Advice on soft tissue damage

[Claire]

I am interested in your thoughts and experiences.

While sparring 4 weeks ago at training my kick was blocked by my opponent sticking his elbow out. His elbow caught me at the bottom of my shin bone. (at the side just a few inches above my ankle) It wasn't too sore so I carried on but then I suddenly couldn't put my weight on it. I was x-rayed and have damaged soft tissue. I could barely walk or drive for a few days and 4 weeks on I am still limping. I am now seeing a sports therapist who is using machines on the injury (ultrasound, infrared and I am having shortwave tomorrow). The treatment is very expensive but I am desperate to get back to training. Has anyone had a similar experience? How long are we talking for recovery? Is there anything I can do to help the injury along?

I'm a bit annoyed at a team member doing this (sticking his elbow out, especially during training not competition) and I found out yesterday that another member has also been off training for the last 3 weeks because he took a sore blow to his leg from this guys elbow too. I emailed my instructor about it but while he agrees that we should not be blocking with elbows or knees he said that I will gain more experience to avoid such things by pulling back my kick or changing direction/height. Shouldn't the guy responsible be spoken to? He is only a white belt but has obviously done another form of martial art.

 

[terryl965]

Well if he is a white belt why is he sparring, he should be given time before this. The thing is it is your fault and you need to make the correction while sparring to not let this happen. Sorry but when you put on gear it is up to you to protect yourself against any opponet. What do you expect your instrructor to do.

 

[jim777]

Sparring white belts? I honestly thought only Kyokushin did that.

 

[Claire]

Well if he is a white belt why is he sparring, he should be given time before this. The thing is it is your fault and you need to make the correction while sparring to not let this happen. Sorry but when you put on gear it is up to you to protect yourself against any opponet. What do you expect your instrructor to do.

Thanks. Your reply is exactly what I'm looking for, an unbaised opinion. I suppose what I want my instructor to do is first of all as you say not let white belts spar and to tell him that he should not be sticking elbows out to deliberatly hurt team members. Is that unfair of me? On the point of it being my fault I find that very interesting and agree. But how do you start to deliver a kick then change it literally in that split second from your kick coming and you seeing an elbow suddenly coming out? That's not easy. Any tips?

 

[Tez3]

Look at your insurance and claim for your medical costs. You should be covered, if not I'd leave that club immediately and join one where you are. ( Insurance and licence should be together, average cost about £20 a year)

 

[rchurch]

I agree with everything said here, but also, it sounds like this doctor you are using is taking advantage of you. If you have insurance, ok, but if you are paying out of pocket, not ok.

A soft tissue injury is medical-speak for bruise. If it is a deep bruise, it could take 6 months to heal. What he is doing is speeding up the process, but no one knows how much it will speed it up, so you'll have to decide if it is worth the money or not. Most of what he is doing is increasing circulation to the damaged area, which is how injuries heal. When you have an injury, the three things you want to do is get the swelling out (ice and ibuprophren such as Alieve), increase circulation and rest it. Let it heal properly.

Use this down time to work on other areas of your martial arts. Hand techniques, breathing exercises, stretching, studying others moves, etc. There is a variety of things that you can improve in that doesn't involve kicking or sparring.

IMHO, going to the instructor can be seen as whinning or other negative comment. I would think long and hard on how I would word my concerns about this other student. It might need to be brought to the instructors attention, but be careful how you do it. It could alienate you from the other students if they see it as being negative.

 

[terryl965]

Thanks. Your reply is exactly what I'm looking for, an unbaised opinion. I suppose what I want my instructor to do is first of all as you say not let white belts spar and to tell him that he should not be sticking elbows out to deliberatly hurt team members. Is that unfair of me? On the point of it being my fault I find that very interesting and agree. But how do you start to deliver a kick then change it literally in that split second from your kick coming and you seeing an elbow suddenly coming out? That's not easy. Any tips?

I agree he should not let white belts spar period, on to your question in time you will learn how to rechamber and rediver a kick in a a tenth of a second. This does not come easy but in time it will become habit. Your instructor should be teaching the redirection kicks as soon as you are a mid belt especially for competition or SD. Best of luck.

 

[Claire]

I agree with everything said here, but also, it sounds like this doctor you are using is taking advantage of you. If you have insurance, ok, but if you are paying out of pocket, not ok.

A soft tissue injury is medical-speak for bruise. If it is a deep bruise, it could take 6 months to heal. What he is doing is speeding up the process, but no one knows how much it will speed it up, so you'll have to decide if it is worth the money or not. Most of what he is doing is increasing circulation to the damaged area, which is how injuries heal. When you have an injury, the three things you want to do is get the swelling out (ice and ibuprophren such as Alieve), increase circulation and rest it. Let it heal properly.

