Injuries.
The bane of the martial artist.
Most people who stay in the martial arts
for any period of time get injured. Look
around any dojo or martial arts school and invariably, you’ll see the long term
students taped, bandaged, bruised, with ankle or knee or wrist or elbow
wraps. It’s a sad reality. Smart and responsible training goes a long
way in preventing injuries, as does proper warm up drills and stretching
(within reason). Self-control during
application of techniques helps too.
Proper diet and nutrition and lifestyle also play a huge role.
Beyond all that, sometimes shi_!!! happens
and your find yourself hurt. It could be
martial arts related, or it could have happened in some other area of your
life. It sucks.
And it happened to me. I’m (fingers crossed) getting better, but I’d
been dealing with pain for months on end, had trouble sleeping because of it and generally
was feeling miserable. The nature of the
injury has prevented me from training for several months, the longest I’ve not
been able to in many years. A side
effect of getting older, as I’m learning, is that you heal more slowly as the
years go on. This adds to the
frustration of it all.
Life goes on, of course, but I was so
pissed off (I know, not very Zen…) that I just sort of checked out of the
martial arts world for a bit, even neglecting this blog.
Now that my head is getting back in the
game, I’d like to share some lessons learned by dealing with an injury.
1. If it hurts to train, don’t
train.
It may sound trite, but
it’s true. I trained once or twice while
injured, and, careful as I was, made it worse.
There are times you can train with injuries, and times you can’t. Figure out the difference.
2. Take the time you’re injured to
pursue something else that interests you that you normally don’t have time
for. Do something different. I’m convinced it’s good for the soul, can
open up new doors, expand your horizons, that sort of thing.
3. Booze and anti-inflammatories
are great for pain, but will give you acid reflux if you use them for too
long. Oh yeah, and neither is good for
you if used long term or in large amounts…
4. Try not to dwell on your injury
too much. Don’t obsess (like I did) over
not being able to train.
5. Supplementation with quality
fish/omega oils really helps the joints. Do your research. Go for the liquid. Pills and capsules are largely a waste of
time. And you get what you pay for,
within reason. There’s a whole host of
other benefits too.
6. This stuff about mobility
exercises and functional movements and core stability? It works.
You’ll be better off for incorporating some into your routine, in the
dojo, gym or home. Take care of your
joints and they’ll take care of you. In
my case, more mobility work in advance might have reduced the severity of my
injury or prevented it altogether.
We
live in a world of increasing inactivity and repeated unnatural movement
patterns (sitting at work, in the car, hunching over cell phones, tables,
laptops etc). It’s important to do what
you can to reset your body’s natural alignment.
About a third of my workouts now (outside of
martial arts) are mobility movements and stability movements. I wish I had bought into this stuff a decade
ago. Maybe I wouldn’t grunt each time I
get up…
Those are a few of the things I’ve learned
from this process.
How about you? Any other tips for dealing with injuries?
