- Tom Callos
- Jan 27
- 6 min read
Updated: Jan 28
I started taking formal martial art lessons in 1971 at age 11. By the time I tested for my first degree black belt in 1979, I was already starting to feel the effects of hip joint degeneration — I just didn't know it.
My symptoms manifested as occasional but often debilitating lower back spasms and a very slight reduced range of motion in my hips. When the hips are inflamed or under some kind of degenerative distress, it can cause the muscles in and around them to tighten, which often results in the symptoms I experienced.
Because I didn’t know it at the time, I weathered the discomfort for 20 years until, at age 39, I couldn’t tie my own shoes or comfortably walk a mile on flat ground.
The fact is that the factors that precipitated my hip problems could have included the following:
A predisposition caused by genetics
Repetitive high-impact exercises (kicking bags that exceeded my bodyweight, kicking immobile objects, jumping and landing on concrete and hardwood floors)
Overtraining without adequate rest and recovery
A poor diet that was high in sugar and low in water intake
Repeated impact trauma to the hip joints while a preteen and teen, which is when significant bone development takes place
When the aforementioned tightness started, I thought it was normal.
But in hindsight, I believe I already damaged my hips during my pre-adolescent bone-growth period. I was strong enough and young enough in my 20s to work around the problem, but in my 30s, I started to suffer mild to intense lower-back pain.
The spasms would sometimes put me off training for two weeks or longer, and they got progressively worse until I was forced to seek epidural steroid injections in my spine to relieve the pain. At 40, I was on the operating table.
The pain and immobility left me no option. Much soul-searching and research followed in an effort to find answers to two questions:
How can martial artists vigorously train without causing undue wear and tear on their hips?
How can we perform the repetitions needed to attain mastery without wearing out our bodies?
I turned to medical professionals, as well as prominent martial artists.
SOUND ADVICE: MINDFUL PRACTICE
After my first hip replacement at age 40, I asked my doctor, Norman Young, “How do I keep this from happening to my students?”
His answer gave me information I should have known decades earlier but didn’t. It might be the very thing you need to hear if you want to save yourself and those you teach from suffering the crippling pain of sports-related hip degeneration.
Young said he’d just finished participating in an extensive study of professional golfers suffering joint pain, including pain in the hips and pain from hip-replacement surgery.
He said the study determined that the best way to avoid injury was to focus on the quality of practice rather than the quantity of it.
In other words, instead of hitting 1,000 balls in a single practice — which was common among the professional golfers in the study — they were advised to hit just 100 balls in a session with complete and absolute focus.
The study determined that, done mindfully, less practice could yield the same results without causing unnecessary wear on the joints.
That said, not everyone who trains hard with high repetitions of vigorous exercise will require surgery.
DON WILSON’S HIP STORY: RECOVERY WITHOUT REPLACEMENT
Don “The Dragon” Wilson is 62 years old but looks and moves like a much younger man. In college, he wrestled and played football and basketball.
In 1980, he had his first professional kickboxing bout, and in the ensuing 28 years, he garnered 11 world titles. In 1998, he came out of retirement to fight again, but this time, he was nagged by a problem.
“The way the pain felt was like a screwdriver digging into my hip,” Wilson said. “It hurt every time I took a step. I had to, literally, walk out of the gym. I couldn’t train through it.”
But instead of going under the knife, Wilson turned to nutrition — and it worked. “I didn’t improve in a few days, but a few months in, I started to feel better,” he said.
The Dragon also began eating better, which he believes is essential to healing and rebuilding the body. “I eat fruits and vegetables but mainly leafy green vegetables,” he said. “I don’t want people to think this is a scientific thing: this is what happened to me. Maybe it’s a fluke. Maybe I’m the only one who can change his diet and repair his body.”
CYNTHIA ROTHROCK’S HIP STORY: SHE’S GOOD!
Some martial artists will not, despite the extreme workouts they take part in, suffer hip degeneration or hip pain.
The medical profession doesn’t know exactly why two people who undergo the same training won’t necessarily suffer the same injuries, which is why many attribute it to genetics.
While conducting research for this article, I spoke with numerous martial artists who, for one reason or another, had to turn to hip-replacement surgery to deal with their pain. I also spoke with lifelong practitioners who work out just as hard and long as anyone else but have never known hip pain — people like Cynthia Rothrock.
I first met Rothrock in the early 1980s, when we were part of the Ernie Reyes West Coast Demo Team. Back then, she was the No. 1 female forms competitor in America, and from there, she built a successful career in the Hong Kong film industry.
“Despite all the training I’ve done and the intense stunt work and fight scenes I did in films, I’ve not had any issues with my hips,” Rothrock said. “I don’t know what to attribute that to except maybe genetics.”
PLAN OF ACTION FOR HIP HEALTH
Despite Rothrock's good fortune, the wise course of action is to take precautions.
From my own experience with three hip surgeries, the recovery from those procedures, and the exchanges I've had with others who were forced to deal with hip pain — as well as many doctors — I've collected five pieces of advice for all martial artists interested in protecting their hips:
Know that rest and recovery are as important as intense training. Training to exhaustion may be the code of some athletes, but it shouldn't be more important than complete recovery afterward.
Know that your diet is connected to your health. The body needs the right nutrients to rebuild itself after a workout. It needs enough water to flush out toxins in addition to rehydrating tissues.
Know how various joints work, what they're made of, and what their limitations are. When it comes to staying hip health (or health in general), ignorance isn't bliss; it's a pathway to injury.
Know that more isn't always better. Better is better. Don't make the mistake of regarding thousands of reps as better than hundreds of reps done with focus. It's the quality of practice that matters.
Know that there can be a high cost associated with high impact, as well as high repetitions.
Testimonial: I haven't enjoyed the hip breakdown and pain I've suffered over the years, but that doesn't mean I'd radically change the training I did. When you're young and full of vitality, you almost have to grab life by the collar and live, move, stretch, jump, and kick the hell out of everything within reach.
While I'd like to teach my students to live today with an acute awareness of what it could mean for tomorrow, part of being young is thumbing your nose at the future and living to the best of your abilities here and now.
No one can tell you if you'll be one of those people who suffer the consequences of overtraining or impact-related injuries. However, I can assure you that living with gusto is better than playing it so safe you never push yourself, never feel the pleasure of being an elite martial athlete.
At 57, I still love the martial arts — despite my injuries. I'm still able to get on the mat and go hard, just not as hard as I did when I was a 20-, 30-, or 40-something. While there are exceptions to the rule, all warriors in some way will bear the scars of their battles.
Just be aware of the difference between reckless and safe training, then practice with your body's preservation in mind. Meanwhile, make sure you enjoy the years when you can move like a leopard and kick like a mule.
For me, it would be more painful to not have tried to be the strongest, fastest, and toughest martial artist I could be. I suspect you are the same.
