The concern that I have with questions regarding injury is that I do not want to provide an "anything goes" outlet for people looking for medical advice. Since there wasn't much input on the original meta question, I decided to add my perspective in the proposed faq (which also didn't receive a lot of feedback either) based on my experience with the Fitness.SE site.
I closed the question that David mentioned, but have reopened it pending the outcome of this meta discussion. I'll let the community come to a consensus here and figure out whether it is on-topic or off-topic for this site. I also invited that user to participate in this discussion, and hopefully he will.
For questions regarding treatment of martial arts injuries, a simple guideline could be:
- Consider all possible evidence to determine whether the injury is directly related to martial arts. Explain what happened and how.
- If the injury is a correlation, there is lack of evidence, or the answer is "see a doctor", then the question probably does not belong on this site.
- When asking your injury question, provide as much detailed information as possible and prove that engaging in martial arts directly caused the injury.
- Let community can decide whether the question sufficiently fits within the site's scope or not. If the question is off-topic, flag it or cast a close vote.
- If the question is considered to be on-topic, the answer appropriately at your own discretion. Provide the best answer based on what is in the question.
The first three steps are fall under the responsibility of the asker. The last two items are the burden of the community. Questions should not be answered if the asker has made generic presumptions about an injury.
I would draw the line similar to what was discussed about general fitness and similar to what @slugster has stated. Show that the injury has a direct relationship to martial arts. If it trends away from that, then it does not belong here.
If that guideline is sufficient for a majority of the questions that come up, then maybe we can decide the end result of marginal questions on a case-by-case basis.