Wednesday, April 2, 2014

On the uses of PAIN



To begin I have to make something perfectly clear. Doctor Harper MD FACS, has made it perfectly clear to me I am not qualified to give medical advice. I trust you pursue a great medical opinion for your concerns. But PAIN is a personal experience you have to deal with, and at different stages in training.

Be it PAIN from stretching, kumite and whole groups of muscles, or even one strand of the qudraceps muscle learning an activity like tai chi. Whether chosen activity or misadventure.


This is something we all have to find a way to deal with during our martial lives.


Recently age and disability caught up with me and I fell, breaking 3 ribs. PAIN being unable to rise, and then two months of PAIN kept me reminded of its existence. The Shin being struck as a beginner, the groin being struck, the bloody nose from kumite, even the PAIN experienced while stretching.  A few examples, not to make you quit, but to instead consider what you learn each time.


The response to PAIN is individual, it is not better or worse. It does hurt all, some ignore it, some learn to deal with it. PAIN is important.


1 PAIN is your body telling you are alive.

2 PAIN is telling you not to do that.

3 PAIN is your teacher

4 PAIN you will listen to, when you are unable to listen to your teacher as it is yours, you earned it.

5 PAIN is either an owie or damaging pain, Only you can say which, ONLY YOU. You must listen to it and act appropriately. Don’t ignore damaging pain and train further, you must seek help. Others on the spot not medically trained can not tell you which pain you have.

6. For some PAIN response brings tears, this is your bodies natural response, not something for others to make fun of.

7. PAIN your body cannot  normally remember your pain. YOU can remember you were in pain, but not the pain. This forget mechanism is how we stay sane. Consider if you break a bone, you cannot re-experience that pain.


To train, to excel, to compete, all require at times us to understand what pain we are experiencing.

However, please remember Dr, Harper’s advice and do not seek my opinion. Get professional help.

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