Someone up there has it in for me!
 

Two weeks ago, on a Friday, I had my head split open. Blood everywhere. Ew.

Last friday, I was in a major car crash.

Today, on Friday 13th, I have shattered a bone in my hand, and I now have my entire right arm in plaster. Now, of all the times it could be, when would you reckon my 5th Kyu Aikido Grading would be?

That's right - tomorrow!

Looks like I'll be the hapless white belt for another 6 months.. :(

Re: Someone up there has it in for me!
 

Ouch...

You're in Britain right? No chance of me running into you today...right???? :D

Ron (no, seriously, hope you get better, and stop hurting yourself!)

Re: Someone up there has it in for me!
 

Make your own luck from now on: start taking responsibility for everything on the road (not just your own car), throw yourself into the physical therapy for your arm, and think of your head wound as shugyo. Emerge from these events stronger than ever.

Re: Someone up there has it in for me!
 

Ouch. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Regards,

Paul

Re: Someone up there has it in for me!
 

With a little patience and healing, you'll give a better performance in your 5th kyu testing. Work towards that.

Think of this as a challange rather than an obstacle.

Take care and be well.

Re: Someone up there has it in for me!
 

At least you still have your dignity right?

Re: Someone up there has it in for me!
 

that stinks a lot!....some thing like that happened to me...

one week i accidentally got stabbed right on the top of my head with a tanto(wooden knife) during class and that was a bloody, and painful mess. :uch: (that was totally my fault though :blush: )

and then the next week i was the uke for this one guy and somehow when he blocked my strike he stabbed me in the eye with his hand, :crazy: (that was a complete accident) and that was swollen and bleeding and i couldnt see... it was bad.

does any one have any suggestions on what to do when you do get hurt badly, or how to avoid it during training? :rolleyes:

(i look around myself and no one else gets hurt like i do(within a dojo), so im thinking i must be doing something wrong)

Re: Someone up there has it in for me!
 

After a week like that, you could just rejoice in still being alive!

Some things I've been told about avoiding injury:

--Don't train when exhausted, or if this is what your school demands, work up to it slowly. (The first time I did classes three days in a row, I hurt myself--just like my seniors had told me I would. I can do this easily now, but it took a while.)
--Get enough sleep, drink plenty of water, and eat sensibly.
--Don't train when badly upset, or at least focus on doing safe stuff first until you calm down. If your dog just died, it's the wrong time to work on high breakfalls.
--Don't get into a competitive mindset where you're trying to beat your partner. Avoid training with people who get that way with you. (If your school teaches competive forms, it's a good idea for you and your partner to be clear, every time, if this is competition-style or training-style practice.)
--If a technique doesn't work, slow down and figure out why; don't speed up instead.
--When you fall, get up right away before someone steps on you. (I wish I could get our 8-10 year olds to grasp this one.)
--Finally, if you notice that your ukemi are unusually crappy today, sit out. I nearly broke my collarbone a few weeks ago by disregarding this. One not-too-good roll...another one...CRUNCH.

Mary Kaye

Re: Someone up there has it in for me!
 

thanks! thats some good advice... i geuss i already knew those things but i was kinda in denial about them. but i think i might do better now, after learning things the hard way!

Re: Someone up there has it in for me!
 

Cheers for the support - Think I'll stay in on Fridays from now on ;)

Re: Someone up there has it in for me!
 

The mind can still do the work for the moment you are recovering. visualizing stuff and all that.
Get well soon!!!

Re: Someone up there has it in for me!
 

They say bad things happen in threes, so I think you're about done. Just do whatever the doctors tell you to do. I wish you good luck and a speedy recovery. :)

Don't feel too bad about missing your kyu test. In the grand scheme of things you haven't lost much.

Re: Someone up there has it in for me!
 

Yeah, you didn't miss much by delaying your test. It's just more time to get better at what you have to do!

Re: Someone up there has it in for me!
 

It's the Law of Averages: you probably equalized things after someone won a fortune, so that in general people will have average luck. (If you find the guy who won, ask him to buy you a pizza or something.) Heal well!

It took me a while to realize that. I've got some ribs that sublux pretty often along my spine (I'm working on getting them to stay put via chiropractice and exercises), and if they're stuck far enough out of place my ukemi is decidedly lopsided even when I'm just warming up. Once I ignored it and wound up cracking a rib after about my 30th fall. Now I consider warmup ukemi both a warmup and a diagnostic.

Re: Someone up there has it in for me!
 

