The drawback of doing hand conditioning can be losing at least some of your fine motor skills. Especially if you do it incorrectly and unsupervised over a longer period of time then it almost always results in some sort of damage to the hand which will impair dexterity and will cause pain when you are old.

I have a Karate student who also plays violin. She does some conditioning enough to break a landscape brick and has maintained her finger dexterity. Another one does typing and is one of the fastest in the company. That student too can break a brick. It's all how you do it.

Yes, and so can doing things BEFORE you find out the consequences. You want to be a doctor, then start using your brain FIRST. That means asking this question before you start hand conditioning.

Your the Doctor? Conditioning has to be done correctly and learned from someone who has real experience in it not off someone that thinks they know how, If i was in your position i wouldnt take the chance in ruining a specialist career, i think your walking a fineline.

AON - outstanding answer.

If done incorrectly, ANYTHING can be detrimental to some degree.

Hand conditioning done right, will serve you well. DONE RIGHT!

I'm a black belt in shotokan karate and I've been doing hand conditioning to help strengthen my punches. My concern is that this may prevent me from pursuing surgery in the future. Is this true and what are the consequences of hand conditioning?