Ow. Ow. Ow. I'll explain in a minute.
TRAINING
Sunday morning we had our normal Kansas City Presas Arnis Meetup. Given the news lately, we covered a bit of rifle and gun disarms from the Force Necessary curriculum. Good morning of training.
Then I spent four hours at a fantastic Kombatan seminar by GM Shelley Millspaugh. I wrote about it in more detail on Wednesday (do read that post if you haven't already), but I just wanna say again, WOW that was fun, and if you get the chance, you better GET to training with GM Shelley. He rocks.
Turns out, though, there was a price to pay.
I have been struggling with shoulder pain - in both shoulders, but my right in particular - for a few months. It's been an annoyance, but honestly, what's more pain to me at my age/condition? I've ignored it for the most part.
GM Shelley's seminar was the first time in months I spent hours and hours banging sticks, though, and it really exacerbated the problem to the point I had to seek medical attention for the right shoulder. No longer just an annoyance. It's now interfering with training and THAT WON'T DO.
Long story short, looks like I have tendinitis of my bicep and at best, inflammation that is putting pressure on some nerves in there. I'm to rest it as much as possible during the medical treatment phase - got a steroid shot and taking an anti-inflammatory. That shot included a numbing agent that made me NOT feel pain in that shoulder for the first time since I can remember for a few hours... and I noticed that my left shoulder is pretty painful too, but not half as bad as my right. So that's... nice.
If I'm not materially better by the end of next week, I have to get an MRI, because I might have bone spurs or something else... that may mean surgery.
I have my fingers crossed for the medical route, but it's been five days and I can't say it's super-improved. I think I'm just getting used to this level of pain. 😢
Was the intense training session worth that? HELL YES IT WAS.
BLOGGERY:
Tuesday: Shenanigans: Style Wars
Wednesday: Adding Dimensions
Thursday: Injury: Just Train
You can find, like, follow, tweet, share, and um... wuphf... ? Just look for the Stick Chick Blog. We're on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, MeWe, and Pinterest.
I also updated this site with a new page: Train with the Stick Chick. I will update all the places I am teaching/training at on that page a regular basis. Plus, if you're interested in bringing me to your place to do a seminar, there's a contact form you can send me.
OTHER FUN STUFF
I'm not saying y'all are a sweaty bunch. I'm just saying an awful lot of you raised your hands when I posted this on Facebook.
I made this, and I'm not sorry one little bit.
FRIDAY THOUGHTS:
Elite Dragon Martial Arts has their 1 year celebration tomorrow, and I'll be there. I am on strict order to rest my right shoulder. My right shoulder. So I'll see y'all at the Kansas City Presas Arnis Meetup like usual on Sunday. Come out and play!
Keep safe and healthy and keep training, everyone!