# question about injuries



## cfr (Sep 8, 2004)

Ive got 3 different injuries that appear to be permanent. Nothing crippling by any means. Tendon/ ligament stuff. The thing is that all of them can be made to feel temporarily better with vigorous massage. Can this be a sign of someoverall condition? Poor circulation/ bad diet/ etc?


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## AaronLucia (Sep 8, 2004)

Um...be more specific about the injuries..


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## Bammx2 (Sep 8, 2004)

a lot of tendon and ligament damage can be permanent if you don't treat them immediately.
bit more important.......
be more specific,i.e...where and when does it hurt most.


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## Marginal (Sep 8, 2004)

cfr said:
			
		

> Ive got 3 different injuries that appear to be permanent. Nothing crippling by any means. Tendon/ ligament stuff. The thing is that all of them can be made to feel temporarily better with vigorous massage. Can this be a sign of someoverall condition? Poor circulation/ bad diet/ etc?



Why not just see a doctor?


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## TigerWoman (Sep 8, 2004)

cfr, you didn't give enough information.  If these are way past injuries, they probably are permanent. If they are new, see a doctor asap.  Rather than diet, look at how you are exercising.  Or is that not what caused the injuries?  Is your balance, flexibility good?  Are you warming up sufficiently for those joints before exercise?  But we need more information... TW


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## gumo9 (Sep 10, 2004)

Very good points from Tiger Woman. If you are serious about a good recovery and return to your martial arts, a good Sports Injury Therapist is essential.

The stages, in order, of a rehabilitation programme should be:

Mobility - depending on the injury, increase the range of movement at the joint
Flexibility - the ability of a joint or series of joints to work through a full, non-restricted range of movement (pain free)
Strength - increase the strength to the injured area
Proprioception - reastablish the co-ordination/balance of the injured limb
Sports specifc - get back into sport or activity-specific activities
Confidence - any injury (especially bad ones) will knock your confidence therefore confidence building activites should be built in to the rehab programme
If the injury is not serious, mobility might still be OK, so you just move straight on to the flexibilty phase. Many people forget about restablishing proprioception following injury but this is really crucial. For example, if you injured your ankle, some practice standing on an unstable surface (such as a wobble board or stability disk) is needed to re-establish proprioception in the muscles - 2 million little muscle twitches in fact are required !!!

There are lots of key points to each of these phases, please let me know if you would like any specifics and I'll either post or e-mail them to you.

best regards

graham
Manchester, UK


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## bassplayer (Sep 10, 2004)

I mentioned a Qigong book in another thread and it had a lot of good ideas on taking care of ligaments, massage being one good one.  I've had a few pretty good injuries over the years and I've found that stretching, massage, and proper exercising of the area in particular are extremely beneficial!  Gotta love being young with a healthy disrespect for gravity 
-left shoulder, I snapped a pole vault pole at full bend and it hit me in the shoulder blade my senior year of hs...also, same shoulder, few years later, I was doing some military presses by myself and accidentally threw the bar over the supports at the end of my set (with 135 on the bar...) anyway, I've been doing lots of stretching, massage, pullups, dips, etc and that seems to have worked pretty well in keeping everything in good working order.
-right shoulder I drove a ski into after losing my balance while doing a heli 7-8 years back...I cant really even tell if its messed up or not, I've given it the same care of the left and its so much better!  I think that same year or the year after, I hit a tree while skiing, although it was in such a manner that I took the impact squarely in the chest and only got the wind knocked out of me (after a quick upside down and backwards flight!)  I havent skied in a few years, but that's been more because of time, money & priorities.  I still long for the big mogul runs!
-blew out my L5 disc 10 years ago, that was from a combination of things...that is really NOT something I massage though, that is more core exercises combined with 2, 3 times a day stretching.  I am a mess if I dont!
-I dont know how many times I've landed on my head over the years.  I keep my neck stretched well and I also do moderate weight training with this cool head strap I got from ironmind.  Massage works great there!
-dislocated my left index finger a couple years ago right at the metacarpal/falanges joint from a 9000 mph football that could have passed for a duck flapping its wings.  I can still feel pieces in my finger from that, although I've stretched and worked that to a point where its pretty much back to normal.  At least I can still grip a drumstick properly!  Massage works ok there..
-knees?  2 words:  osgood schlatter!  bike is a godsend!

Basically, the most simple & rudimentary exercises will help strengthen your tendons & ligaments, the weight training helps the muscles.  Be patient and work slowly, dont try and get back to 100% before your body tells you it is.  And even then, with a lot of injuries, it will be right there to haunt you if you dont respect it.  There's a right amount of exercise, rest, and massaging that will work for whatever the body part is that will get it working its best!  Granted, sometimes parts of the injury will be permanent and you will be limited as to the amount of recovery...but if you keep at it and do things properly, you should be able to have your functionality at an acceptable level!


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