The Universe is telling me to quit kendo

[Haowen]

A long time ago in a distant land....

Actually 2 years ago in California, I was happily learning kendo, when I developed trigger finger tendonitis in my left hand.

Stopped for 8 months, and it sloooowly recovered, but then I developed a pinched nerve injury in my right arm for no bloody reason. Since it was aggravated by computer use which I could not avoid, I lived with this injury for a year before it finally healed sufficiently for me to swing a shinai again.

Went back to practice. One session. Hello trigger finger tendonitis my old friend.

Rested for a month. Trigger finger gone. I say to myself, "this week is the week I return to practice".

Then I stumbled on the bus and stepped on someone's outstretched foot and tore my plantar fascia (tendon on the bottom of the foot, you can tell I am getting good at naming the parts of my body that are quick to break and slow to heal).

It's been 3 weeks and there's no improvement in my injury. I've been treating it with bandaging and heat and ice and shoe inserts, but from the looks of things it will be several months before it goes away.

Oh by the way I'm 25 years old, not 75.

It has been utterly impossible. I'm quite ready to give up on kendo forever, having it lurk on the horizon and then disappear with each new injury is just madness-inducing.

[nodachi]

Stick with it. Like the guy pushing the rock up the hill in hell who eventually said I will keep doing this and make it fun and then it no longer felt like hell.

Well, think something kinda like this... Eventually life will stop throwing curve balls your way if you prove to be more stubborn than it.

[Kendoka]

Have you been to a doctor about managing your injuries?

If not please do !

Plantar fasciitis stopped me from normal training (I still trained, but differently) for over a year, then it took/taking ages to get everything to work the way I wanted.

And then 6 months to fix a basic bad habit, that had developed as a result of me trying to protect the injury !

See the doctor!

[Shoki]

Stick with it, it may sound hokey but the things most worth while in life are the ones that put up the greatest struggle. I had Plantar Facetious myself and it does take several weeks to three or more months to go away. I ended up getting physical therapy , but what they had me do you can do at home. It’s all basically stretches. Warm up your tendons by biking or walking, followed by calf stretched, stand feet flat and then raise your self on tipy toes (mmmm feel the burn), after that sit on the floor, legs stretched in front of you, take a belt and loop it over the bad foot (just below the toes, around the ball of the foot). Take up the ends in your hands and pull toward you, hold for a count of ten and repeat. There is also a foot rocker called a “Pro-stretch” that you stand on and rock slowly back and forth to stretch out the tendons. After you’re done wrap with a cold pack. While you are healing up it provides a great time to practice your swing.

[ben]

Yeah, hang in there Haowen. The fall was a one off. The rest is perhaps due to computer use. I know when I've had jobs that involved a lot of typing/mousing my whole right arm and shoulder have been stuffed up and it has really affected my kendo.

Nodachi have you been reading Camus again?

[nodachi]

Sorry, ignorant me forgets who Camus is. I vaguely recall learning that little anecdote sometime from high school, but I wasn't paying much attention then. Forgive me.

:)

[Confound]

Camus: French existentialist writer. If I remember correctly, his father was a petty colonial bureaucrat in one of the African colonies. His most famous novel is 'The Stranger', which is about a murder, and a fellow having heat sickness, to put it very baldly. (I rather liked the book, but there are many, many others I would recommend before it, and prefer to it).

Mayt I recommend some Sartre? He is by far the better writer.

As to the 'fellow pushing a boulder up the hill in hell', you'll find him mentionned in the Aenid, and I think the Odyssey. You may also hear of the hungry and thirsty fellow standing waist deep in a pool with some fruit just out of reach, and other diverse and interesting torments. If this sparks your interest, may I also recommend 'The Inferno' from Dante's Divine Comedy?

c

[Antonin]

The story Nodachi was refering to is the myth of Sysiphus. In the greek traditon, he was punished (don't ask me why or by whom, it's all greek to me.... It was a long time ago. Counfound is probably right, it must be in the Aenid) by pushing a boulder up a slope, seeing the boulder fall, and having to do it again forever. This was originally seen as a punishment. In Camus' short story, he describes the plight of Sysiphus, but in a twist says at the end that one must imagine him to be happy, a symbol of the happiness that one can get by ding someting, even though it may look futile.
This could be a fitting parallel to kendo indeed, where we train so much and always do the same exercises, never seeming to get anywhere (in my case anyway...), but we enjoy nevertheless. I've always found this particular Camus story very depressing.
Maybe here is not the best place for a literary discution anyway. Especially with Confound :-p
Antonin

[James]

Camus was not just talking about doing something futile, he was talking about life itself.
Basically if we are going to die (let's assume there is no afterlife for all the zealots reading) - then why bother.

