Injuries in the Martial Arts

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?

Titles in the Martial Arts - Good or Bad?

There are a plethora of titles given to various degrees of experience and skills in the martial arts.  There are strict and not so strict rules associated to each title.  Many require a certain age combined with a set number of years at a black belt dan, or rank.  Some refer specifically to a dan ranking, and some are used as an indication of a person’s impact on the martial arts as a whole.

I have nothing against titles.  Using certain titles can be a way to show a deep amount of respect for someone’s skill level, their teaching ability and dedication to their students and their art.

I find it curious then, when certain high ranking black belts insist on being called by certain titles.  They are offended by anything other than being referred to as 'grandmaster' this or 'high commander' that.   It strikes me as an indicator of either arrogance or insecurity.

I believe there should be a degree of proper etiquette in a dojo or training facility.  Titles are part of this, and should be used appropriately, but in my opinion, no one should be offended if they are referred to simply as ‘Sensei’.  

Translated, ‘Sensei’ most closely means ‘one who has come before’, and usually refers to the status of teacher.  In my mind, this is a both a compliment and an indicator of respect.  You have, in many ways, given yourself up to them, trusting in them to provide proper instruction and lifesaving knowledge.  

There are times I refer to my Sensei by another title, but this is most often done in times of introduction or ceremony.  And typically, use of these titles is initiated by the students, or by other instructors, not at the insistence of the 'title-holder'.

Again, there are times when certain titles should be used, but I would have to question anyone who was offended if I referred to them as ‘Sensei’ during training.  

Sadly, I have seen one such “grandmaster” refuse to acknowledge a very new student during his visit to another dojo because the young lad didn’t know his 'exalted' status and referred to him as Sensei on the mats.  What was sad is that he completely ignored the young man who was (innocently) asking a question.  

Looking back, it is more comical really, conjuring up an image of a “master” covering their ears and saying “I can’t hear you, na na na na na” with a bewildered young many having no idea what was going on.  That would make a cute cartoon…

There are ways to correct a misstep of protocol or etiquette, but you can’t force respect on someone.  If you need to be called a certain title in order to feel validation, perhaps you need more work in the area of ego.  

For me, calling someone Sensei will always be a sign of true respect.

Warrior Mindset - Part II

In the last part, Warrior Mindset, I discussed one of two strategies for preparing to hurt someone, or to be hurt in a violent encounter.  The first was training with contact.  The next is:

• Visualization/mental rehearsal and drawing on past tactile experiences

Most importantly, you need to visualize actually committing violence and causing injury to another person.  Most people can do this to some degree, but most do not really think it through.  They envision movie violence as opposed to real violence.  Often this is the only kind of violence people have seen, so it’s not surprising that real violence is often shocking to them.  

How would it feel to break someone’s limb?  What would it sound like?  What would they do?  Scream, fight back?  How would it make you feel?  What if you had to smash their face into the concrete?

Remember, real violence is disgusting, even for the victor (unless you’ve got problems...).  

So, if we only visualize the upsetting nature of violence, this could potentially work against us.  You need to balance this by finding out why (or if) you are prepared to commit violence in the first place.  To do this, you need to be confident up front that:

• You did not want to be part of this encounter
• You did whatever you could to avoid it

If you know these two things, then you can know you didn’t have a choice.  You have been forced into the situation, against your will.  You will be filled with self-doubt if you could have easily walked away, and you may have to consider legal repercussions of the situation.

You are then left with an unavoidable situation where you didn’t have a choice.  The only thing you control is your decision to fight back or not.

You now need to ask yourself what, or who, is at risk?  

Let me ask you this?  Who would you be prepared to fight for?  Your spouse/partner, parent, child or other loved one?  Would you be prepared to commit violence to protect them?  

Most people have someone they would be willing to do this for.  So let me ask you this.  If you are someone’s spouse/partner, or someone’s parent or even someone’s child, what impact would you not coming home have on them?  If you are faced by unavoidable, unwanted violence, it’s not just you that is at risk.  The attacker is threatening those closest to you as well.  

This is one way to prepare you to commit violence on others.  Understand that your loved ones may as well be standing there, as they are equally at risk, albeit not from the physical act itself.

