subject: Martial Arts Injuries And How Bad Dos It Really Hurt? [print this page] Martial Arts injuries can be pretty badMartial Arts injuries can be pretty bad. A Mixed Martial Arts Injury, for instance, can range from pulled muscles to nerve damage. And an art that specializes in throwing, we are talking judo injury, or something like that, can result in a damaged body.
The question, however, is when is the injury real, and when is it...less than real? This is a tough question, because if some fellow is feeling pain you don't want to make the assumption that he is a hypochondriac. This bit of writing is going to address this nebulous field of when is an injury real, and when it is not.
There are two directions that a person's mind can go in. One is the inward direction, paying attention to the body, examining the mind, and just general introspection. The other direction is away from oneself, or towards an opponent.
If ones attention is directed towards oneself the experience of pain is usually increased. If one is watching ones body become struck, be it by Kenpo fist or Savate foot or whatever, one becomes convinced that the pain is more real. Simply, what you see is what you get.
If ones attention is directed outward the experience of pain can be lesser, and may even disappear. The alternative to the preceding argument: if you don't see it it isn't real. What you don't see won't hurt you.
Obviously, there are limits here, as if one gets hit by a car, though it came from the rear and it was not observed, the pain is usually fairly real. Still, in the matter of the martial arts, we are not dealing with the blindside of pain. We are dealing with the fact of you get what you put your attention on.
If you look at an opponent, and train yourself to look harder and more intently, then your attention is off yourself. Put that together with normal and good martial arts training, and the experience of pain may be greatly reduced. It may even become non existent.
If you are focused on yourself, are concerned with your body, then the small injuries that should probably be ignored, seem to loom larger. The stubbed toe causes an expensive and needless trip to the emergency room, the hard block causes much emotional agitation, and even emotion itself (a nebulous thing that can't be touched or physically perceived in any way) becomes a source of concern. The point of all this is that martial arts injuries may not even have to be dealt with if one practices a traditional martial art, and learns to put his or her attention outward, away from oneself.