“There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide.* Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy.* All the rest – whether or not the world has three dimensions, whether the mind has nine or twelve categories – comes afterwards.* These are games; one must first answer [the questions of suicide].”

In The Myth of Sisyphus, he comes to a conclusion that we should accept that life is indeed basically 'absurd', but to embrace the struggle that is life ('live life in revolt' is the commonly used phrase) - and then we can find hapiness.

c'est la vie,

j

Yes, depressing isn't it, but like your kendo injuries, accept them, take the time to get better then get back in the dojo - and good luck.

[reicheru]

If I recall correctly, the reason Sisyphus was condemned to pushing that boulder in the first place was basically that he mocked death (gave his wife a weird "test" which she failed, so he got permission to go back from the underworld temporarily to set her straight, and then decided he didn't feel like returning to that underworld). I think he was also accused of putting Death in chains. How that relates to continuing to practice kendo while injured, well, I can see a number of interpretations.

Anyway, you definitely shouldn't quit kendo. Do take off some time to get better (says the girl who went to practice tonight with a strained groin muscle), but don't give up.

Rachel

[Paburo]

i got the tino sinuvitis - tendonitis in the palm of my hand thing that hurts like hell and then some injury on the heel/achille's tendon.

the trick is, i use like 20m of bandages and a heel protector when i train, plus pain killer medication and heat sprays.

i skip work and i'd skip anything... but kendo.

it's funny though, cause in the last tournament i had to fight my sensei in the semifinals, and we both had a 'broken' leg. so it was like a limps fight haha... (he went jodan on me though, scary stuff...)

needless to say, it ended up as hikiwake 1-1 (kote-kote).

my advise is you don't stop training. if you are hurt, then train with the newbies in a slow paced manner. or train katas. or use lots of bandages. just find a way to keep going. if you really like kendo don't let it banish on the horizon.

get better soon k.

[BigG]

I've been off work for 5 weeks with all sorts of nasty glandular things, i considered giving up kendo until i realised that 'getting better' to resume training was making me feel better.

Hope this helps

BigG

[Haowen]

Thanks for the encouragement, guys. It's easy to get frustrated by an unbroken string of injuries but I guess the secret is to focus on the positive. If my foot is out, I can train my upper body. If my arms get tendonitis, I can train my mind. As long as I am doing something, then my troubles have not bested me. Yah!

[nodachi]

Think of it this way: If there are all these 60, 70, and 80+ kendoka out there, there is no reason you can't keep at it. The 80+ kendoka gotta have more aches and pains than most of us, and yet they can keep at it. I want to strive to be that way when I am "over the hill".

[toreisu]

Haowen,

I heard from dojo-mates that yoga can help heal plantar's fascia. It may also help to stretch and strengthen other parts of your body to prevent other injuries. I don't know from personal experience if it works, but I am joining a yoga class this month to see if it might benefit my kendo.

[AlexM]

I've wanted to say this for awhile now: Quit kendo. The universe IS sending you a message. That message is "abandon all hope". Just give up already, you've obviously incured the wrath of any number of deities. Time to quit. Do you really want the Gods to finally kill you for doing kendo, to find yourself reincarnated as a bug or in one of the many circles of Hell only to think: "I could have given up when I had gotten all those signs."

I've had it with this lovefest of a post. "Hang in there", "Keep going", "Fight on". You people make me sick! You sound like a self-help book!
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I hate my life.

[J. Schitt]

Originally posted by Confound
Camus: French existentialist writer. If I remember correctly, his father was a petty colonial bureaucrat in one of the African colonies. His most famous novel is 'The Stranger', which is about a murder, and a fellow having heat sickness, to put it very baldly. (I rather liked the book, but there are many, many others I would recommend before it, and prefer to it).

Mayt I recommend some Sartre? He is by far the better writer.

As to the 'fellow pushing a boulder up the hill in hell', you'll find him mentionned in the Aenid, and I think the Odyssey. You may also hear of the hungry and thirsty fellow standing waist deep in a pool with some fruit just out of reach, and other diverse and interesting torments. If this sparks your interest, may I also recommend 'The Inferno' from Dante's Divine Comedy?

c

Wanker! You are in the wrong forum. At least you aren't being rude for a change tho!

