Hey guys. I started boxing like 3 years ago and instantly fell in love with the sport. Usually go around 3 or 4 times a week including normal sparring sessions. The trouble started last year, I think it was May 2023 when I hurt my thumb in sparring throwing an unlucky unclean right hook in the heat of the moment landing with my thumb on a mates head. Diagnosis: capsular rupture (englishs not my first language so idk if that's the correct medical term, just loose translation). So I went to the doctor, took a long break and when everything seemed to be good again i returned. But it actually never really healed, like it'ssuper sensitive. It's really hard to do sparring anymore. I tried taping, being careful with technique, getting bigger gloves for more protection but every few weeks I hurt it again and then have to take a few weeks off until it seems to be OK again. But it never is in the long run. It always happens at sparrin, like accidentally hitting someones elbow or getting hit on the hand while blocking etc. Like stuff that wouldn't even affect a healthy finger. It's so frustrating because I love boxing and especially sparring. But I don't think I can go on like this anymore and thinking about quitting (sparring at least). Don't know how to go on from here. NOT looking for medical advice, been to the doc plenty of times with diagnosis etc. More about dealing with the situation mentally. Advice, soothing or harsh truths all welcome.
Has anybody ever talked to you about which part of your hand that should be making contact when you land a punch? Has anybody ever talked to you about the proper way to throw punches so that they land properly? Nobody ever taught me these things and my hands are basically claws now from injuries suffered decades ago. Not that long ago I was training a fighter that jammed up his right thumb on an elbow- it didn't break. You are going to have continued problems because of the way modern gloves are made, where they put your thumbs.
Even if you do everything right, it's still possible to injure your hands because the opponent might be moving toward you, or his elbow might get in the way, or you might hit the top of his head, or... The best advice I've found about punching is from the Dempsey book where he goes into detail about making contact with the bottom knuckles instead of the top ones. It makes sense, if you use the top 2 knuckles, (especially the top knuckle) you have to bend the hand unnaturally, but as Dempsey pointed out the bottom knuckles are in line with the arm. If you make a fist and fall forward against a solid surface you'll catch yourself with the bottom 3 knuckles because that is the natural alignment of the hand. A good drill is to do a round or two on the heavy bag without wraps or gloves. You don't have to go hard, but practice hitting the bag with knuckles only, not the side or back of the hand. Without wraps and gloves you'll know if you hit it wrong, it will hurt if you hit with anything other than the knuckles, even if you're going light. Another advantage of hitting with the bottom knuckles is that the thumb will be a little farther away from the point of impact. But, even if you practice and do everything right, you can still injure your hands, but your chances of not injuring them will be better.
Why not just train without full sparring? There's a bunch of partner stuff you can do like defensive focussed rounds, lead hand fights etc. Or you could spar but only tap with the back hand, or switch to southpaw and use the damaged hand more for range finding. Or switch to muay thai where you have more tools.
