your worst fencing injury ever?

[mrbiggs]

fencing is a relatively safe sport, but im just curious about your worst battle-wound? My worst was this one time where I was fencing this dude and he hit me between the legs (i wasnt wearing a cup at the time) and then i dropped onto the ground clutching my member in pain. I looked down to see that my pants were already stained red with blood. someone called 911 and i was rushed to the hospital.

When I arrived, they discovered that my opponent had somehow performed a perfect circumcision. they covered me in ice and sent me on my way.

1. Bull****e
2. Not all your posts are crap, so try to filter yourself. This board doesn't really like jerks.

3. The worst injury I had was not actually to me. My club used to be much smaller, so the directors had to stand a little close to the action. In this case, he was sitting on a stool. My opponent takes a big parry, hitting the director, who falls off the stool, yelling and clutching his eye. I was scared poopless. It turns out (about 5 minutes later), that the blade had grazed his eye socket maybe a quarter inch above the eye, drawing blood. Just a quarter inch down, and he would've been down an eye. Very scary moment.

[ThatReallyHurt]

I haven't been fencing long, but the worst thing that happened to me is I got fleched in the back... well, kind of fleched - no one in my class had learned how to do it yet, and one of the kids just had to try it... fortunately, the kid was holding a foil at the time - more shocking than anything.

He's now trying out sabre. I think I'll try to stay away from him.

[ThaProfessor12]

I went to fencing camp in kansas and had a good work out there , near the middle of the camp i noticed I couldnt lunge with out intense pain. When I got back home I went to the doctors and found out my leg was severely swollen and couldnt stretch because of it , the result - 2 months physical therapy and having to do fleches/just walking with arm bent attacks

[O_O]

why would i lie???? I would show you my... thing... and prove to you it really is circumsized, if you want.

[Schiavona]

Spring 1981, tore the interior ligament of my right knee(I'm a lefty) recovering from a lunge during a Divisional Qualifier. Put me out of fencing for quite a while. The knee was also dislocated. I was in the best fencing shape of my life and ALL my leg muscles spasmed. It felt like I had a vice on my leg above and below my knee. My entire leg, from hip to ankle, was balck, blue and yellow. It hurt for a long, long time.

[Zilverzmurfen]

Apart from the usual bruises and stretches you sometimes get my worst injury was ages ago when a beginner had been given a VERY stiff blade (not a good combination... ) and hit me in my chest.

Result: a fractured rib and a "crack" (?) to the one next to it.
Needless to say, for a couple of weeks after that coughing, laughing sneezing and even breathing was very painful. Fencing was definitely outruled until I was healed. Multiple pain...

[Stylothek]

ooooh, guys, that is horrid! One injury worse than the other! The worst injury I've ever had? Ummm, I think a newbie hit my weapon hand with the flat blade and it drew to drops of blood. Wick it off, put on a smile and fence on......
however, there was a near miss, in which I almost severly injured a kid of about 11 years age. I had lent him my old mask because he had forgotten his and we bouted ( i was at a small club, so age didn't matter). While he was recovering from his attack as I performed a parry riposte, his mask just fell off and tumbled down to the front. I had to watch in terror as my blade landed on his cheek, slid over to the ear and past his head. The bruise was nasty but considering what could have happened, we were lucky. It tought me to always check the way my opponent and I are prepared, especially if the opponent is a noob. I wonder what the kid told his mother...."Moooom, this stupid big guy hit me with his foooiiiil!"

[telkanuru]

I had one close call. A blade went through the underarm/jacket right under my armpit. missed skin and everything vital, but still freaky. I own FIE stuff now. And for some reason, my parents didn't raise their eyebrows at the $400 expense like they usually do when I spend larger amounts of money.

[Unmarked]

fencing is a relatively safe sport, but im just curious about your worst battle-wound? My worst was this one time where I was fencing this dude and he hit me between the legs (i wasnt wearing a cup at the time) and then i dropped onto the ground clutching my member in pain. I looked down to see that my pants were already stained red with blood. someone called 911 and i was rushed to the hospital.

When I arrived, they discovered that my opponent had somehow performed a perfect circumcision. they covered me in ice and sent me on my way.

Now that is what I call pain.What did they do to you afterwards?

My worst injury was when my opponent's blade slid under my mask bib and slammed into my adam's apple.Hurt like hell for a while then it was fine.

[Joe biebel]

I was fencing in the semifinal of a national point event on the East Coast in the 1980's, when I broke a blade in my hand while straightening it. I new it was cut badly immediately, and tried to squeeze it tightly so it would not bleed. After about 3 seconds blood started dripping at a high rate of speed from my cleched fist. The director, Dr. Marius Valsamus, had me step off the copper strip and asked to take a look at it. When I opened my hand the bleeding rate increased noticeably. Marius told me that I was done for the day and that I needed to wrap it and go go to a hospital to get it stitched.

