Hello!
My name is Daniel Cousins, and I am a Biomechanist and HEMA fencer. My path here began with a sports science segment during the 2012 London Olympic Games, explaining the Iron Cross position in the rings. This was the first time I saw someone explaining how different movements can create stress on the body. Growing up, I continued to watch sports science clips like Rory McIlroy putting on glass and an analysis of Houston Alexander’s punch. Going through school and actually studying these topics was less flashy than the show made it seem, but the spark never went away. I eventually got my MSc in ergonomics and am currently pursuing my PhD in neuromechanics, studying the control and compensatory behaviour of the muscles of the forearm.
Like most kids, I grew up with an interest in knights and medieval times which never went away, it just changed into a love of the Fantasy genre. Imagine my surprise when one day I found out that there is an organized way for people to learn how to sword fight for fun! I was at the Oxford Renaissance Fair when I got to talk to some of the people doing a sword fighitng demonstration and from the Barrie based club, Dueling Weapons Academy of Renaissance Fencing (D.W.A.R.F). They told me that there was a club in my area (Niagara Historical Fencing) and I was at my first class two days later.
I was happy to have these two parts of my life run in parallel until someone got stabbed at a tournament in Europe. The sword penetrated their gear and continued into their arm. This started up conversations on how the community needs to tip their swords to stop this from happening again. A puncture is a very rare occurrence, but clearly was still a possibility and is completely preventable. My ergonomics training kicked in, and I saw this as any other kind of occupational injury and wanted to assess it and come up with recommendations on how to prevent it. I did my first experiment on the different materials and sizes of aftermarket tips and their influence on the possibility of a puncture. I did the work, wrote up a paper and was getting ready for the process of peer-review when I realized that wouldn’t be enough.
This was the first time I was studying and writing about a topic that I was a part of and had a stake in. I have friends that I don’t want to get injured, and I don’t want to be injured by someone not using a good enough tip. I would need a better way to communicate the information to the people who will use it than an academic journal article. I also realized that there was a large gap in science-based decisions for other safety and training practices. So I decided to start this passion project of mine. This website is going to be me attempting to balance science to come up with recommendations on how to be safer and better in HEMA while still honouring the martial and historical aspect of it.
I hope you enjoy!
If you have any comments or a topic you’d like to read about, send me an email: theswordscientist@gmail.com
Sword Science 