The Science of Fighting: The Truth About Punching and Hand Injuries

When it comes to fights, many people believe that chaos ensues with everyone trying to hit each other. However, this is not entirely true as fights actually have a system. If you examine it closely, you'll find that there are different distances involved, such as "Impact distance", "Close-quarter battle", "Clinch", and "Grappling", each with their own set of techniques used to gain the upper hand. One of these techniques is punching, which is characterized by the impact created when distance, mass, and speed are concentrated in one point on the opponent's body. Despite being a precise science, the problem is that our hands are not designed for this. 

In the 1990s, the UFC was introduced, which allowed people to fight without rules and with bare hands. Although many people took advantage of this initially, over time, gloves were reintroduced due to frequent hand injuries. Contrary to popular belief, gloves were not introduced for the protection of the opponent. In fact, old Karate and kung fu masters had to develop intense training routines to toughen their hands and prevent injuries. Some grandmasters even have completely deformed hands as a result. 

The hand is a complex body part consisting of 27 bones, with most injuries occurring to the 5th metacarpal bone that runs from the last knuckle towards the wrist. This usually happens when people punch incorrectly with their knuckles. However, punching with your knuckles in general is rarely a good idea because of the high likelihood of punching incorrectly or hitting an elbow resulting in a broken hand. 

Instead, it's much more effective to use your fist as a hammer, even though it may not look as cool. There are more muscles, the bones are aligned in a row, and the skin is thicker than on your knuckles. The downsides are that you have less reach on your punch, it's not as easy to punch from every angle. Upsides are  you can come from angles that your opponent may not expect. It's very effective in the CQB distance. Overall, it's a good addition and in some cases, a great alternative for the jab cross hook that we usually rely on.