As luck would have it, I had spent some time earlier in the day with an armorer that was also a physician (can't remember her name) that was a plastic surgerion specialised in hand reconstruction. Not convinced that I was going to die, and wanting very badly to make the final, I told Marius that I wanted a second opinion. He laughed initially, but when I explained that I knew of a "hand speciallist" here in the venue, he started the injury clock. The hand speciallist came, cleaned me up examined the wound carefully and explained to me and to Marius that all of the tendons and critical tissues appeared intack, and that if we could stem the bleeding, I would be good to go. The speciallist put four stitches in the cut palm and wrapped it extensively. She also loaned me an oven glove (I'm sure armorerers need them for something) to put over the bandaging for comfort.

I managed to win my remaining matches in the pool and made the finals.

Joe Biebel

[jeff]

Great story, Joe. Was the other doctor Karen Brynhildsen perhaps? That's the only female plastic surgeon I know of in fencing.

[sabreman]

I had my lead big toe (right) broken by JM Banos. My foot was facing up and he smashed down on it with full force (this was when there was fleche). Hurt like hell but some how I kept fencing. Tore knee cartlidge in the late 1990s at the Sacramento Summer Nationals and again still managed to keep fencing.

[bjacobs]

I partially dislocated my shoulder (of my fencing arm) once during my second match up in a team event. That used to happen to me a lot from wrestling, but had never happened before while fencing. Unfortunately, we'd already used our sub, so I had to jerk my arm back into place, finish that bout, and then fence someone else a few minutes later.

[Jarentz]

I bent over to run my blade under my foot to starighten it out, and "pop" threw my back out. I couldn't move for about 4 days

[shango]

During a tournament while fencing foil, some guy was using a brand new blade that wasn't broken in yet and it was stiff as hell. I tripped on the piste and fell, he stabbed me (while I was still flat on my back, the coward) right in the ribcage again and again, since the machine kept registering off target (his body cord broke). Got up, beat the sh*t out of him, and then collapsed screaming in pain. Ended up with 2 minor fractures on the ribs and breast bone, and a couple of hairline fractures on the same area. Broken knuckle from punching the guy in the face, while his mask was still on. Not a really smart thing to do.

[O_O]

hahaha, he kept hitting you repeatedly when you were still down? thats great... imagining that has made my day.

[Phoenix]

And people call us wimps.

My worst was totally my fault. I had these red and black over the knee socks that I thought would be cool to come into practice with them on. They were really thin on the bottom and I when I fenced, no protection at all. I got a blister on my back foot the size of a half dollar or maybe a little bigger. Not fun. And when I had a lesson with my coach after, I could barely do my footwork right. I am never doing that again and I tell people that it is ok to wear socks other than white to practice, but make sure they are padded.

[BrianH]

July 1994, at a small tournament at Salle Auriol in Portland. Bob Marx directing my epee bout against Tom someone. I dropped my point to give my opponent an opening, which he went for. I did a counter-eight with opposition and hit him in the shoulder. As I hit, I got what felt like a huge cramp in my right bicep. After that, I couldn't lift my right (weapon) arm without holding it up with my left hand. After the bout, I took off my jacket and my bicep had swollen to twice its size. If it hadn't hurt like crazy, burning needles and pliers-on-the-nerves kind of hurt, I would have been impressed. I stumbled through my last two bouts in pain. I could hardly get my glove off, my fingers being swollen like sausages, skin tight and shiny. As soon as I could, I went to an orthopedic surgeon. Diagnosis was a ruptured tendon of the large head of the bicep, so the large head was sitting on top of the short head. It's still there, though it has diminished, and looks very weird.

I've also had from fencing, as diagnosed by MDs: tendonitis in both shoulders and my right wrist, bursitis in my right shoulder, rotator cuff strain in my right shoulder, heel spur in my right foot, plantar fasciitis, chondromalacia in right knee, lateral epicondylitis in my right arm, and too many scratches, muscle tears, bruises and cuts to count over 25 years. But it's been worth it.

[mackillian]

Brian--I've had a nearly ruptured bicep and had those symptoms--couldn't lift my own right arm or straighten it without using my left arm. It hurts like a mofo. I'm impressed that you fenced two bouts after that. o_O

[BrianH]

Brian--I've had a nearly ruptured bicep and had those symptoms--couldn't lift my own right arm or straighten it without using my left arm. It hurts like a mofo.

Yeah, that's a good description of it. I was probably very stupid to continue to fence with it. Fortunately, the short head of the bicep carries much of the load, so I don't miss the other part too much. My arm is a good conversation piece, and with a t-shirt ending halfway down the muscle, it looks very Ahnold. But I guess I have a unicep now, rather than bicep.