I am 38 years old and have been doing martial arts for most of my 30s. I did jujitsu, krav maga, and now JKD (Jeet Kune Do). I have an arthritic thumb on one hand, and a slightly 'mangled' metacarpal (bond in the hand) on my other hand, from boxing in JKD. I guess this is all just part of martial arts, but I don't want to be 45 and have mangled hands. I don't want arthritis at 50 either. Actually, I already have arthritis, but only in one knuckle. I guess I thought I would just post this to ask if anyone has thoughts on this. At what point do you just pack it in and say, "I am done" ?
Healing Injuries See my post "Healing Injuries with Chinese Medicine" (Sept, 2004) in the "Traditional Healing" forum. Best, Steve Lamade
Give up? Why? I have a bad/arthitic knee, the other one going bad, a neuromuscular disorder, broken thumb that was not set properly, bursitis in both elbows, pinched nerve in my neck, post operative pain in my groin that may require more surgery, a broken pinky that did not heal properly, broke my big toe a few time, and I would never consider giving up. I find ways to either work around my injuries or methods to heal or at least alleviate the pain. Giving up never comes into the picture. How much of your life is MA? If it's a small part, give it up now. But if it's a major part, you learn to work with it and live with it.
Give up? I have not yet begun to train (I ask our UK MAPpers to forgive me on that one ). Mangled head to toe here. I'll quit when they drag me kicking and screaming from the kwoon, and chase after me to throw dirt on me. (Yeah, but if they chase me, they have to catch me and it will be a glorious fight--now, if I can just keep my strength to hump the mags and water). :woo:
that boils down to the individual. If it were me (and let me tell you, i've had my more than fair share of injuries and I've already got arthiritus in my left wrist from a break and I'm not even 18 yet) I would keep on with my martial arts untill it was 100% physicaly impossible for me to be doing...and even when that time comes I'll still be trying my absolute best. Depends on how much it really hurts and you would by no means be a quitter or what ever people want to call it if you gave up now...it all boils down to what people want to do with their lives
Just take a moment and think of how you would feel without it...! I think about this ocassionally having started rather late in life at 33... I'm now 45 and have my occassional aches, bruises, torn ligaments and muscles but refuse to tone down my training but will give it up if a serious injury occurs and doctor doesn't give me a choice. You just need to listen to your body and just heal it when it needs it... do take a look at lhommedieu's post.... I'm just beginning to look into alternative healing with the use of Chinese herbal medidine myself.
