Issue with our bodies with a no impact punching game

[DoomGuy]

Whenever I play this game I think about the possible damage it can do in our bodies due to punching/flailing in the air without stopping our arms on impact. I end up with sore muscles when I do a 20 minute session even with warmup before and stretching after. To be honest I play this once a month because of the recovery time it takes after a gameplay session.
Do you have any medical data on this issue?

[Lazarus {FATE}]

If you are hurting yourself punching in the air you are doing it wrong.

No matter what exercise will make you sore and Improper form will increase that no matter the exercise and aimlessly flailing is improper form.

I pulled something In my elbow when I first played cause I overextended frequently. I was down and out for the better part of 6 months. I learned my lesson and now play this game with less intensity but steadily adding power progression as my weight training and body safely allow.

[Ian (Sealost)]

You shouldn't be getting pain when you throw punches. If you are, you need to stop and identify what's causing the pain, and change the way you're throwing to accommodate. This applies whether or not you're hitting a target, as you can potentially apply sudden counter-forces to your muscles in either case. The concept of punching at the air isn't a problem by itself, as boxers will miss plenty of swings in a real fight and shadowboxing is a regular training activity.

What's important is that you're paying attention to how you're punching and making sure you're not swinging in a way that's hurting you. Muscle soreness isn't the main concern if it's just muscle soreness - you'll probably be getting that with any new physical activity regardless of how much you warm up or stretch, but you do need to let yourself recover before playing again. What you need to watch out for is making sure you're not throwing harder than you can control or extending your arms in ways that could tear a muscle, tendon, or ligament.

By default, the game adjusts to your strength, so there's no need to throw harder than what's comfortable. Make sure you're punching with your body and not just with your arms, and while it's important in boxing to maximize speed at the point of impact, make sure you're not targeting your punches past your comfortable arm extension range.

[Jargous]

Considering that everything you do in this game utilizes muscles for pushing, work on muscles that are used for pulling (you'll be surprised how much this will help in your recovery).

[DoomGuy]

I understand that but I'm just asking if you guys think theres a risk of being injured due to the fact we are boxing with the air. Theres a difference between punching something solid and punching the air. Our muscles have to "manually" stop the punches so you are working the agonistic and antiagonistic muscles at the same time but probably at a very high rate.

[Lazarus {FATE}]

I've searched high and low for anything about the physical danger of VR for training and the only thing that ever comes up anywhere is danger of overextending a movement so as to not impact your joints and not to use wrist weights as they can cause damage.

I personally use 1 to 2 pound weighted gloves that mimic having boxing gloves on so your wrist doesn't take the brunt of the weight but I won't recommend anyone to do the same as it can be dangerous.

Ian was spot on when he mentioned shadow boxing which causes no damage to the boxer when done properly. There is a power and movement threshold specific to each of us than we must adapt to and or train to improve or injury will be a likely outcome.

The same risks are inherent in all physical activity, VR is no different. Yes you can pop your shoulder out of it's socket, pull a lat, get tennis elbow from throwing a powerful but badly thrown punch but you can do the same when throwing a baseball.

[dbix11]

I was sore for about 5 days after getting this game, ive always been athletic but never as boxer/fighter. Shoulders, back arms, leading leg. Its amazing that even being that sore, putting on the head set made me forget all that pain, all i wanted to do was win.

It got to the point where i believe i was medically fatigued after the 5th day with 5-8 fights a day. Forced myself to take 2 days off, and wow i cant believe how better i feel and look so early in.

Sooo tl;dr fatigue is the only issue i can think of but easy to remedy

[Baron von Harkentine]

As someone who used to do a lot of heavy bag work, I can only say that throwing full power techniques and having them stopped by a solid object is WAY more stressful on your body than hitting nothing. Obviously, you can get injured doing anything, including shadow boxing. Are you maybe more likely to swing differently if your sense tell you you're about to hit something (i.e. VR) when in fact you're really not? It's possible, and maybe even likely. This is why it's important in a game like this to develop techniques that are both effective in-game and safe and sustainable from a physical perspective.

But nah -- hitting the air has way way less chance of hurting you than repeatedly delivering high velocity impact to your muscloskeletal system :D

[AerialSnack]

It's been a while, but I have a pretty good answer to this. If you FULLY extend your punches, yes, you can get injured. This will cause more stress on your joints than hitting a solid object. This is why boxers never fully extend their punches while shadowboxing. Make sure you don't fully extend, and you'll be fine. By fully extending, I mean to the point where your joints lock.

Also, missing a punch is more tiring than landing a punch, so playing this game should actually be more tiring than actually hitting a heavy bag. Enjoy the intense workout!

[DoomGuy]

Originally posted by AerialSnack:

It's been a while, but I have a pretty good answer to this. If you FULLY extend your punches, yes, you can get injured. This will cause more stress on your joints than hitting a solid object. This is why boxers never fully extend their punches while shadowboxing. Make sure you don't fully extend, and you'll be fine. By fully extending, I mean to the point where your joints lock.

Also, missing a punch is more tiring than landing a punch, so playing this game should actually be more tiring than actually hitting a heavy bag. Enjoy the intense workout!

This!

That was what I was trying to say. Full extension and the impact on joints. Makes sense.