To sum up, the two things you need to know:

• That you did everything to not be involved in the attack.
• That you are protecting more than just you and your body.

This can go a long way to prepare you to commit violence on another.  Visualizing the actual event then becomes slightly less unsettling and can serve more to anticipate or prepare for what might logically follow.  After all, if someone yells “STOP!”  when you are forced to hurt them, are you going to let them go as a reflex or have you resigned yourself to continuing until you know you can get away safely/get help?  You also need to know that what you are doing is not about punishing your attacker, or trying to hurt them.  It is about doing what you have to in order to survive and get away. 

This is all about mindset and the will to win. 

The military has a relatively short time to train their soldiers and yet they become extremely effective warriors.  Do you think they are taught secret techniques never seen by anyone else?  No.  It’s all about mindset, knowing that they have to win and knowing what, and who, they’re fighting for.  And training to keep fighting, no matter what.  To never give up.  Ever.

Never give up.  Ever.  Even if you’re hurt or injured (see last article).  Keep fighting until you can get away safely and get help.

Developing this mindset outweighs any physical training by a long shot. 

Now, I did mention drawing on past tactile experiences.  This sort of fits into both categories of physical and mental training.

Have you ever been punched in the face?  Not a sparring error, but actually hit hard, punched or kicked in the head or face by someone trying to hurt you?  

Most people haven’t.  Unfortunately, or fortunately, I have.  I know what it feels like.  It sucks.  And it hurts.  And it’s shocking.  I say unfortunately because it happened and I didn’t prevent it.  I say fortunately because I used it as a learning opportunity.  I know how it feels.  I mentioned it hurts.  It does, but for me the worst pain didn’t come until later when it really set in.  What it did do was make me disoriented, it caused a ringing in my ears and distorted sounds and caused a slightly ‘out of it’ sensation.  The world wasn’t quite right for a bit. 

I had the peculiar experience of recognising I’d been hurt and that it wasn’t minor, but I was not quite able to determine to what degree.  It took a while to sort out what had happened, making me slower to react.  We’re only talking seconds, or milliseconds here, but as we all know, that can make all the difference.

So, the first time it happened, I was slow to re-orient myself and respond.  I now use those sensations as a ‘trigger point’ for a ramped-up response.  Those sensations only occur when I’m in considerable danger, so I am now prepared to respond rapidly with a serious response.  

This serves well professionally for many (law enforcement, security, military etc), but can just as easily be applied to ‘normal’ life as well.

You don’t necessarily need to have been attacked to rely on previous tactile experiences.  As you know, your grey matter is flexible and you can be too.

Many years ago, I was getting out of my car in a parking lot on a windy day.  A strong gust of wind caught my car door as by head was turned away.  I turned my head just in time to be struck by the door full force on the side of the head and face.  After having experienced violence later in life, I am struck (no pun intended) by the similarities of the experiences.  Those same shock, disorientation, ringing and ‘out of it’ sensations were present then.  At the time, I was violence free, so to speak, so I didn’t realize that I could have used that experience to develop a ‘trigger’ to fight back.  The only real difference was the source of the attack, door vs. person.

Many of you will be able to remember, likely in considerable detail, a time in your life where you got hurt.  Maybe you hit a tree tobogganing, maybe you got hit by a car, fell off a bike etc.  These traumatic events tend to remain in memory for most of your life.  

Find one of these experiences, re-live it your mind, including the sensations, and then move it into the self-defense/preservation section of your brain.  Any time you experience similar sensations, you are ready to fight for your life.

This stuff works.  So the next time a car door hits you in the face and your hands come up as you get ready to strike out, be proud of yourself.  Caught unaware, it’s just as likely that the car door is an attacker who blindsided you.  The only difference is you’re ready for it.

I’ve covered off two broad categories and strategies for preparing yourself to be hurt and to hurt others.  I hope you can utilize some of my recommendations to better prepare yourself if you are forced to commit violence for self preservation. 

Train well,
JM.  

Warrior Mindset

Brett over at kyokushin blog left the following comment on one of my posts on Post Violence - Surviving the Aftermath, Part I,  2, 3 and 4.

