Kicking with Shins

I have been told that the shin is a strong bone and will not break by kicking an opponent just about anywhere.

Intuitively, it seems like a block with an elbow or somthing similar would hurt the shin more than the arm. I also saw a kickboxing video once, where a guy threw a little side kick and broke his shin completely in half.

What is the theory behind kicking with ur shin? Is there anywhere u are not supposed to use it?

something to consider: http://www.clappingfetus.com/Videos/KICKBREA.ASF

i cant open that file, my computer sucks...what did it show???

That link is the video you're referring to, I believe. One black combatant blocks a white combatant kicks and the poor guys shin breaks in half? But consider the physics in the kick, man. Those are strong, trained muscles. And any Muay Thai student will tell you, your shins will hurt for a very, very long time before you can kick without worrying about injuring the bone.

The way Muay Thai kicks are thrown involve less knee-joint action and more hip-twist. The result is less control but remarkably fast and powerful blows. The goal is to strike with the lower area or center of the shin - the small bones of the foot and instep can be easily broken via this kicking method. Do a Google search, find some clips, you'll see.

Hope that helps.

- Op. Skinny Ninja

Oh man, I shuddered when I saw that. That was friggin GROSS! It looked soooo wrong. Remind me to never try shin kicks......ever

the small bones of my foot and instep hurt after throwing a lot of shin kicks just to a heavy bag. the angle my foot wraps around the bag i guess. and it hurts the ankle when you throw a shin kick and the momentum carries down to your foot after you connect.

HOLY CRAP!!!!!!! [IMG]http://www.fightingarts.com/forums/ubb/eek.gif[/IMG]

That is funny and all, but does anyone actually know the theory behind leading with a shin? Is the shin bone supposed to be stronger than a skull, leg, or knee bone?

Is there any part of the body u should NOT kick with a shin?

I don't know how strong the shin bone is but it is used in certin kicks. It done at with the base of the shin not the middle,(it looked like the guy the clip used the middle of his).

From what i hear and read it takes some getting used to. Have you ever heard of shin conditioning. Its a lot of diffrent thought out there on proper shin conditioning.

They rang from waking your shins, rolling a rolling pin up and down your shins, taping them with glass bottle full of sand. To me the best results come from just working the heavy bag a lot and i mean a lot. You'll start to grow a clis over your shin and deadin some of the nerves.

yes yes, after about a good week of shin kicking the heavy bag every day they are now super tough and i can kick with them all day pain free.

Bone is like muscle in the fact that when you use it, you cause fractors (tears in the muscle) in the bone which then heal stronger and more dense (sp?) so when you're working your shin bone the more attacks you preform, on something, the stronger the bone becomes.
I suspect that the guy that had his shin broken didn't have as strong as bone as the guy who blocked.