Swordfish injury report 2011 

Gothenburg Historical Fencing School By Anders Linnard   

Introduction The sixth Swordfish was hosted at Aktiviteten, Mölndal, Sweden, 4-6 November 2011 by Gothenburg Historical Fencing School. The event included seminars, workshops and several tournaments. In order to improve safety and security at the event and to help Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) develop, we have put together this injury report. The mission is mainly for it to serve as input to producers of protective gear and for the Swordfish team and other organisers to develop HEMA events. There are other benefits as well, it can be used when talking to insurance companies, legislators etc to show objective data when discussing fees, risk assessment etc. We believe that it’s better to have knowledge and facts rather than being subject to speculation.

Last year the most significant injuries occurred during workshops. This year we are glad to report that there were no injuries during any of the workshops. Based on the injury report from 2010 the Swordfish team had implemented some security improvements. A system was set up to handle injuries and security issues; we appointed a security officer, set up a system for handling security incidents (whatever they were) through the reception desk, pre-warned the hospital, had two separate first aid bags, handed out security flyers to all participants and had a doctor present throughout all of the competitions. Since people only sustained injuries during the Joachim Nilsson Memorial Tournament this year’s report only contain information from the competitions. I have included all of the fractures, but also some of the minor cuts and bruises. There were more people who received medical attention by the doctor, but mainly because he was present. Had there been no available doctor it is unlikely they would have sought medical assistance. The minor injuries that I have included are there since they are interesting in regards to development of protective gear. After the event I emailed all the participants in the tournaments to get more information. There are still injuries that have not been accounted for. In those cases I have only included injuries that have been confirmed. There were rumors of people having broken ribs etc, but those injuries have not been confirmed. Competitions This year Swordfish hosted 5 steel full contact tournaments in the Joachim Nilsson Memorial Tournament 2011. Overall it turned into a little over 200 matches, which was more than we originally calculated. Especially the mixed longsword attracted more fighters than we anticipated. Overall 7 injuries were serious enough to call for medical attention beyond what could be provided on location. This means that the injury/match ratio was about 3%. Simulators used & breaks For the mixed longsword tournaments new feders from Ensifer were provided, the ladies used Albion Meyers, for the Sword & buckler new Peter Regenyei feders were provided and for sabre Regenyei blades on antique hilts were provided. The rapier allowed all marks of rapiers except those made by Hanwei (since they have proved to break far too easily) and

fighters had to bring their own weapons. During the tournament one of the sword and buckler blades broke. The Ensifer blades were severely damaged, but did not break. During the rapier at least one dagger broke. No one was injured in relation to breaks. Concerns for the future At the last minute extra plastrons were ordered. Plastrons and coaching jackets have not been specifically tested against broken feders and today there are no standards for HEMA fencing equipment, which is a concern. I hope this will change in the near future. There are a lot of safety issues that have to be addressed by the community, especially concerning potential lethal situations such as may occur when a blade breaks. The lack of such situations in this particular tournament doesn’t mean that HEMA is safe enough. The issues raised in this report concern some of the aspects of basic gear and standards, for example how to prevent finger breaks, that doesn’t mean that those are the only concerns that we have for future standards.

/Anders Linnard

   

List of injuries Friday Injury 1. Right hand: Fracture little finger* Injury 2: Unknown hand: Fracture index finger* Injury 3: Right hand: Fractured ring finger* Injury 4: Left hand: Cut little finger – cloven finger with nail damage* Injury 5: Right hand: Cut to palm Saturday Injury 6: Unknown side: Cut on hip Injury 7: Left hand: Contused proximal and distal of joints of the index finger.* Injury 8: Cut on head* Injury 9: Abrasion on forehead-eyebrow Injury 10: Right hand: Fracture little finger* Injury 10B:Right side: Bruised or broken ribs Injury 11: Left side: Fractured or bruised ribs Injury 12: Minor cut to right hand * Went to hospital    

Details on injuries

Injury 1. Right hand: Fracture little finger Description: The gloves used had gaps by the joints, which may have contributed to the injury. Treatment: Sent to ER. Put in cast. Protective gear: Customized land hockey glove. Recovery: 3-4 weeks with cast. Images

Image 1: Before hospital

Image 2: X-ray 1

Image 3: X-ray 2

Image 4: Gloves

Image 5: Gloves 2

Injury 2: Unknown hand: Fracture index finger Description: Unknown. This injury was listed by the doctor, but we have received no further information on what happened after the patient was sent to ER. Treatment: Sent to ER. Protective gear: Recovery: Images Injury 3: Right hand: Fractured ring finger Description: According to the fighter he received an unterhauw followed by an oberhauw. As he stood in ochs he tried to make a transition to an oberhauw but was hit on the finger. Treatment: The doctor on site did not think the finger was broken. On saturday the fighter went to the hospital and received X-Ray, where it showed that it was indeed broken. The hand was put in a cast.

