Tag: injuries

When It Rains, It Fucking Pours!

Part 1

I talked to a personal trainer / physiotherapist today about by leg pain.  He had me do a few little tests and stretches to pinpoint the pain and describe the feeling.  He determined that I have a small tear in my hip flexor.  Nothing major, but serious enough that it needs to be rested to heal.  It’s not a big deal in day-to-day life, but a pretty big deal when it comes to playing BJJ and skiing.

Part 2

Minutes after we were done, I got a call from my doctor with the results of the MRIs I had on my knees last Friday.  I literally feel like I am going to cry as I type this.  I’ve blogged before about the knee injuries and multiple surgical repairs I have had in my life.  The results are:

Left knee (last surgical repair in 1996)

  • ACL graft holding but shifted position and rubbing on bone (it will ware out if left alone)
  • Severe meniscus tear
  • Arthritis
  • Surgery needed

Right knee (last surgical repair in 2002)

  • ACL graft 100% torn
  • Meniscus completely worn away (bone on bone)
  • Sever arthritis
  • Surgery needed

My Doctor is requesting a priority consult with orthopedics.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!!!

This may be the end of the martial arts and skiing…

Bumps and Bruises, Pulls and Tares

Everyone who practices BJJ is familiar with these.  Bumps and bruises happen training every day.  The pulls and tares are far less frequent (hopefully anyways).  Since I’ve been practicing BJJ I have been KOd by going head first in to a cement pillar surrounding the competition area, tore my left pectoral, dislocated my shoulder, broken my finger, broken my nose (several times), popped my knees (both, several times), received stitches, received black eyes, and now pulled my groin (not in a good way).

It’s my own fault.  I came to class with little time to spare.  As I popped in my mouth guard and stepped on the mat, we got right in to it.  I had no time to warm up.  As you get older (I’ll soon be 40), you need to prep the body for combat if you want to be injury free.  I made it through drilling ok without getting hurt, but rolling… That’s another story.

I was sparring against a big and strong kid.  His BJJ level is very low, but he’s got a lot of natural instincts for it.  He’s a former football player and did some wrestling in highschool.  He’s got a double leg that’s more like a spear.  When I go against him, I always pull guard and work my way out.  It’s great practice for me.  Well I was trying to keep him in a closed guard for a kimura sweep.  He pushed hard and tried to break guard and I squeezed my adductors as hard as I could.  It worked, but after the match, my left groin was quite sore.

I finished the rest of the rolls, but played half or butterfly guard.  Last night while in bed, every time I rolled over I would wake to a sharp pain.  Now I barely sleep as it is, so needless to say, it was a long night.  Today it is very sore as well.  I couldn’t do too much at the gym.  I spent my time on the rowing machine, skipping, and riding the bike.  Hopefully it heals quickly.  I don’t want to miss too many classes if I can help it.  I already miss enough between work and not being motivated.  The final OJA tourney of the season is coming up and if I want to compete, I’ll need all the training I can get.

Dammit!!!

I went to BJJ last night feeling pretty good.  We started off with a kind of shark bait/takedown warmup.  Basically we had takedown (of any kind) matches.  When someone was clearly taken down, they were declared the loser.  The loser stayed in until they weren’t the loser anymore.  There were a couple of new people who did not participate, so there were 4 of us that went for 10 min.  Sweaty…  We all had our share of wins.  There were double legs, single legs, body locks, arm drags, the “Northern Lights Suplex”, and a scissor attempt.  It was good fun.

We went in to drilling the armbar from guard, to triangle, to oma plata sequence.  Everything was going well.  I was working smoothly and taking my time to ensure proper technique.  Then, for no apparent reason, whist executing the triangle with right ankle behind left knee, my left knee popped.  It immediately started hurting.  I stopped of course.  For some reason, I couldn’t straighten it.  It was like it was locked at a 90 degree angle.  When I tried to straighten it, there was a lot of pain.

I put ice on it right away and went to the side of the mats.  Nobody really seemed that interested…  Nice… Anyways, I sat there and started to work it out.  Finally I said “fuck it” and force straightened it.  There was a clunk inside like everything was realigning and the pain immediately subsided.  “Queer and unusual”, I thought to myself.

I didn’t go back to the mats.  I went home to ice it.  Nobody even said goodbye.  lol.  That’s ok.  I know I am insignificant.  Anyways, there was little swelling this morning so I think it’s ok.  Maybe there is some meniscus folded over or something.  Maybe it was a slight dislocation…  I have no idea really.  I told my wife it was a dislocation because that’s totally what it felt like.  I made a Dr appointment for Monday.  I’ll get him to send me to a specialist.  If it feels ok tomorrow, I’ll go back to the mats…  Might as well.

Holdin’ Up?

I’m in the middle of my daily workout right now. I decided to give the knee a fairly heavy weighted run trough,!just to see if it holds up. Lol. Ya, probably not the best way to let it heal. Whatever, I never claimed to be smrt.

The first 2 exercises of my Day 1 routine are barbell deadlifts and dumbbell step ups. I went pretty heavy (for me) on the deadlifts. Things seem to be ok so far. Still feels a little wobbly though…

I’m not even really worried if it’s injured badly enough that I can’t go back to BJJ. All I can think about is the possibility that I won’t be able to ski. Well… I’d do it anyways and deal with the consequences later. That’s just the kind of asshole I am.