Martial arts therapy

Martial arts Therapy refers to the usage of martial arts as an alternative or complementary therapy for a medical disorder. This can include disorders of the body or of the mind. The therapy may involve applications such as promoting kinaesthetic balance in the elderly or impaired, through T'ai chi ch'uan, or reducing aggressiveness in specific populations (Lamarre, 1999).

While more conventional treatments such as weight training and psychotherapy are also of significant benefit, martial arts therapy can embody unique traits that other therapies don’t incorporate into their practice. For example, in children with low self-esteem, this therapy can simultaneously develop areas such as self-defense skills (to defend against physical bullying), physical fitness, instructions on how to handle stressful scenarios in a physical or mental context, and self-confidence, through successful applications of martial technique, such as board-breaking or kata.

One of the crucial features of the therapy is the type of martial art, as well as the lesson plans of the instructor. For instance, a boxing program with a competition-oriented instructor will not provide the same experience as a t'ai chi instructor who emphasizes mindfulness of one’s actions and thoughts. Although both boxing and t'ai chi can be defined as martial arts, their histories, emphasis and other features are drastically different. Looking specifically at karate, a kyokushin karate class (which emphasizes full-contact sparring with bare knuckles) versus a shotokan karate class (which places more emphasis on personal discipline and control than fighting), research in this area has not yet determined which particular feature(s) of martial arts are of definite therapeutic value.

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