He wrote "One question: You said that the mental aspect of training, and the readiness to be hurt and hurt others is something that has to come from within. I agree with this and have tried exploring these ideas, but perhaps you can elaborate on where you started when you began this aspect of your training?"

So how does one prepare themselves mentally to be hurt, or to hurt others, when confronted with unavoidable violence?

This is not an easy question to answer.  It is different for everyone.  It is a form of mental gymnastics in many ways.  

First – How do you prepare yourself to be hurt?

The first thing you need to recognize is that you will likely be hurt or injured to some degree during a violent encounter.  It is possible you’ll come out unscathed, but if you don’t prep yourself for the likelihood of being hurt, the situation could be disastrous for you.

Here’s one of the strategies I recommend:

• Train with contact.  

Safety is paramount in training, but pain and contact are important parts of effective preparation.  It will be challenging to deal with pain and injury if you’ve never been hit.  

There is a natural degree of shock that most people experience when they get hit/hurt.  Training to fight through this, or not to freeze when it happens, is extremely important.  I am by no means recommending that you beat each other up during training, but simply playing tag or no contact training (depending on your art) is largely ineffective for preparing for pain/injury. 

I think it was Mike Tyson that said “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth”.  Perhaps not the most eloquent saying, but he makes a good point.  

You can further enhance training with contact with physical conditioning.  Breath control, keeping your core tight and resistance training can help greatly. 

My own Sensei also assists me with the Shinai stick…anyone who’s met one of these little babies will know what I’m talking about…

For those who don’t know what this is, it’s a training stick, or sword, often used in Kendo training.  In our dojo, it is often used to test our stances, focus and balance.  How?  When doing stance work or movement drills requiring total body alignment/muscle tightening, Sensei will strike us with the shinai stick, usually in the stomach, legs, or rump.  It's not meant to injure, but if you’re not paying attention, it really smarts.  It’s not a solid stick, by the way, but still quite effective.  I’ve included a picture of a shinai for your reference. 

My Sensei often half jokes that if you get hit harder in training then you would in the street, you’ll think “Is that it?” if a real attack occurs.  

* Please note that building up to this level should occur slowly over time.  I do not recommend going full out on a new student, or ones that do not have a great deal of confidence at their level of training.  

Getting used to pain, even to a lesser degree than you might receive on the street, will allow you to continue fighting, or to react faster if an attack occurs.  Your brain won’t have to take the time to figure out what this new sensation is.  As covered in previous articles, your brain will search for a time you have experienced the same, or a similar situation, before you will physically react to it.  The faster it finds something, the faster you react/respond. 

In other words, the faster your brain says “Been there, done that”, the faster, and better, you’ll respond.

Beyond just contact, using pain as a training tool is also important.  The reason I mention pain separately (since getting hit hurts too) is mainly focused on martial arts that utilize joint locks, chokes, controls, breaks etc.  It is very important to take a technique to a point where your training partner needs to tap or submit to avoid injury.  This benefits both parties.  For the person applying the technique – they learn where the break/injury will occur (preparing to commit violence).  It allows the person receiving the technique to experience pain (preparing to receive violence), and to be able to differentiate between something that just hurts and something that will cause injury.  

If you know your arm is about to break in a real encounter, you can either steel yourself to it (minimizing shock temporarily) or you can adjust/increase the severity of your response accordingly.

That’s on the physical training side of things.  In the next part, I’ll discuss the mental training and some strategies you may wish to use for this.
Train safely,

JM.

Post Violence - Surviving the Aftermath - Part IV

In the last three parts, Post Violence - Surviving the Aftermath - Part I,  Part II and Part III we discussed the aftermath of a violent encounter.  We focused mainly on what happens when you “lose” the encounter, both in your mind and the impact it may have on your training.
So what happens to you if you “win” the encounter?  If you did come out the victor, you probably found yourself in one of these categories:

• Your training worked flawlessly and you easily dispatched your opponent effortlessly.
• Your training kind of worked, or it didn’t, but you won anyway.

If you fit into category #1, keep doing whatever you’re doing.  I don’t think I’ve ever met someone in this category.  Quite frankly, most people will experience varying levels of category #2.  

You should be very happy if some of your physical training kicked in.  This is a good sign that you are training in the right way, with the right mindset.

