Yes, fencing injuries do occur; however, these are mostly muscle strains or strains, bruises or sprains. With proper training, warm-ups, stretching, etc. After all, these same injuries occur when children play on the playground. Usually not long after a sting for a few seconds, occasionally the blade can hit a nerve, but I have never hurt myself beyond a bruise.
Sometimes you may get a cut on your hand, but you're more likely to be injured by movement or fall than a razor. Think about gymnastics, for example, a gymnast is in constant contact with the horse with bows or the bar. This is true for a wide variety of sports, including any sport that involves a ball. That hard object can and does cause significant rates of injury.
Yes, fencing involves the use of objects (swords), but there is a low level of contact between the body and these objects and the sword and protective equipment absorb most of the impact. Olympic sports rankings by injury rate consistently show that fencing is one of the safest to participate in. If you can't afford such extravagances, wear a plastron (half-jacket worn under the normal fencing jacket) and avoid old, rusty masks. Fencing started as training for the duels, and the people who were training for the duels wanted to make sure they didn't die.
The sport strictly requires protective equipment for all fencers involved in any fencing activity, and is standard in all fencing schools. While I don't know if there is something officially known as “fencer's elbow”, the movement used in fencing is repetitive and there is a risk of suffering various types of overuse injuries like in other sports. It never ceases to amaze new students how easy and painless fencing feels compared to what they expected. I faced a guy who was very bad, and he threw himself into my attack every time in foil, and while I was accumulating points I had to stop because it hurt like a dog.
When someone mentions fencing and injuries, the first thoughts that come to mind are probably bloody stab wounds. While some sports rely on physical acuity and raw power, fencing is based on finesse and control. Over the centuries, security equipment for fencing has evolved a lot from simple leather buttons on the tips of swords in classic fencing schools. Fencing requires a lot of mental agility, probably more than any other sport, but along with that, fencing also needs power, balance, dexterity and motor skills.
It makes me want to create one or two characters who make fences in order to use this wealth of information. Fragments of a broken blade can be very sharp and cause injury, especially if the fencer does not immediately notice that his blade is broken and continues to wield.
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