Martial Arts Injuries and Feeling No Pain

The question, however, is when is the injury real, and when is it imagined? This is a tough question, because some guy is in pain you don’t want to make the assumption that he is a hypochondriac. This article is going to address this nebulous field of when is an injury real.
There are two directions that the mind can take. One direction is the inward direction, looking at the body, examining the mind, and just general introspection. The other direction is outward, towards an opponent, towards the world.
If ones attention is directed inward the experience of pain is usually greater. If one is watching ones body become impacted upon, be it by karate fist or taekwondo foot or whatever, one becomes convinced that the pain is more real. Simply, what you see is what you get, you tend to believe your own eyes.
If one is focusing his awareness outward the experience of pain can be lessened, and may even disappear. The counter to the preceding position: if you don’t see it it isn’t real. If you don’t see it, it won’t cause you pain.
Obviously, there are limits here, as if one gets struck by a train, though it was not observed, the pain is usually fairly real. Still, in the matter of the martial arts, we are not dealing with getting blindsided. We are dealing with the fact of what you see is what you get.
If you focus on an attacker, and train yourself to look ‘harder,’ then your attention is away from your body. Put that together with martial arts drilling, and the notion of pain may be greatly reduced. It may even cease to exist.
If you look at yourself, are concerned with your well being, then the small injuries that should probably be ignored, become greater. The stubbed toe causes an expensive and needless trip to the hospital, the hard block causes much emotional output, and even emotion itself (a nebulous thing that can’t be touched or physically perceived in any way) becomes a source of injury. The point of all this is that martial arts injuries can be reduced, not even have to be dealt with, if one practices a classical martial art, and puts his or her attention outward, away from one’s own body or mind.
Learn about Martial Arts Injuries and how to fix them. Go to Monster Martial Arts to discover a new method of martial arts learning. Pick up a free book on the home page.
Posted by Al Case in karate




