Blows to head in boxing: how should it feel and what is "normal"?

[HeadBodyBodyBody]

Punches don't hurt so bad if you:
- are well hydrated
- don't get hit

[Suckmedry]

Hi, guys. I would like to ask a question about the sensations people feel after taking knocks to the head in the ring. My background is in wrestling, but this month I decided to take up boxing, because I have always wanted to learn to strike and I also saw it as a way to gradually move towards MMA.

I had my first hour's lesson and then, the second time, only three people turned up (two more experienced guys and I), so we did sparring. Each guy had to go three rounds in the ring against the trainer, wearing a headguard.

Obviously, I received blows to my head during the three rounds and this was my first ever experience of it. The thing was that I once had a serious head injury (albeit ten years ago)... and the sensation in my head after I went home that night was the exact same as I would get in the months after I came out of hospital.

It is hard to describe, but it feels like I can physically "feel" the blood vessels (canals) inside my head. And they also seem "warm/hot" (which is why I used to love frosty, cold weather back then).

I wanted to ask the boxers on this forum: is this sensation normal? I do NOT want to quit boxing, but I seriously do not like having to relive the exact same sensations in my head I had before. Has anyone else had the same things I feel? Or boxed after a head injury earlier in life?

Dude that doesn't sound normal. If you want to keep boxing go get an MRI scan first. Only way to be sure nothing is wrong.

Don't spar again until you've gotten a scan and got the all clear. Stay safe!

[Richard P]

Hard to describe, hey this is boxing, 'you cant play boxing' as my coach often shouts out.

If it gets too much, any fighter who is there to genuinely learn and help a fellow sportsman out. Ask them to keep the speed and work rate up just take the intensity out. Dont be keen to dive forward, take a step back, pivot and switch (shift your weight side to side)

Unfortunately I find the more you take the more you get use to it.

Without sounding too girly and precious, make sure people arent wearing 10oz if you can

[Roy Jones Jnr]

Hi. In answer to the last two posts, there was no headache or migraine at all. And definitely no pain in the neck at all, including where the skull and spine intersect.

One of the above posts probably best described the general effect: "throbbing sensations in your head". But I feel it more specifically as this: if you can imagine (like in some horror film!) the blood canals moving to the outside of your brain and you can physically feel the warm blood coarsing through these canals...!

Thanks for all the replies, feedback and advice, I appreciate it very much.

That definitely does not sound normal.

Don't spar again until you've had that checked out by a doctor.

[Mike_R]

I'm a bit skeptical of your trainer if he made you spar him for 3 rounds the second time you ever showed up to learn to box.

That isn't how that works usually in my experience.

[modernboxing]

Drop this gym, change your trainer, none spars in their second training session, you need at least a month of training before sparring!

[New England]

When you have a history of trauma you need to get a scan of your brain. It's what you do when you enter into contact sports.

Your SECOND session and you sparred? What could you possibly be working on technique wise with no real time spent learning anything?

Secondly if you want to learn mma then go to an mma trainer. Learning to throw punches out of a boxers stance with a boxer balance is not what mma guys are taught. Any contact with kicking involved changes the balance and stance.
In boxing 60% of your weight is up front in an mma contest your not going to get out of the way of kicks or be able to deliver any in a boxers stance.

Point being "get your head searched through".

Ray

good advise from this man as usual. it makes no sense at all to spar so early. all you'll do is learn how to get hit. there are more valuable lessons that you can learn outside of sparring.


if you've had serious head trauma you just shouldn't box. especially if you spar once and you get "the same symptoms." this is a practical adult talking. stop boxing. it is not worth your health.

wrestle, get exercise in the gym, but do not box if you've had serious head trauma in the past. i'm talking about car accidents, long term loss of consciousness, concussion symptoms that lasted weeks or months or even years. not worth it.


if you recognize that you're putting your f#cking brain [more important than a sport, i assure you,] is at risk, and you still want to box, go to a professional and have the proper imaging done. he's almost surely going to tell you what i just told you;

"symptoms of old head trauma popped up after one light sparring session? go play golf."

[AddiX]

You shouldn't be in the ring that quick under any circumstances.

And with the way you describe you the feeling in your head, I don't think you should ever spar again.