Martial Arts as Medicine?
Martial Arts may seem like an odd discussion in the world of concierge medicine, but wait!
There’s gold in them thar hills.
Martial arts aren’t just for fighting, though self-defense is a tremendous benefit. Martial arts improve your physical fitness, emotional resilience and mental clarity. Not only do martial arts improve your health, but they also reduce stress and enhance longevity. These go hand-in-hand with healthspan and lifespan improvement. They are the same principles that concierge medicine follows to enhance our lives. Martial arts are fun and never boring, unlike many monotonous exercise regimens.
What about having an underlying illness? Or advancing age? Those don’t have to be deal-breakers.
You can still start in martial arts with health conditions, and even if you are elderly. One of my classmates started Wing Chun when he was 67 and is now in an amazing state of fitness and health. My Sifu (teacher) has been practicing for over fifty years and moves like he is just thirty years old.
Martial arts vary in style and intensity, and this fits very well with the philosophy of customizing patient care in concierge medicine. You can choose which one suits you best. Over four decades, I can attest to this firsthand, having trained in four different styles of martial arts.
Let’s delve deeper into this.
- Physical Fitness and Injury Prevention
Not only do martial arts provide outstanding physical fitness in functional areas such as strength, balance, coordination and flexibility, but they are very much tailored to your needs as you improve your specific health issues. Those seeking a high-impact aerobic workout may gravitate toward karate or taekwondo. Others may desire a lower impact. Brazilian jiu-jitsu has a lower cardio exertion with excellent core strengthening, yet six months of jiu-jitsu can increase VO2 Max (cardiac reserve) by 15% Practitioners of Tai Chi Chuan have markedly improved balance, which can be significant with increasing years: Tai Chi practitioners over the age of 65 have been found to have a 43% lower incidence of falls. Martial arts improve muscles, ligaments, tendons, joints, the nervous system and the cardiovascular system. Functional training of these areas leads to fewer injuries.
- Mental Fortitude and Clarity
Modern life is stressful, and Silicon Valley might be at the apex of this stress. Stress leads to anxiety, insomnia, chronic diseases, including hypertension and heart disease. The mental training that is found along with the physical training in martial arts focuses the mind and dispenses with the little annoyances of daily life. Martial arts force you to concentrate your mind on what you are doing in the moment and to push yourself to higher levels, which naturally leads to clarity about yourself and the world around you. If you can handle intensive training, and more so, a sparring match with surging adrenaline, where you learn to stay calm, then you can transfer that mental strength and clarity to the boardroom or the negotiation table.
- Resilience, Breathing and Mindfulness: Stress Reduction and Better Coping
Hand-in-hand with item two above is the stress reduction benefit that martial arts give you. Breathing is the essence of life, and all martial arts train you to control your breathing. This is the Zen of being in the moment and stress reduction. Stress hormones can be lowered by 20% through martial arts training in those undergoing duress, and this is matched by a subjective drop in stress levels. Self-confidence will rise as a result, as seen in a study showing 78% martial arts students (notably middle-aged adults) have improved self-confidence after a year of training. When you train, you learn to handle physical challenges, mental challenges and failures. In martial arts, whether in training or in tournaments, failures are followed by trying again. The martial arts school environment will support this growth. These all add up to resilience. You can see how this can be a great tool for the concierge physician in helping patients grow in body and mind.
- Longevity and Chronic Disease Management
Yes, concierge medicine seeks to extend both healthspan and lifespan, and so do the martial arts. One study found that martial artists had a 25% reduction in heart disease. It also enhances insulin sensitivity. Another study showed that martial arts training can lower HbA1C levels in prediabetic adults at rates equivalent to medications. And, last but not least, martial arts can significantly delay cognitive decline in the elderly. Tai Chi has been shown to improve memory and executive function in seniors by 18% over six months of training.
- Self Defense
Of course! What a great side benefit, being able to diffuse a hostile situation or defend yourself and your loved ones is how martial arts arose.
Martial Arts Styles
You can roughly divide martial arts into ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ styles. The former include karate, muay thai, taekwondo, judo, kendo among others. Soft includes tai chi chuan and aikido.
In the middle are Wing Chun and jiu jitsu. You should investigate, watch classes and try a few to see which suits your body and your temperament.
How Martial Arts Shaped My Medical Practice
Why does a concierge physician continue to practice martial arts in my social security years? It’s good for me and it’s good for those around me. I very much appreciate how martial arts have improved my health and made me a better physician. As a result, I’m particularly attuned to patients who want to maintain good athletic and physiological states—and this doesn’t have to mean you want to be an elite athlete; it only means you want to be healthy. Movement is essential not only to good health but to life, and martial arts make you move! I encourage everyone to get moving. Having endured a bit of stress in my life, I can help. The stress management techniques can readily be translated into concierge medical care, not just the movement and fitness aspects. Martial arts emphasize controlled breathing, which is the essence of life, and the foundation for good health; they truly offer physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing; and a good dose of self-defense skills, to boot. These are just what a better healthspan and lifespan call for. I apply all of these to myself and my practice.
Martial Arts as Medicine
Martial Arts are holistic. They integrate body, mind and spirit. This coordination is essential for a healthy life and is in lockstep with the principles of concierge medicine. Martial arts provide peace of mind, fitness, good health, improved activity, confidence, and reduce stress. As we age, martial arts delay the decline of mind and body. As we have seen, they operate on many different levels. The benefits are obvious, and yet martial arts require dedication and commitment—which is equally necessary for all of us to do with our health. It is, quite frankly, a form of medicine. I would like to prescribe it to all of you. I would be delighted to have a Meet and Greet at The Village Doctor and get to know you better.
Let’s talk martial arts. Let’s talk health and fitness. I would be happy to tell you about my martial arts journey. I would even welcome you to my kwoon (Chinese martial arts school) and have you meet my Sifu, who will positively impact your health.
Wishing you health and fitness,
Alan Spira, MD, & DTM&H, April, 2025
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