Hi - new to forum and aikido and I already have a question

Hello everyone. I was looking around for more information on aikido and I found this forum. I have been studying in Japan for the last couple of months and decided to join my school's aikido club. So I have been doing it for the last couple of months and it has been very interesting experience and I have been enjoying it very much. All the practices are in Japanese so it is difficult at times to understand what I am to do but my senpai and captain are very kind and patient with me. I love learning about aikido.

I also have a question and I don't know if I should post this in a different thread or just keep it here. But here it goes anyway. During one of my practices I hurt my back but I didn't think much of it as the pain usually went away. This time however the pain has lasted for more then two weeks and I can not do any backwards or forwards ukemi without falling into terrible pain on my left side only. It happened during a practice where I was practicing ukemi and my obi and hakama (they have allowed me to wear the hakama after a few months) were jamming into the one spot near my lower back. I didn't adjust my kogi thinking that the pain would go away as it did previously but unfortunately it has stayed. It feels like a bruise but pain travels just around my left side and down and there is no physical bruising on my skin. I've been to doctors and massage therapists here but no one is telling me a definite answer as to what is causing this pain.

Has anyone else had experience with this? I have tried to adjust my obi and hakama so that it does not hit that spot but it still does and I just can't practice. I want to get back into practicing and not disappoint the rest of the club as they had to do a lot of decision making as to whether an international student could join and my fear is that I will be asked to leave.

Does anyone have any advice?

Welcome to the board.

Glad you have seen a Dr about your injury before asking here. Since you have might I suggest trying a chiropractor? It almost sounds like you are getting nerve pain which may be due to a displacement. Only other thing I can think of is a torn muscle and that takes time to heal. You may just need to skip the ukemi for a while until it heals.

Hi Alex,

Welcome to AikiWeb. Please note that you may get more responses to your question if you asked it outside of the Introductions forum.

-- Jun

Alex Melillo wrote: Hi - new to forum and aikido and I already have a question

That doesn't count!
First you have to go to the very first thread on this forum to pick a number. Then you have to wait your turn to ask the question!

Welcome to this forum ;-)

As the semiofficial aikiweb nurse, I have to say that any anecdotal answers you'd get wouldn't be very helpful since none of us can see or feel exactly what structures you have hurt. It could be soft tissue damage, it could be a trigger point creating referred pain, it could be a nerve entrapped or otherwise inflamed - a sports medicine doc or a skilled athletic trainer or a person certified not simple massage but soft tissue (structural integration or myofascial trigger points) may be able to pinpoint the actual cause.
Meanwhile don't push it because an acute injury that doesn't heal will become a chronic injury.

Does it happen when you're not wearing an obi or hakama?

Dan Rubin wrote: Does it happen when you're not wearing an obi or hakama?

It only happened when I started wearing the Hakama. I think it was because I tied it wrong and it kept affecting my ukemi but the pain went away after a day. After that when I had practice again and the pain stayed it stayed for a long time again due to the Hakama's and obi's position but at that time I thought it was just poor Ukemi and not my clothing. Might have been still just bad forward Ukemi on my part but I think the way I tied my obi and then hakama it just "punches" sort of speak into the same spot on my left side but never on my right. When I go back to practice I will adjust it some how to hopefully not hit that area.

It's been a little over 10 days now since I posted this and the pain has gradually gone away but I still feel a twinge when I bend down. I haven't practiced but stretched a bit.

Thank you for all the advice. I was talking to someone who thinks it might be inflamation. I have a week long training camp in two weeks so I am hoping it will be fully better by then.

I would say a sports medicine doctor is your best bet.

My daughter ( a dancer ) had a problem with her leg and could not walk right. Her pediatrician had a x-ray done and then referred her to an orthopedic surgeon. He had a cat scan and MRI done and there was talk of possible bone cancer. My wife decided to take her to a sports medicine doctor. Within five minutes of looking at how my daughter walked he knew that a group of muscles in her leg was underdeveloped compared to the other leg and put her in physical therapy for three months. Problem solved.

From now on for physical injuries or pains the second stop after the family doctor or pediatrician is the sports medicine doctor.

David