.

This holiday season, I am grateful for my introduction to martial arts all those years ago. I’m in awe that I can still go out onto the mats and roll around with students who are half my age, in the prime of their athletic lives. I even get to help them understand things better, something intrinsically rewarding to me.

I’m also grateful to you here! You help me think through these things, and I couldn’t be more appreciative. I don’t have any plans to stop writing every day: this means a great deal to me.

If you have extra money to spend and want to pledge your support for me, you’re welcome to do so here, although I’m going to keep writing every day regardless:

Thanks for all your love and support! Did the punch analogy give you pause today? What analogies are you drawing the most this holiday season?