Melanie Gibson General Martial Arts, Guest Writers, Injury and Recovery, Training Tips

Guest Writer: Adult Martial Artists Can Use This Guide To Protect Their Bodies Over The Years

A female martial artist applies bandages to her knee

About this time six years ago at age 41, I tore my right ACL and ended up having two surgeries to correct it. Eventually I got back to taekwondo, but it took a lot of physical, mental, and emotional perseverance. Injuries, big or small, are a part of most athlete’s lives, especially as we age. To stay fit and strong and do the things we love, there are things we need to consider and be mindful of as we train or recover. This article from Emma Grace Brown includes mindset and practical tips for dealing with injuries in your 30s, 40s, or 50s.

Adult Martial Artists Can Use This Guide To Protect Their Bodies Over The Years

Adult martial artists face a different reality than teenagers and young competitors. Whether you train Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, judo, Muay Thai, karate, taekwondo, or another discipline, the way you manage injuries in your 30s, 40s, and 50s plays a major role in determining how long you’ll stay on the mat. A sore shoulder ignored today can become a chronic limitation years later, while a properly managed knee injury may eventually become little more than another chapter in your training journey.

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Melanie Gibson Injury and Recovery, Mental Health, Self-Development and Leadership, Work and Martial Arts

Lingering Injury versus an Acute Injury: Life Lessons from (Sometimes Self-Inflicted) Pain

The Achilles Heel of Advice | Blackbird
Me trying to hack life and failing miserably.

Thanks to conversations with my boss and a counselor about my severe burnout, several days off here and there for rest and rejuvenation, hormones starting to regulate so my suspected peri-menopausal symptoms aren’t as bad, and more days of actual honest to God decent sleep…I’m feeling better than I was when I wrote my last post. 

But I’m not out of the woods yet.

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Melanie Gibson Class Diaries, Injury and Recovery, My Guest Posts, Training Tips

My Guest Post: The Weirdness and Joy of Returning to Training After an Injury

I may have mentioned a time or two that I’ve had a devastating knee injury and two surgeries (and am still not counting out a third). 🙂

An injury like that changed not only my physical focus, but my mental one as well. I realized how much I had both lost and gained when I started taekwondo training again in January of this year. A dormant part of my brain re-awakened, and it was both strange and wonderful. Whether you’re a martial artist or not, the takeaway is that if you’re in a rut, you may benefit from going back to something you enjoyed earlier in your life or learning something new that stimulates and challenges you.

My story of the weirdness and joy of re-awakening my black belt brain is in this month’s Martial Journal. Click here to read.

Melanie Gibson Injury and Recovery

The Road to Hell Is Paved With Health Insurance Claims

In case you’re wondering, if you live in my metropolitan area and have an ACL repair surgery that turns into full reconstruction it will cost:
$55,563.26

Anesthesia will be billed separately, and be prepared to pay for six to eight months of physical therapy twice a week. You may also have to pay for one or two leg braces, not to mention that MRI that diagnosed your torn ACL in the first place. Some of your post-op visits with your doctor will be free, but only for a short grace period. You’ll go right back to specialist co-pays once the “post-op” period runs out.

Oh, and the giant bill was just for the “hospital encounter.” You may also have charges to the orthopedic clinic for your operating physician and an assistant for the same day as your surgery…same people, same patient, same procedure, but whatever, still separate charges.

If you went to an emergency center or hospital emergency room immediately after your injury, be prepared for a bill for that too.

The human body is a wonderful thing, but upkeep can be quite expensive.

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Melanie Gibson Injury and Recovery

Knee Surgery: Pre-Op Jokes and Dr. Pepper

syringe
God bless anesthesiologists.

As martial artists, we’ve heard those familiar mantras before: “Fall down seven times, get up eight”; “A black belt is a white belt who refused to give up“; perseverance, indomitable spirt, blah blah blah.

It turns out that martial arts spirit of perseverance and jocky stubbornness to give up has quite come in handy over the last few days. I am four days into recovery from ACL surgery, and recovery has been a full-time job. Let’s go back a few days…

In my last post, I described my worst taekwondo injury to date and following tests and decisions I made with my doctor. We agreed on an ACL repair slated for July 22 at 7 am.

…things didn’t quite go as planned.
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Melanie Gibson Class Diaries, Injury and Recovery, Training Tips

POP! Goes My ACL

dynamite
Meanwhile, inside my right knee: Three, Two, One…

As if there weren’t enough curveballs from the year 2020…

We’ve all figuratively had our legs knocked out from under us this year.
Last Thursday it happened to me literally.
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Melanie Gibson Injury and Recovery

Be Careful What You Wish For…You Just Might Get It

shooting-star
Make a wish! It could be your dream come true or a big ole bucket of NOPE.

All I wanted was a little time off.

I decided to take the last week of August off from taekwondo because of a few lingering injuries that kept getting irritated and frankly, I was burned out. I had been going to taekwondo five or six days a week, attending my own classes, plus I showed up at the lower ranking classes to help teach and hang out with the instructors. It was all good fun until one day I thought, “I need a break.” I enjoyed my week off and was thoroughly looking forward to starting up classes again plus attending my gym more often and cleaning up my diet.
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Melanie Gibson Class Diaries, Training Tips

Two Months Until Second Dan Begins With Rest, Wine, and Whataburger

texas whataburger
YAS! That’s how Texas black belts fuel themselves!

So it’s still the plan that I will be testing for second degree black belt in about two months. Even though I’ve had two years to prepare for this test as opposed to six months for first degree, I’m more nervous and leery about it this time around. If you’d like to read more about the psychological aspects and musings on it, read this post. I’ll continue with that theme in another post. Now I’m going to talk about what I plan to do with myself until that eagerly awaited day.
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Melanie Gibson Uncategorized

My Health Heroes Aren’t Athletes

SuperheroHealth

The two people who inspire me the most to stay active and healthy aren’t professional athletes or models. They aren’t yogis or taekwondo black belts.

They are two women with life threatening illnesses.

I’ve been writing about health a lot on my blog lately, and lately I’ve come to appreciate the saying, “When you have your health, you have everything.” The concepts of prioritizing health and taking it for granted both occupied my mind today. It all began with Tejano music…
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Melanie Gibson Injury and Recovery, Self-Development and Leadership

Closed Door, Open Window: How Adversity Can Hone Adaptability

ducks

The way forward isn’t always a straight path. Sometimes it’s curved. Sometimes it’s a zigzag pattern. Other times you have to take a few steps back or even start over to get yourself going in the right direction.

My injuries these past few months (first the hamstring, now the back) have been trying, but they’ve also been interesting lessons in patience, balance, and as I experienced in tonight’s class, modification. Another way to look at modification would be to call it adaptability.
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