Dont worry Chad!!
Your wounds will heal, just keep on stretching(gently though! dont break it!).
Although I will tell you right now I am not a medical technician, I have had some serious Aikido injuries(and non Aikido), one actually VERY SIMILAR to yours! ahahhah!
My first injury was non-Aikido related, and happened when I was new at my training. I was snowboarding and hit a tuff of snow and flew backwards down the mountain. I foolishly tried to catch myself with my hands behind me as I fell, which is a common mistake for non-martial artists. Needless to say, my left wrist fractured in 2 spots. This led to cast for 6 months and it was very painful to use for nikkyo, sankyo and kotegaishi for about 3 months afterwards. I kept exercising it, and now it only pops sometimes. Im happy to say though, that Aikido has dramatically improved my snowboarding skills! Just think tenkan exercise when you are switching from toe to heel edge or from regular to goofy. I dont think it improved my jumps tho
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My second injury was more recent Im sorry to say. I was practicing with a yudansha and I was asking about a sankyo kaeshiwaza i had seen and I showed it to him. I was asking how I could improve my technique so that the kaeshiwaza wouldnt work (since it shouldnt work against perfect technique). He replied that if the sankyo was started early enough, I wouldnt have the time to drop down low to return sankyo to him for this particular kaeshiwaza. So we tried it and my right wrist popped. He asked if I was ok, and I thought I was, because it didnt hurt at the time. Then when I went to the changing room, it hurt a lot! And a few days after I realized it had been dislocated. This wound healed within 2 months and makes no noises. It was my fault really for not doing the ukemi right. Had I merged with his center sooner, I would have been fine. I suppose thats what I get for "testing techniques" as was stated earlier
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My most recent Aikido injury was when I was taking ukemi for someone who was doing a morotedori kotegaishi. Somehow during the technique the dorsal plate in my left pinky finger got hyperextended, or at least I think thats how the doctor explained it. We're not really sure how it happened, but we suppose my finger might have gotten bent backwards and then had the upper-middle section shoved down with the hand that doesnt have the grip. I spent about a week and a half with a splint on it. After that, I would bandage it to my other fingers while practicing for about a week. I even took a kyu test while bandaged, which I was very scared I was going to miss! Although it doesnt interfere with my practice at all, during any of the techniques, it still hasnt healed fully after 4 months. If I press it just right, it still hurts, though not like it did.
Becuase I kept exercising my injuries, they are actually more flexible then they were before they were hurt. And although there are people who have unnatural flexibility due to past injuries, I really dont believe I am one of these people; I would just stretch it a little every day.
Take heart! Hope this helps!
Jeff
