How to Not Get Injured

For the first time in my life I've been experiencing knee pain, apparently as a result of a peculiar knee-walking move that is a regular part of the aikido class I take. When I realized that it was bothering my knees I started sitting out that particular portion of class and the pain went away. Simple as that.

I have to admit it was tough though. Choosing to sit out anything, rather than toughing it out, isn't a simple matter for a long-time athletic type like myself, particularly when I'm doing what's supposed to be a ‘gentle' martial art. Come on, can't I take it? But I've been taking care of myself lately, choosing my long-term health over short-term gratification. Hello, maturity!

I went in yesterday for a Feldenkrais session with one of my instructors-who also happens to be a lifelong aikido practitioner. Inevitably, I asked how I could work around the knee-walking problem, how I could do this knee-walking thing without hurting myself, there must be a way, come one, how can I master this art without doing this thing?

The response that she gave was, essentially, take care of yourself. Don't do it if it hurts. And though I was annoyed that she didn't have an easy, magical fix, I had to agree. If I don't get a black belt in aikido because I can't do on-the-knees techniques, well, so be it. I have great admiration for the head instructor, who's in his ‘80's, but he also has two artificial knees; a couple of his older junior instructors are headed that way as well (I notice that most of them don't knee-walk either; some can't even kneel). I'd just as soon avoid these issues.

My thoughts about this coincided with a blog post by Mike Boyle called, appropriately enough, "Does it hurt?" which went out Friday morning:

I have rehabilitated athletes in almost every major sport who were told they were "all done" by a doctor or a team trainer. Because people know my background, they often ask for advice. Most of the thime they ignore the advice because the advice does not contain the answer ehy want. They say, "It only hurts when I run," I say things like "don't run."

It's a pretty ridiculously easy answer, and yet so many people-myself included-have played hurt, not only to save a life or escape from a fire or keep their high-pressure jobs as professional athletes, but to just...keep playing their sport of choice because they like it.

This is good advice that's worth taking. The following sentence will save you a lot of money in doctor's fees, now and later: figure out what's hurting you and stop doing it.