Questioning the Concept of General Falling Techniques (GFT)

Zdenko Reguli, Jan Šenkýř, Michal Vít
Faculty of Sport Studies, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic

Abstract
Background and Study Aim. Many martial artists and some scholars point out that acquiring martial arts and combat sports falling techniques can prevent injuries in daily life. They have articulated that historical experience and tradition in falling led to the advancement of safe falls. However, safe falls are an inseparable part of many non-combative sports like games or gymnastics. Movement patterns for falling techniques differ from one sport to another, while they are still safe and serving the purpose.
Material and Methods. Athletes fall quite often in lot of sports, but research in this area is scarce. In some sports, falling techniques is a part of basic curriculum. Can we presume, that knowledge of falling can be easily transferred from sports to everyday life? Is there any diagnostic tool for that?
Results. In this theoretical essay we will clarify terms fall and falling technique as two different movements. Next we will go through the current research about falling in sports. We will find out what the danger of falling is and what benefit we can gain from falling techniques in sports. At the end of the article a look to possible transfer of falling techniques to general physical activities from children to elderly will be given. The
scope is to give suggestion for basic principles for General Falling Techniques (GFT).
Conclusion. In general, falls and falling techniques can be recognised in sports as well as in everyday working or leisure time. Respect the nature of respective sport, falling techniques differ. This is way it is not possible to use them as general skill to avoid injury.
Keywords: safe falls ? biomechanics of falls ? injuries in sports ? falling in sports ? injury prevention

Published online: 17 September 2015
Copyright: ? 2015 the Authors. Published by Archives of Budo
Contributors: Zdenko Reguli conceived the study design. Zdenko Reguli, Jan Šenkýř collected the data. Zdenko Reguli analysed the data. Zdenko Reguli, Michal Vít prepared the manuscript. Zdenko Reguli secured the funding.
Funding: Departmental sources
Conflict of interest: Authors have declared that no competing interest exists
Ethical approval: Not required
Provenance and peer review: Under responsibility of HMA Congress
Corresponding author: Zdenko Reguli, Department of Gymnastics and Combatives, Kamenice 753/5, 625 00 Brno, Czech Republic; e-mail: reguli[at]fsps.muni.cz
Open Access License: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non-commercial 4.0 International (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and is otherwise in compliance with the license