Protective gear: Customised Warrior Hypno 2 Lacrosse Glove Recovery: The cast will be removed 30th of November. If all is good 3 weeks of physiotherapy will follow. After that it is expected it will take another 2 months before the hand is fully healed. There is also a small risk that the fighter will develop arthritis since a small splinter from the finger has entered the joint. Images Image 1: X-ray

Image 2: Glove

Injury 4: Left hand: Cut little finger – cloven finger with nail damage Description: Cut to finger, a small piece of flesh missing. Treatment: Sent to ER. Received stitches. Protective gear: Brass Monkey Lacrosse glove Recovery: 3 weeks.

Images Image 1: Before hospital 1

Image 2: Before hospital 2

Image 3: Before hospital 3

Image 4: Stitches out 1

Image 5: Stitches out 2

Image 6: Stitches out 3

Injury 5: Right hand: Cut to palm Description: The fighter received a small cut to unprotected palm. Painful swelling occurred. The fighter was able to continue to fight in the tournament. Treatment: Bandaging and painkillers Protective gear: Ensifer gloves (unprotected area). Recovery: Full recovery to be expected Images: Not available Injury 6: Unknown side: Cut on hip Description: No information available on this injury Injury 7: Left hand: Contused proximal and distal of joints of the index finger. Description: Swollen fingers Treatment: X-rays showed no fracture. Hospital stabilised joints with a splint. Protective gear: Old prototype Ensifer gloves (main body of the glove made of styrogum, fingers protected by steel segments), which has a weak point at the point where the segments contact the part protecting the palm. Recovery: Four weeks. Images: Not available Injury 8: Cut on head Description: At the end of the second round the fighter received a series of hard strikes with a sabre on the mask, leading to the inside rim of the mask to cave in. The rim was pressed into the head by one of the strikes, leading to a 2 cm long cut over the hairline and causing profuse bleeding. The fighter felt a sharp pain when receiving the blows, but was not affected by dizziness or concussion. Treatment: Sent to ER. The doctor on location did not have access to glue or needles and thread to stitch the wound. The wound was glued at the hospital. Protective gear: The mask was a Leon Paul coaches fencing mask size M. No extra padding under the mask was used. Recovery: Full recovery. The glue could be removed after four days. No symptoms remain. Special note: The instructions for finding the emergency hospital were not good.

Images: Not available

Image 1: Mask

Injury 9: Abrasion on forehead-eyebrow Description: Abrasion close to right eyebrow, circle-like with 5mm or so diameter, caused by mask pressed into face due to wrestling or a punch with the buckler. Treatment: On location Protective gear: Fencing mask Recovery: Full recovery Images: Not available Injury 10: Right hand: Fracture little finger Description: Bone fractured right next to the joint. Treatment: Sent to ER. Hand in cast. Protective gear: Brine Supercrosse Recovery: 4 weeks in cast, expected full recovery. Finger might be slightly crooked. Images: Not available Injury 10B: Right side: Bruised or broken ribs Description: Treatment: Sent to ER for hand injury (above) Protective gear: Leon Paul coaching jacket, without the leather plastron, with plastic plastron Recovery: Unknown, but expected full recovery. Images: Not available

Injury 11: Left side: Fractured or bruised ribs Description: A one handed blow landing on the floating ribs on the left side. Doctor deemed fracture or damage to cartillage and muscles. Treatment: Treated on location. Protective gear: Spes Axel Pettersson Fencing Jacket, plastic plastron. Recovery: After a week swelling remains and pain is still intense when taking a deep breath. Full recovery expected within a few weeks. Images: Not available Injury 12: Minor cut to right hand Description: Fighter received a cut to the hand on the muscular part of the thumb where the glove does not cover. Some bruising and swelling. Treatment: Treated on location with ointment Protective gear: Ensifer Recovery: Full recovery within a week Images: Not available Conclusions The most serious injuries were due to hand hits and almost exclusive to fighters wearing lacrosse gloves or similar. The sturdier Ensifer gloves seem to hold up better. Minor cuts can be glued together. Next year we need to include medical glue in the first aid kits. Ribs were broken after heavy blows to the sides. This is partly a result of jackets often having less protection on the sides than on the front of the body. SPES have stated they will increase padding on the target areas on the Axel Pettersson Fencing Jacket. The laceration and the abrasion injuries can be prevented by wearing padding underneath the mask and a cover on top of it. Although it is probably not possible to completely prevent the mask from being pressed into the face. There are two obvious and major safety concerns that need to be addressed by the community: Broken blades and hard hits to the throat. At Swordfish we provided new blades to avoid breaks, but still some blades broke. The intensity of these fights show that makers need to take a look at what a blade is supposed to be able to withstand. The Ensifer blades did not break, but were jagged, rattling and bent after the tournaments. Regarding hard hits to the throat there were no such incidents during the competitions. It is impossible to say if that means that the protective gear is good enough or if no such hits occurred. Throat protection was required, but today there is no standard for them.

These issues are not something that organizers, such as the Swordfish team, can fix. It has to be a joint effort of the community (to set up standards), makers (to fulfill those requirements) and organizers (to enforce wearing of standardized gear). In general the competitions went very well and injuries were kept at a minimum. It is obvious that gear is still an issue, but we hope this will be resolved soon.