Link to karate basics                

 Link to karate

Karate practice gives you:

Specific to paralyses

Balance

The most basic element in karate is balance. Balance is achieved through the position of the hips in relation to the feet and shoulders. Our toes and ankles act as buffers to the abrupt movements our body makes.  Without the corrections made by our toes and ankles, we would be bouncing sideways or back and forth, in rocking motions, in order to maintain our balance.

Diplegia is often accompanied by shortening of tendons, such as the Achilles tendons, and all paralysis tend to include very limited fine motor skills.  The combination of short tendons and limited fine motor skills leads to incorrect walking gate.  In the long term, this produces bone deformation, muscle rigidity, and other problems that result in an almost complete inability to walk.

Karate exercises can be customized  easily to counteract most of the above effects of paralyses.

Muscle control

The daily practice of karate consists in great part of the repetition of very selective movements which provide the practitioner with a base from which speed, control, and strength are built.  The daily practice of these exercises gives the individual a foundation for very complex body control.

Most of the movements we make in activities, such as seating, standing, walking, eating, drinking, etc.  are very repetitive. But we never think about them in that way.  For this reason, whenever we get a bad habit, we simply repeat it over and over.  Paralyses make it difficult to produce movements the way non-paralyzed people teach us.  So, in our adaptations of the movements, we develop incorrect habits that will continue repeating.

With karate training, people can learn to control repetitive movements to make them effective and non-detrimental in the long run.

The empty mind

Groups of complex and functionally related techniques, called "katas" are practiced in accordance with the level of advancement of the individual.  These techniques are extremely precise, and when repeated on an almost daily basis, become totally automatic.  Automaticity in movement, tension and relaxation, speed, and flow is the essential foundation to total focus.  The automatic production of sequences of movements enhances concentration and body control like nothing else.

Developing automatic movements through karate helps people with partial paralyses to overcome the difficulty given by having to concentrate on every single movement.  Non-automatic movements cause fatigue and lead to refusal to perform activities.  Therefore, many people with paralysis use wheel chairs in spite of the fact that they can walk.  The reason tends to be that they get exhausted when they try to walk.  Consequently, when they try to walk, lack of practice walking makes them get even more tired.  In this sense, karate can help in two ways, by  by the automatization of walking movements and by the development of stamina

Karate helps train the control of the whole body, not just the legs.

Goals

The daily practice of exercise increases stamina and breathing ability.  But practicing exercise routinely can get boring.  Most often, people start an exercise program and quit in a matter of days.  The advantage of karate over other exercises is that karate exercises are practiced as part of the learning of complex forms, such as the katas.  This gives the practitioner short, mid, and long term goals. Having goals can help people stick to it until they develop endorphin production as the result o f the given exercise. Once a type of exercise gives you endorphins, you start loving it.

The practice of the motor sequences involved in katas enhances memory, body control, attention, and many other basic skills.  Additionally, every time a person learns a sequence, the sense of accomplishment gives him or her strength and interest to continue learning.  Further, once a kata is learned, the practitioner has a sequence of exercises which hi or she can practice without an instructor.  Learning katas gives us a very easy structure to follow in our daily exercise.