Use this down time to work on other areas of your martial arts. Hand techniques, breathing exercises, stretching, studying others moves, etc. There is a variety of things that you can improve in that doesn't involve kicking or sparring.

IMHO, going to the instructor can be seen as whinning or other negative comment. I would think long and hard on how I would word my concerns about this other student. It might need to be brought to the instructors attention, but be careful how you do it. It could alienate you from the other students if they see it as being negative.

Thanks for all your advice here. Yes I am paying out of pocket, I probably should just give it time but I am so frustrated at not getting to training. I was planning on doing my first competition in November but now I think I need to just accept that that may not happen

 

[terrylamar]

Like another poster said, there are other areas of your art you can work on. While I was in the Marine Corps, in Honduras, I broke a bone and had a cast up to my knee. I continued to work out every day. I just couldn't put weight on that foot. I hopped laps with everyone, kicked with one foot and did a lot of upper body techniques. But then Jarheards are not known just our intelligence.

 

[FearlessFreep]

a) white belts sparring is a problem. I guess if you are a sport oriented school so want to get people into tournaments as white belts but... I guess it's up to the head instructor to decide if the student is ready for sparring but....

b) no, you shouldn't be using the elbows like that, but sometimes it happens, accidentally or intentionally. I have a fellow student who tends to block a bit with his elbow (actually, my 15yo son) and it doesn't seem malicious but he is very bony. So I get around it by now using techniques that go near the elbows like that. My roundhouse kicks are close to bicep height and I use a lot more driving kick (push kicks and sidekicks)

 

[Svart]

Im a white belt and I spar. Then again I do have 6 years of fencing and competition behind me.
I dont think you should disallow white belts to spar, maybe not at such a contact level as the higher, more experienced members, but semi contact is fine. Besides, you should rid them of the bad habits before it becomes engrained. Better to teach him not to block with his elbow as a beginner than trying in a year or more.

 

[BrandiJo]

I havent heard of white belts not being able to spar, but those sparring with them know that they might accidently use "rough" moves and block with knees and elbows or kick a little to hard or punch with a little to much umph. That goes with sparring lower ranks, when i was still actively training i remember blocking with elbows inadvertently because it was the first thing down when i saw a kick coming to my ribs, it wasn't intentional it was just there, i would think i would get my forearm down, but it didnt always happen and some people ended up with some nice bruises because of it, but as i moved up and started sparring lower ranks i also remember catching a few elbow blocked kicks and getting a nice bruise or knot from em as well. Its part of training.

Take it easy give your body time to heal and be more mindful next time

 

[turtle]

Not sure, if anyone else mentioned this but a good pair of shin pads goes a long way to avoiding this kind of thing. Bruised shins and insteps are a fact of life when it comes to tkd sparring, it seems. When I was sparring a few times a week in class, I think I was always nursing at least one lingering bruise and my right shin bone still has some funny bumps on it where it seems like the bone thickened up from being banged so many times.

The guy who elbowed you might just be awkward rather than intentionally hurting people. I've seen beginners do horrible damage to each other in sparring, and none of it intentional. We used to pair up beginners at sparring with black belts, who were better able to defend themselves from stray limbs and wild kicks.

Something to consider - sparring isn't necessarily safe, even if you're in a class situation and wearing gear. Even if your instructor tells the white belt guy not to elbow people, that doesn't mean he won't (intentionally or accidentally) in the future. If you're going to spar and especially compete, do your best to learn to protect yourself at all times. It takes a lot of training and hard work, but its ultimately the only way to guard against preventable type injuries.

 

[Kacey]

We start sparring at white belt - but we start the white belts with red and black belts, who should be able to block the wild techniques white belts are apt to throw.

As far as the original question about soft tissue damage - you can try to speed up the healing, but no matter what you do, it's going to be sore and more prone to injury for some time; rehab through physical therapy might be of more value in the long run than medications, but that's between you and your doctor.

 

[Deaf Smith]

Claire,

Were you wearing shin guards? If not, I'd start wearing them. I have a set of Centry forarm and shin guards I keep in my bag just in case there is some rough sparring coming along with a sparring helmet with front face guard (I value my nose and teeth, already had one tooth jammed back by and elbow are sure don't want that again.)

I suggest you get some guards.

Deaf

 

[Claire]

Thanks, I was wearing shin guards and foot protectors. Unfortunately I was caught at the side right at the edge of my shin guard! Typical eh! I didn't realise you could get helmets with front face guards. Thanks for that.