How To Recover From A Liver Punch – Things You Should Know

A liver punch is extremely dangerous and brings harmful effects on our body, which requires appropriate treatment to recover from it.

Thus, if you wonder if there are ways to ease the pain and recover from it, check out this article, as we will show you how to recover from a liver punch effectively!

Understand The Meaning And How To Recover From A Liver Punch

Can You Do Liver Shots in Boxing?

The liver punch is utterly legal in boxing as boxers use it a lot to eliminate the opponents quickly. More specifically, the rule allows for upper body attack and only forbidden hitting at the back of the head or below the belt.

Liver Punch

Your liver is the most significant, heaviest organ in the body. It is wedge-shaped and located below your lungs and rib cage. The liver functions are to purify toxins and digest fats by creating bile and making other substances that make your blood clots.

Due to the liver’s size and position, it becomes one of the most vulnerable organs in the body. Therefore, it is hazardous to get hit in the liver in boxing, as you can’t possibly continue the match.

Your liver stays under your diaphragm, which locates on the right side of your torso. Hence, left spinning kicks, knee strikes, or punches with left hooks and uppercuts often cause liver punch. 

A liver shot requires the boxer to have great techniques and know to throw high-low combinations. It is challenging to quickly find an opportunity to knock down the opponent and protect yourself. 

An interesting fact is that just a speed of 5 meters per second can easily injure the liver. In boxing, an average male boxer can throw multiple punches at a rate of 6 meters per second, and a professional does it twice as fast!

There are three significant reasons why boxers use liver punches:

#1. Slow Down The Opponents

The boxers usually make short body hooks to shock the liver of the others. In this way, the liver shot will make the victim feel out of breath, cause dizziness, lose focus or even have a body shut down as the liver is the center of blood circulation. Hence, throwing liver punches will have a higher potential of knocking others down in the later rounds.

#2. Make The Opponents Feel Painful

A punch in the liver will cause dramatic pain for the opponents. There are cases of boxers unable to continue fighting because of such pain.

#3. Force Them Into Passive Positions

Boxers lower their guards to protect the body when they foresee a liver shot. Thus, you can combine different skills and techniques to trap your opponents or lessen their chances of attacking you.

How To Recover From A Liver Punch

When a punch lands on your liver, you might start to feel tired, shaky, and nauseous due to excruciating pain. The liver is flexible and pliable; if one side of the liver gets compressed with a punch, the other side will stretch. 

There are plenty of nerve fibers in the capsule around your liver, linking them to the autonomic nervous system directly. Subsequently, you will feel tired, and pain as the nerve signals will stimulate dozens of events after you got a liver punch.

There are several ways of treating a liver punch and make them less hurtful. We will show you how to speed up the recovery correctly. Let’s figure this out in this post of “How To Recover From A Liver Punch”!

Before The Match:

We suggest you do some exercises that possibly reduce the liver shot’s impact, such as planks, crunches, or jackknife sit-ups. 

Using a medicine ball and throwing it into your abs to prevent being shocked from a liver punch is also a good idea. Do not worry if you can’t find a medicine ball; tell your partner to throw some kicks and hooks with 50% of their power into your stomach abs.

During The Match:

You want to hide away your weakness from the opponents, as they will quickly knock you down after figuring out where to attack you. We suggest you make some distance to have enough time for balancing yourself. More specifically, You should use your footwork to circle the opponent for up to 1 minute and have some time to regain focus. 

If the pain from the liver punch is unbearable, try to breathe normally and use your hand to press slightly on the liver. 

You can decrease the number of liver punches by wearing big shorts, as your body will be a smaller target.

After The Match:

There’s nothing much you can do after the fight as it requires a specific amount of time to recover from a liver punch fully. Although you can continue to practice if your body still feels good, but we don’t recommend you continue sparring sessions or lift heavy things. It is also better to avoid alcohol and take aspirin instead. 

Meanwhile, see the doctor immediately if the pain is unbearable, or you might need surgery if it’s too late.

Recovery Time:

The time of the recovery depends on how heavy was the liver punch. An accurate but slight liver punch only takes around a few days to recover. However, many cases need doctors’ help and stay in the hospital for several months until fully recovered.

>>Read more: Headache after sparring; and white heavyweight champions.

Ways To Block A Liver Punch

You can’t entirely stop a liver shot, but we have some useful information about preventing the liver punch from happening. Here are some tips:

1. Always keep the elbows down to protect both your head and body.
2. Do not lift your arms; keep them close to your upper body to block the punches and save your energy.
3. It is a good idea to flex your muscles, so you are well-prepared. In that way, your body won’t receive much damage, and you possibly continue to fight.
4. Make distances to avoid multiple punches by using your footwork.
5. To prevent liver shots, stand at a suitable angle and don’t stay squared-up against the boxers.
6. Try to keep calm; the opponent can easily hit you in the liver if you are scared and unconcentrated.
7. Train your forearms and make them stronger by doing push-ups and pull-ups. Another way is to hit heavy bags like the athletics of combat sports such as MMA or Muay Thai. Train them as much as you can, but do not overwork yourself.

Read more: Boxing average height by weight class; & Boxers that started late.

Conclusion

Different sports have their risks, especially in boxing. Thus, the liver shots in boxing can lead to death if you did not treat them properly, as the organ is one of the most vital parts of the human body. 

You should not try to continue the match if you feel like fainting or vomiting; seek help as soon as possible and ask someone to carry you outside. Besides, it would be best if you took extreme medical care when experiencing severe pain after a match as it might be a sign of internal bleeding, bruised liver, or broken ribs. 

After reading this article, we hope you know how to recover from a liver punch effectively and prevent them from happening during the fight. Thank you for your attention, and have a great day!

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