Last Wednesday was sparring day at Charn Chai Muay Thai in the wonderful town of Pai via Wiki Travel in Northern Thailand which I both love and hate and is basically the injury machine and I cranked out a pretty good one in the afternoon. So I was just sparring with someone and he gave me a good push kick but instead of getting his toes I got the full impact of the dude’s heel which stopped me cold #ouch.
I iced my left quads for 5 minutes, didn’t spar but was able to finish the session without a lot of pain, that would come later. There was no bruising but I don’t bruise that easily so that didn’t mean much when it came to the injury. I cycled back home and after laying down for 10 minutes trying to get up was just waves of pain in my left leg. It had started to swell and by then my range of motion was so bad I could barely bend it.
Not knowing what to do I started RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation) within 3 hours of it happening I could barely walk, it was more like I could hobble around. It sucked so I went to Doctor Google for some ill-advised self diagnosis . They always say don’t self diagnose but man we all do it #LOL and from what I read I am pretty sure that I got a quadriceps contusion.
The definition of a SMA – quadriceps contusion according to Sports Medicine Australia is:
Quadriceps contusion or a ‘cork thigh’, as it is commonly known, is the result of a severe impact to the thigh which consequently compresses against the hard surface of the femur (thigh bone). This often causes deep rupture to the muscle tissue and haemorrhage occurs, which is followed by inflammation. Such an injury can also occur in other body regions such as the calf or upper arm; however these are less common than in the thigh region.
After reading that I knew that’s what I had gotten hit with. They are categorized as mild, moderate or severe. It is probably edges in to the slightly moderate category because I could only walk with a limp after 3 days and just getting back to walking normal under a week later. It still hurts but taking 3 days of not leaving my bungalow was a good idea as since then every day I’ve seen improvement.
Hey it is my cork thigh every I am going to look at it as just a part of the game. This doesn’t mean I don’t want to get into the ring but to be careful. That no matter who you are or what you do injury is part of any contact sport or martial arts. I am feeling good a week later, it took 6 days before I was able to ride my bike without pain so that’s a plus.
One of the things I will need to do is stretch the muscle so I can get full range of motion back. Even though its been a week I don’t want to stop training completely so starting tomorrow I am going to go back to the gym but not train with the group but on my own primarily stretching and boxing which besides my blocking and push kick needs the most work.
Before this happened I was running a few days straight and on a stationary bike in the afternoons. I hated running and have avoided it all year and just when I realize that I can go farther than I thought possible this happens. It only makes me want to return to it all the more.
So not sure what’s going to happen with the fight, its taken more than a year to summon up the courage to tell Bee (through Facebook) that I want to fight and this isn’t going to stop me. I couldn’t tell him in person because I would always come up with an excuse so no I have no excuses left to give and no matter what happens I will go on because I want to not because I must but that doesn’t mean I am not going to be stupid and put a lot of weight on my left leg but I will be able to kick with it and slowly get back into it over the next week or so.
I tried kicking my left leg and that was fine, it didn’t hurt since I was putting all the weight on my right leg. I see the french guys who are going to be here for a year in total training hard for their fight. In some ways it makes me feel like I am inferior since it’s taken me so long just to voice the idea of getting into the ring with the trainers at the gym.
The thing is everyone is different and I am determined to not hide in fear but channel it for the fight ahead not the one that occurs within the ring but the one with myself that tells me I can’t instead of I can. This injury isn’t a roadblock or a setback it is part of the process and I will be patient, I will be focused and I will be undeterred from going beyond what I thought was impossible only months ago.
This fight isn’t the end of my training it symbolizes the beginning of owning who I am both physically and mentally, to believe and act not just in this fight but for everything that I want to achieve bet it to fight, write a book or going after the girl. Is that pressure yes, do I need it hell yeah and do I believe, for the first time yes I do.
That is why it is no longer enough to say “I can” get into the ring it is about reflecting the fear, doubt and negativity I naturally gravitate towards so that it is not just “I must” get into the ring it is and becomes “I want” to get into the ring, I want to see what I am capable of and believing with everything I am that “I will” win no matter if it is a victory or not within the ropes, so let’s get to it!