It's Only Pain

Yesterday our karate school conducted the second pre-test for candidates preparing for Black Belt Testing this fall. It's sort of a dry run, to give the candidates a taste of the real thing and also to show the instructors what techniques need more emphasis in class.

My friend Jennie is one of the candidates for Cho Dan (First Degree Black Belt). I feel a special kinship with her because we are both mature women (although I am still a lot older than she is), and because she has fought her way through injuries that limit her performance. Now she is fighting again, several weeks after her knee gave out when she landed a jump wrong. Her doctor has given her permission to return to training - carefully! - and she has progressed from crutches to walking with a knee brace. But although her knee doesn't hurt much, it doesn't feel stable either. Pivoting motions are especially frustrating; her knee threatens to buckle under her again at any moment. This is of course very upsetting. She told me how the frustration actually brought her to tears the other night.

Then yesterday morning, before the test, Hernando hurt his knee and was hobbling around. At sixteen, he is like a young bull, enormously strong and talented, who thinks he can overcome any limitation through sheer will. He seemed horrified at the prospect of delivering a suboptimal performance at the pre-test.

I wasn't present at the pre-test and I haven't yet heard how things went for my two friends. I gave them each a pep talk beforehand, reminding them that the instructors know their situations and will take their limitations into account. I told them to take their time and make whatever adjustments they need to, but most of all not to let frustration get the best of them.

Did you notice? Both Jennie and Hernando were concerned about the disabling effects of their injuries, not the pain. It was as if the pain didn't count.

To some degree, it doesn't. Training hard always involves a certain amount of pain, even if it's just muscles protesting after a grueling series of pushups or squat kicks. This can be considered "good" pain. There's also chronic, non-threatening pain, like my heel spurs, which is in a different category altogether and can be pretty much dismissed. The trick is to recognize the difference between acceptable pain and "bad" pain which can signal serious damage.

I am hoping that my friends were able to get through their pre-test without further injury and can now proceed with rehabilitation, so that from now on all they have to deal with is discomfort. After all, it's only pain.