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 Class Diaries, Injury and Recovery

The Spirit is Willing, But the Flesh is Weak…But Sometimes the Spirit Needs to Chill Out and Listen to the Flesh

lower back pain

Part One: The Taekwondo Spirit is Annoyingly, Overachievingly Willing

Last night in class, which is affectionately known as “cardio night,” my chief instructor tried out a new drill. Instead of setting us up in three lines to do drills straight back and forth across the middle of the room he had us make one long line that snaked around to the side. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but I knew it was going to be high-energy.
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Melanie Gibson Injury and Recovery, Mental Health

The Inevitable Slump

sad dog

“It’s January and February right now. Spring will come.”

My dad was offering me some words of comfort the other night as I sat curled up in my bed, sobbing and dredging up one ridiculous worry after another: regrets of things I did long ago, a reopened wound from a bitter breakup, letting go of pieces of me that I couldn’t get back. I felt lonely, vulnerable, and hopeless. I didn’t really have a rational reason to be upset, but it felt like the flood gates had been unleashed. Damnit, I was going to give myself something to cry about.
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Melanie Gibson Injury and Recovery

The Distraction That Won’t Die

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“What distracts us?” my yoga teacher asked last week as we sat on our mats waiting for class to begin.
“People’s cell phones going off in class,” I thought darkly, wishing I could throw a few punches at the perpetrators as if I were in sparring class. What’s really been distracting me lately is physical pain. Usually when I’m distracted it’s more of the emotional or mental type—anxiety, anger, sadness, or simply my brain wheels clicking as I solve problems. But right now it’s good old-fashioned pain, that pain in my right hamstring that’s been bothering me for a few weeks now. I don’t know if it’s a tear, a pull, or just irritation from over-use but it’s starting to be a real pain in the…well, you know. Literally and figuratively.
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Melanie Gibson Injury and Recovery, Training Tips

Pain in the Ass

lion cub biting

The pain in my right hip that flared up three weeks ago seems to have slid around to the backside. While I don’t think it’s sciatica some of the symptoms are the same: pain shooting from what feels like the inner meat and bones of my hip socket down my leg, driving long distances becomes painful to the point that I’m in tears, and it’s only relieved by flicking my leg out from the hip socket so I get a nice loud pop.
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Melanie Gibson Class Diaries

Naproxen, take me away…

I double dog dare you to get this as a tattoo.

(Friday night class) “I did my second graduate degree while I was working full time,” I said with a yawn over my young instructor and the three teen boys who were arguing over who was the most tired by rattling off their AP classs and hours devoted to homework. They dropped that subject and then circled each other asking their ages.

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