You Can't Enjoy Martial Arts If Your Arm Is Trapped In A Sling
You Can't Enjoy Martial Arts If Your Arm Is Trapped In A Sling
By Yoshi KundagawaHaving your arm in a sling can be helpful if you are trying to solve the zen koan, "What is the sound of one hand clapping," it will not work so great when you are trying to practice your martial arts. Face it, a martial arts injury can really cramp your style. From my experience, I have found that there are basically three mistakes that you can make (aside from being careless and walking in front of a car or falling off of your roof) that will put your arm in a sling and your martial arts activities on ice.
1. You don't warm up before your workout.
2. You are not flexible.
3. You don't take the time to learn the correct techniques.
Now, I am not your mother or anything, but you really should try to avoid these mistakes so that you don't hurt yourself. Casts, slings, splints and ace wraps are no fun, especially when you have stuff to do. The best thing that you can do is steer clear of them and you can do that by taking a little friendly advice.
1. Warm Up
Many sports injuries, including martial arts injuries, occur from failure to warm up. You should always warm up your muscles before engaging in activities. Get your blood pumping and your muscles warm. You can combine your warm up with some stretches so that you can be more flexible too. A warm up should involve gentle movements, nothing wild or crazy where you could pull something or hurt something. Take it slow and easy. When your muscles are warm, they work a whole lot better. They are more flexible and are much more efficient.
2. Be Flexible
Cold muscles hurt when you stress them. Kick too high with cold hamstrings and you will find yourself on the floor in pain. It is not cool. Do some simple stretches when you are warming up and increase your flexibility. Don't bounce, keep your stretches even and smooth. When you bounce while stretching you can pull something and that could knock you out of the game. That is the last thing that you want so it is better to take the little bit of extra time to warm up, stretch out and become more flexible.
3. Learn the Correct Techniques.
When you exercise, using the wrong form can cause injury and it can make the exercise less effective or not effective at all. Guess what? It is the same for martial arts. If you don't know the correct techniques or you are just plain lazy and don't use the correct techniques, you could be setting yourself up for some heartache. Incorrect technique is a leading cause of martial art injury and if you aren't doing it right then that is where you are heading.
Do yourself a favor to keep that arm out of a sling and your feet in the ring, warm up, stay flexible and learn the right techniques and form. If you don't, when I see you limping along, arm in sling, frown on your face I will walk up to you, put my hand on your shoulder, smile and say, "I told you so!"
