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Tau
Tau's picture
Teaching Joint Locks to Juniors

For those that teach children, do you teach them joint locking? Why / why not?

I don't.

Two reasons:

1. I make the assumption that despite my best instruction there will always be one student who will try out what I teach in the playground / on their siblings / on the family dog. My junior syllabus is based around gross motor skills and escaping 

2. And this where I'm interesting in your views. I don't believe that the child's body can safely receive such techniques. Bear in mind that I look at x-rays of people of all ages every day. The joint development of children is fascinating. Bones to which structures that we take beyond their normal range in joint locking haven't fully grown. There are also bone conditions that occur fairly frequently in young people due to growing combined with sports. Osgood-Shlatter's being the best example.

However, I do know clubs/arts that do teach children joint locking. Anecdotally I'm not aware of any problems occurring and I'm wondering if I'm being over-cautious. 

Two caveats:

1. Of course a healthy safety mentality should always exist in the dojo. A joint lock should never be "cranked on" to anyone of any age

2. I do teach joint locks to more mature juniors, but they "make the shape" rather than take the lock to the tap.

Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy's picture

Tau wrote:
For those that teach children, do you teach them joint locking? Why / why not?

I briefly touch on this in the forthcoming Q & A podcast! Should be out later this week.

Like you, I don’t / didn’t teach them to kids either. For the same reason too. Their bones are not fully formed and bending them in unnatural ways is not healthy. One of the first coaching course I ever did – way back in the days of the Martial Arts Commission – was very clear that kids should not have joint locks applied to them. The gent who primarily ran that course – not a martial artist, but a sports scientist and former athlete – was called Tony Gummerson, and he later went on to write a book on teaching martial arts to children:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Junior-Martial-Arts-Tony-Gummerson/dp/0713656972

That book also warns against teaching joint locks to kids. That was way back in the late 80s. So, the best part of 30 years ago, we were told not to teach joint locks to kids based on solid physiology.

If I recall correctly, Judo also prohibits the application of arm-bars in competition for under 16s.

Tau wrote:
However, I do know clubs/arts that do teach children joint locking. Anecdotally I'm not aware of any problems occurring and I'm wondering if I'm being over-cautious.

I don’t think so. There is a good body of evidence that it’s a bad idea and the established best practise is that children should not have their developing bones actually locked.  

Tau wrote:
2. I do teach joint locks to more mature juniors, but they "make the shape" rather than take the lock to the tap.

Me too. The older ones (14+) can practise the locks on older partners, but when working with each other they just “make the shape” (nice turn of phrase!) and the locks are never applied to “biting point” on them.

We need to look after our students and we want them to enjoy martial arts in a healthy and long-term way. I’m with you that joint locks should not be taught to younger children, and while teenagers can learn them, they should never have them actually applied on them. I would not allow locks to be applied on anyone under 18.

All the best,

Iain

Wastelander
Wastelander's picture

We do, although we emphasize safety and caution in training them, and make them do them slowly. We also emphasize when it is okay to use their training and when it is not. So far it has never caused a problem. Of course, we also work strikes and escape methods more than we work joint locks with them, so they still default to that even if they have learned how to do joint locks. We have had some kids react to bullies to protect themselves, and they all used strikes, but only the bare minimum needed for them to get away to safety.

Leigh Simms
Leigh Simms's picture

We make "the shape" as Iain noted above. But in addition and especially for the younger students its the knowledge of how a particular joint "works" that we look for. I have found that as the students understand the biological mechancis involved the technique and the dangers it can cause, they are not tempted to "try it out" on their training partners. In fact, I tend to find they are more cautious when compared to when  I have asked them just to "make the shape".

In the long term, the students understanding of how the lock works is going to be more beneficial than the ability to apply one specific lock anyway.

Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy's picture

Leigh Simms wrote:
I have found that as the students understand the biological mechancis involved the technique and the dangers it can cause, they are not tempted to "try it out" on their training partners. In fact, I tend to find they are more cautious when compared to when I have asked them just to "make the shape".

In the long term, the students understanding of how the lock works is going to be more beneficial than the ability to apply one specific lock anyway.

That’s a good point. The underlying concepts and principles should always be taught, and I agree that an understanding of what they are avoiding, by not putting the lock on fully, will be helpful for present day safety and future application.

All the best,

Iain