Want to watch this video? Sign up for the course here. Or enter your email below to watch one free video.

Unlock This Video Now for FREE

This video is normally available to paying customers.
You may unlock this video for FREE. Enter your email address for instant access AND to receive ongoing updates and special discounts related to this topic.



It may be that you have an existing medical condition or it may be you're an instructor and you're teaching a group and they may come to you with existing medical conditions. Now, we can't on this course say this condition is okay and this one is not. This is down to you individually, so we advise you to contact the centre concern about any particular medical conditions. But generally speaking, when you first come on a martial arts lesson for the first time, there will be some kind of registration process. You normally fill in a registration form where you're entering details of your name, maybe your date of birth, your address, contact numbers, including emergency contact numbers. And often, there's also a medical declaration form. Now, this form must be completed correctly. Don't complete it of what you think and miss out important things because this form is very, very important. This is important to the instructor so that they know who is on the course, who has got potential problems, and also it's important that you declare it so that if there are any problems then help can get to you very quickly.

If people know you suffer from asthma, then people will automatically expect that. It may be you have got a respiratory problem or there might be an area of the martial arts training that you need to do slightly differently. Maybe your instructor can adapt that. Now, these medical record sheets, they are important and they need to be stored correctly as well. Instructors and senders will need to store these in accordance with the Data Protection Act. You can also discuss extra things with the instructor, and if you are an instructor, it's a very good idea to discuss these forms. Not as a group exercise but individually with people, so that they are comfortable in telling you what potential problems there are. If they have got an existing medical condition, look at what it is, can they still continue the lesson or do you need to adapt it?

This is all something that only you can do on a one-on-one basis. Also, you need to keep these forms up to date. It may be that you have been practising martial arts for many, many years and now something else has happened. Maybe now you're suffering from a condition of diabetes or asthma or maybe an allergic reaction, or even if you're just not feeling well that day. It's important to make sure as an instructor that you know the medical conditions of everybody on the course and you openly invite any other changes to that. And as a participant, you also tell them if there's any possible concerns or worries. Also, it's important to make sure that the information is correct as far as your contact details. If something happened to you in a lesson, they would need to have to phone somebody. If there are any changes, maybe your parents or your partner is down as the emergency contact, if this number changes, then make sure the centre knows. It may be a good idea to review these forms, generally speaking, every six months or year, depending on what the rules are within your association.