Most likely, assuming you remember what you did to be successful, you will be questioning your technique and training somewhat.  These are good lessons to learn.  What worked well, what didn’t and where you need to focus your efforts.

So far, all positive stuff, right?  

It’s not really that simple, unfortunately.  A surprise to some is how traumatic winning an encounter can be. 

Many will be shaken by the experience.  Many will believe it was purely luck that allowed them to win.  Many will question whether or not they could ever repeat the techniques (if any) that they used.  Many will beat themselves up for reverting to a more base style of primal combat instead of being a polished martial artist.  Many will question whether or not they should continue to train at all if they revert to a big arm swinging, gross motor style of fighting, similar to children in a school yard scrap.  Some will question their art, some their teacher, some themselves.

Some will be sickened by the fact that they may have injured someone else.  Some will question if they went too far.  Some may be embroiled in the legal system.

Some will constantly re-live the experience when they close their eyes.  Some will become paranoid and hyper-vigilant, sensing danger around every turn.  Some may overreact to perceived threats.  Some will want to stay home and withdraw from their other activities, preferring to remain in a safe zone.  Some will become overprotective of their loved ones.  Some will arm themselves.

The potential impact that a real violent encounter can have on you is essentially the same whether you win or you lose.  A trauma is a trauma.  You may experience any or all of the same symptoms, regardless of who ‘won’.  

Occasionally someone who “loses” will seek out confrontation to try to prove themselves, essentially overcompensating to try to deal with their insecurity and self-doubt.  Having said that, some “winners” will feel the same need to seek out a fight to validate that they could, in fact, win again.

Obviously, the true way to be a winner is to avoid a confrontation altogether, but that is not what this discussion is all about.  In truth, occasionally violence is unavoidable. 

There are no true winners in a violent encounter.  Everyone will lose something in the process.  This is exactly why our training should have the multi-faceted approach of: 

• Awareness/avoidance
• Mental Preparation
• Physical Skills development.

We train to prepare to respond to violence in a (generally) peaceful society.  We should spend some time preparing ourselves for what might realistically transpire if violence does find us, and the fallout of same.  We should know that a martial art is not a panacea, a magical entity on its own that will swoop in and save us.  We need to prepare ourselves mentally just as much as physically.

I hope you’ve been able to take something of value from this series.  Your feedback, as always, is appreciated.

Be Safe,

JM.

Post Violence - Surviving the Aftermath - Part III

In Post Violence - Surviving the Aftermath - Part I  and Part II, we talked about surviving the after effects of violence and some of the mental trauma you may experience as a result.

We discussed ‘losing’ an encounter and the toll it might take on your training, current or future.  Part II ended discussing how people may question or quit their style and/or teacher and how many may think that martial arts don’t work.

I also mentioned the DFL factor.  DFL – ‘dumb F’n luck’ can occur at any time during a violent encounter, do your detriment or to your advantage.  A good fighter can lose to a novice if DFL kicks in.  Know that anyone might get the better of you depending on this factor.  Training is about minimizing the chances of this from occurring.

I told the story of a young man who was mugged on the street after years and years of training in Karate.  He was unable to mount an effective response to it and ultimately quit training, under the belief that Karate (in his case) didn’t work.

I said that it could have been the young man’s training, or it could have been his Sensei or it could have been him.

Any longer term readers of this blog will know that I believe a serious mindset is required for meaningful and effective training.  You can, and should, have fun, of course.  But if your head’s not in the game and you’re just going through the motions in training without connecting the skills to the real world, you’re unlikely to ever learn anything ‘useable’.  

If you’ve never prepared yourself mentally to deal with real violence, no amount of training in the world will help you against a motivated violent attacker.  

You must train your mind to be prepared to respond to violence, and to cause damage to others if necessary, to protect yourself or those you care about.  You must be prepared to do this without hesitation if the encounter can’t be avoided.  

Martial arts are only tools to make this easier to accomplish.  Without the will to win, they are essentially useless for self-preservation.  You must know, and truly believe, that you will prevail.  That you will triumph no matter what and that you will do whatever it takes to survive.

This is the skill that can’t be taught.  It must come from within.  