That reminds me of the poll along the lines of "If your doctor told you continuing Aikido would be bad for you..."

Re: Someone up there has it in for me!
 

Im also in the injured club Calum. There should be a 'broken aikidoka' forum I reckon. Sorry to hear about your injuries, hope you get better soon! As for the test, I know missing it this time is probably driving you nuts (I think im going to miss my 1st kyu too, which was scheduled for the 18th of june) but it really does just give you more time to rock the grading when you get to do it. My 5th kyu was put off about 8 months and when I finally got to do it I managed to get 4th kyu because of all that extra training. So chin up! :)

Re: Someone up there has it in for me!
 

(unless chinning up hurts ...) (yes, I know it's an expression, I just couldn't resist.)

And as for whether I'd practice if my dr said it was bad for me: Fortunately, my doctor has some MA training (aikido, even) and so is good about it -- he told me I'm welcome any time, he has a daughter in college to pay for. And my chiropractor also has MA training and is an avid runner; so they both understand that overall this stuff is good for us/me and there'd be no use telling me to stop, anyway.

Re: Someone up there has it in for me!
 

yes. some doctors tend to be hesitant to let people do any MA after being injured. Fortunately my doctor does kendo and has never told me to quit because of health reasons. Actually it's good for my diabetes (type 1). See! Lifes little bonuses ;)

Re: Someone up there has it in for me!
 

Its normally been my experiance that doctors ive seen say to stop training while injured or whatever and they give massive time frames for something to heal. But I had to visit a different doctor last time and I was pleasantly surprised when he told me he used to train in karate and jujitsu but stopped for medical school. He told me I should keep my training up and dont quit because I would regret it like he had. Nice chap.

Re: Someone up there has it in for me!
 

Heh, where do I find one of these martial arts doctors, I'd appreciate not being told to stop doing this as much :p

Re: Someone up there has it in for me!
 

haha yeah me too! (i once had something wrong with the bones in my feet and was told that i wouldnt be able to train for months... but i went to class the next day... and continued to go... and my problem got better anyway! so what do those doctors know?!

Re: Someone up there has it in for me!
 

One of my friends at school was accident prone to an unbelievable extent. For example, in Chemistry class, the teacher would warn, "Don't ..." and before the words were out of his mouth my friend had already done it. He mixed the wrong stuff, broke stuff, burned stuff... It was dangersous to be his partner. Once, we went ice-skating ... he did a classic Charlie Chaplin move where he slipped and slipped and slipped causing all those behind him to jump or panic and fall down, yet, he did not fall down. If that guy ever started a martial art ...

Re: Someone up there has it in for me!
 

Your friend sounds kinda like me...which is why I went into biochem and not organic chem like my professors wanted... After one fun incident with boiling acid and another fun incident with acidic fizz I was honestly afraid that I'd kill or maim myself if I stuck with pure chemistry. Not that I haven't done anything stupid like splash a chemical into my eye (yes, I had googles, no, I wasn't wearing them, no, I have no excuse), catch my gloves on fire, spill a bottle of really stinky stuff all over the back of the lab, etc. Sometimes I don't know why my advisor took or keeps me on.

I had a foot problem too a while back. I ignored it for a couple months, but it got worse and worse and finally I had to tape it up just to walk around my apartment and that's when I went to Student Health. The NP I got sent to told me to stay off the mat. I tried to obey, failed, tried again, and only suceeded because my boyfriend had a tantrum. But it wasn't getting better so I went to a sports doc, she gave me a thing to put in my shoe, and two weeks later I was more or less better. Better enough to get a very tentative okay from the doc at least, and that was all I needed... This happened during a very stressful time and it was really hard not to be able to go to class and get the anxiety beaten out of me.

Re: Someone up there has it in for me!
 

" This happened during a very stressful time and it was really hard not to be able to go to class and get the anxiety beaten out of me. "

Pervert. ;)

I had a broken toe which I did nothing about and it cropped up a few times when someone on the mat would stand on the foot or stub the toe (prompting much cursing). After a few months I went to a nightclub that was particularly busy and got it stood on, danced on, jumped on so many times that I could hardly limp the next day. Still went training though, the silly boy I am :p

Re: Someone up there has it in for me!
 

I completely understand the desire to get stress beaten out via aikido. I did that a lot last fall, especially Monday nights after working at my very unpleasant job. I just get called masochistic. The fact that I have a hard time keeping myself off the mat when I hurt myself doesn't help. The usual list, bruised ribs, sprained toes, twisted ankles... :rolleyes: