More Injuries . . . SMH

I have three ruptured discs in my lower back. I did it back in about 2012. For a couple years, I did epidurals and kept running and working out as if nothing was wrong. Eventually, the last epidural didn’t last 24 hours. At that point, my drive to work was about 25 minutes and by the time I got to the office each day, I was almost in tears. I got to where I couldn’t walk, stand, sit or lay down without severe pain.

I had a discectomy in 2015 I think. Since then, I have found several exercises and behaviors that aggravate it and take me out for a while.

I found another one last week–single leg takedowns. LOL.

I’m sure a lot of this inflammation and pain has to do with working through the process slowly multiple times. Between grabbing the leg and standing and then twisting to drive my partner down, I definitely aggravated my back. A good portion is probably poor form on my part as well. If I had film to review, I would probably see my back arched much of the time instead of head up and chest out. Also, it’s difficult to drive through your partner when you’re going slowly and focusing on mechanics and precision.

Adapt

Hopefully, this will stop hurting soon. When it does, hell–possibly even before it does–I’ll try to find someone who is willing to work a little more with me on this technique. If I am doing it absolutely correctly and still having an issue, I will have to find a way to adapt the maneuver just enough to be essentially the same, but effective for my elderly body.

The Key For Me

I am studying Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and mixed martial arts for a couple reasons. One, I’ve always wanted to. It’s a bucket list thing. Two, for self-defense. I don’t believe in being a victim. I’d rather be a victor. I’ve been in enough fights in my youth to know you really don’t want to go to the ground if you don’t have to. Heck, you don’t have to have been in a fight to know that. Watch World Star and you’ll see how many friends start stomping on a single person when the fight goes to the ground. Even still, it’s definitely useful.

So, the key for me is to make sure that when I study and learn, I learn it as a sport but also think about real world application. And that goes back to the “adapt” idea above.

Will I compete? I don’t know. I say, “Probably not.” But when I ran a lot I also said I wouldn’t race, and then I found myself doing 5k races. So, the future is unknown and the path toward it, dimly lit. What is evident, though, is that if I intend to continue on this path, I must decide what is right for me and adjust to make sure I can continue without stumbling.