Last night, we got to do lots of round-robin sparring. Between rounds, I stood with one foot in front of the other, watching my dojo brothers and sisters. When I shifted to even my weight, I literally saw stars. Seems that somehow during the rounds, I'd broken the baby toe on my right foot. That's the injured and swollen digit above, tapped to the one next to it.Of course karate is a contact sport and I know injury is often part of the game. Actually, my lip is a bit swollen today and my left knee is still a bit battered from stance work we did last week. Par for the course in the life of a martial artists, I suspect.
While we were taking off our gear, one of my training partners grimaced when she bent down. She'd gotten a bruise on her foot a while back and was quickly reminded of it when she reached for her bag. "Will we ever be whole again?" she joked.
Par for the martial arts course, I guess...
I thought karate was bad for giving you bruises, particularly on the forearms, but then I took up kobudo. My bruise tally has doubled now that I also get bashed with a jo, tonfa or bokken! Like you say.....par for the martial arts!
ReplyDeleteOooooh! Tonfa! I so, so want to learn tonfa! I'm jealous...
ReplyDeleteAh, broken pinkie toes! I've broken my right little toe three separate times now - oddly enough none of them in karate. It sure does make practice interesting while they heal though. Taping usually worked best for me too. That and lots of ice whenever it got aggravated at me.
ReplyDeleteThe second worst bruise I even got was from a tonfa. I lost control of a swing and bashed myself on the collarbone. The worst though, wasn't from a weapon, but from a knee to the face. I don't recommend that one - cracked my cheekbone and left a good quarter of my face black and purple. One of our clients at work (I was a receptionist) passed me her business card, which puzzled me since she was a long-standing client, until I looked at the back, and she'd written the Domestic Violence Hotline number on the back!
Gracious, PB! Hope you have decent health insurance!
ReplyDeleteWow. Three broken baby toes and a cracked cheekbone from a knee to the face?!? Dang! That's a serious test of a martial artist's mettle...
The baby toe is my first ever bone break, believe it or not. I dislocated the great toe on the other foot about five years ago and even deviated my own septum (my punch was blocked during some LITE drills we were doing and came back and hit me square in the nose - ouch!!), but no bones busted 'til now. Just keep taping it up and heading to the dojo or gym. I did get scratched once during sparring and it left a nasty mark. Whenever someone asked what happened, I told them I had gotten into a fight (well I HAD!!)...
A few of my female MA friends have gotten DV pamphlets or hotline info after being seen one too many times with bruises, cuts or scrapes from training. I betcha most just assume guys with similar injuries just got into a fight or something - eh em...
Yeah - no one ever questioned how my husband came to break his nose. OTOH, I highly recommend that if you ever need an ER post-class, go in your gi, belt and all, while still sweaty. They will think you're crazy (for doing this voluntarily), but at least you won't have Family Services checking you out.
ReplyDeletePoint taken. Thanks for the tip :-)
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