[Haowen]

Hang in there, AlexM, your life will get better, you just must keep going! Fight on! :D

[AlexM]

Originally posted by Haowen
Hang in there, AlexM, your life will get better, you just must keep going! Fight on! :D

Words cannot describe the rage that I am feeling. But my happy pills will make things all better soon.

[kendokamax]

you should buy more happy pills

[Phorest]

I agree.

[Winter_Wolf]

Are happy pills perscription only? I could use some... :mad: :devious: :angry: :evil: :mad2: :dead:
LoL, j/k, sorry bout the OTness, I couldn't resist playing w/ these cool smilies on the side of the screen...:D

[Sinta]

After I had a severe Asthma attack, I was so close to quitting...but I continued and I'm glad I did. Sure I didn't have the universe throwing multiple things at me. Think positive. I blieve that with the power of your mind, you can alter anything (comes with Tai Chi ;) Sickness has no right over us, unless we let it. You need good Chi flow). Don't let it pull you down and let these injuries be victorious. Read the Kendo Philosophy. If you love kendo, keep fighting. Gambatte!

Winners aren't quitters and quitters never win.

AlexM: Awwwww, someone needs a hug! *hides from lowflying shinaii* ;)

[samurai999]

anybody here have parents that try to get you to quit kendo? My dad hasn't blatantly done anything, but he keeps moaning and groaning that I should quit, kendo is ruining my life, I am not learning anything, etc...

Tim

[aru-ma]

kendo ruining your life? I though that what work does? tell your dad to shut up and mind his own business, nah just joking.

My dad doesnt really oppose me doing kendo but he doesnt really like me doing kendo because he's a 5th dan in another martial arts (not saying) and is quite highly regarded. he's fanatical in what he does and thinks other martial arts are below it, kinda contradicts the teaching a bit I think.

[nollaig]

Its not a injury until the words"major reconstructive surgery" are used!!!

Keep going ,pain is all in you head!

[titus]

Haowen,

What is your work environment like? You mentioned using a computer alot. Do you have a proper chair, use ergonomic mouse and keyboard, feet support, etc?

[Kendoboy]

Yes, get ergonomic stuff, but maybe you are holding the shinai too tight? I remember when I first started doing kendo I would have a pain in my left wrist. When I asked my sensei what he thought, that's what he told me. Sure enough, when I loosened my grip a little, the pain went away.
As for the Plantar fasciitis, the main problem with such an injury is that it is under constant unavoidable strain. Try doing Gentle stretching (and I do mean GENTLE), as the tendon is probably torn, and when it heals, it tends to shrink. That's why it will feel fine for a while and then when you do normal activity like walking, it can tear again. Gentle stretching will allow it to heal, but maintain some of the elasticity. And most importantly, GO SEE A DOCTOR!!!

[Haowen]

Hi guys, thanks for the advice. Things are healing up nicely, been stretching regularly so as not to reinjure myself. I'm giving myself two more months of stretching and conditioning before going back into training. No huge hurry at the moment, since my finances are very tight and there's no way I could afford a bogu within this year, in any case (ah the joys of a grad student stipend....) :D

[Tenjo]

Intresting?....

[Taek]

[QUOTE=Haowen]A long time ago in a distant land....

Actually 2 years ago in California, I was happily learning kendo, when I developed trigger finger tendonitis in my left hand.

Hi Haowen, I know you posted this a while ago but have a quick question about your trigger finger. I think I've got a silimar problem in my left hand. My three fingers (middle, ring and small finger) lock into a position like I'm still holding a shinai and hard to open them in the morning. Are your like this? Those fingers become very smooth and normal while I play kendo but only happens when I don't play kendo. It hasn't given me much trouble with my normal life but would love to know if there is anything I can do to fix them other than stopping Kendo. I'd already stopped Kendo long enough due to a motor accident before. Thanks for your suggestion in advance.

[Nishi]

I had that trigger finger as well when I started (left hand, two smallest fingers), I was told im gripping to hard. So, I make my grip soft now and ta-da, never had it since. I had it for about 6 months, lasted another 3 months after i started to relax a bit....loosen up, it may help.

[Taek]

Thanks Nishi,

It is good to hear that your trigger fingers have cured. I shall try to relax with my grip and hopefully they get better soon.