There are a few methods you can use to help prepare yourself.  Awareness training is one.  Mental role-play/rehearsal is another.  Utilizing the ‘if’ ‘then’ model of thinking.  If this happens, then I’ll do this.

Not only will this decrease your reaction time (make you faster) in the event of an attack, but your mind will have somewhat prepared your body to deal with the whole the host of physiological effects brought about by a traumatic event.  You will also greatly reduce the chances of hesitating, which can lead to disaster.  

You can do this any time, by the way.  For example, if you’re on the subway or public transit, imagine what you would do if the guy/girl across from you suddenly pulled out a knife, or a gun, or even an explosive device.  While the other riders would be confused and disoriented, you could react decisively and quickly, before those around you even knew what was going on.  Practice this mental rehearsal as much as possible.  It can be done anywhere at any time.

Another often overlooked area, is steeling yourself mentally, to really hurting someone else, if needed.  We are surrounded by sexy images of movie violence.  It’s not.  It’s ugly and upsetting, even for those on the winning side (assuming you’re not a predator).  It won’t look good, it won’t feel good and it may hurt you as well, physically.  Many a hand has been broken hitting others.  Often the winner is the one that is less hurt in an encounter.  Expect to fight with pain.  For some, it will hurt then, for others, the pain won’t set in until after.  Whatever the case, prepare your mind to fight though anything, including the sight of your own blood, or broken limb etc.  It’s about survival at this point.

Don’t expect your martial arts to ‘rescue you’ or just kick in when you need them.  This is not to say that you can’t drill a skill until it becomes an instinctive response.  You may actually react instinctually to an initial grab or strike, but if you’re not mentally prepared to follow up, that may be as far as you get.

Personally, I don’t expect my martial arts to work perfectly, if at all, during a real violent encounter.  I expect that I will survive no matter what and if my martial arts training help, that’s a bonus.  If it allows me to cause less damage to myself or my attacker, or to end the encounter more quickly, then it’s been a success.  If I’ve worked on my awareness and mental rehearsal skills enough, I may be able to more closely resemble the cinematic martial arts response.  If I’ve reacted quickly enough due to my mental preparation, it may look like I saw it coming.  Interjecting early enough into an encounter may allow a successful joint lock, takedown, wrist lock, weapon disarm, or even certain strikes to be delivered, shutting your attacker down at the onset, minimizing damage to both you and your attacker.  Or just as importantly, it may prevent a situation from escalating past its initial stages altogether.

I do a great deal of this mental rehearsal due to my professional role.  It has prevented situations from escalated more times than I can count.  I’ve used Jiu Jitsu successfully on several occasions, and I’ve also had it not work.  It didn’t really matter though, as losing was not an option for me.  Nor should it be for you.

Training to survive a violent encounter is really a 3 step process.

• Awareness
• Mental Preparation
• Training

The actual practicing of the physical skills is the smallest part of preparing for violence.  It’s a very important part, mind you, but it should be what you spend the least amount of time on, even if you train every day.

If I could give you the mental fortitude and the will to win, I’d be a rich guy.  But I can’t.  No one but you can do this.

Now that we’ve discussed what you need to bring to the table, you can hopefully more accurately assess what, if anything is lacking in your martial art or your teacher, or in you.  You can decide if you’re getting ‘translatable’ skills.  By this I mean skills or techniques that make sense to you, ones that you think you could actually apply, taking into account the most likely kind of attacks you might face, as well as the most likely kinds of attackers.  This will be influenced by where you live, what kind of work you do, what you do is your spare time and the hours you keep, to name just a few.

Now that you’ve made an assessment of what your training does or doesn’t need,  we can move on to touch on winning, long term effects, and the healing process.  

Just like that...

The post would normally be the third in my series on post violence survival, but it's not.

The other day, I received a text advising that an extended family member had been killed in a car crash.  While I was not close to this person, I could not help but think:

"Wow, just like that...gone".  

In an instant, one life is gone and the lives of those close to them are changed forever.  Just like that.

Life can change in an instant and as careful as we all are, bad things can happen.  

I try to use these times to make sure I appreciate those around me, to love my friends and family and to let them know I do, through words and through actions. To not take things for granted.

I hope you do the same.  And thanks for reading.

JM.