All this talk of sparring reminds me of a story:
As my Kung Fu instructor is a also a doctor in Traditional Chinese Medicine, I see a lot of strange stuff. Once, a young man in his late teens hobbled into our school with the help of his parents wearing a regular top but down below, he was wearing his 'Gi' pants. This went on for a couple of weeks but each time he wore a different top but always the same pair of pants. Curiousity got the best of me and I asked what was wrong with the patient. Turns out that the young man was a participant in a local Taekwondo tournament and took a kick square in the 'sacks' and his testes swelled to the size of an orange. After repeated treatments, they returned to normal.
As for myself:
#1:Back in grade 7, I once planted my left knee through the safety glass (they type with wires) of a door. My friend was chasing me and the carpet below slipped away. That didn't hurt.. what hurt was while I was getting stitches at the hospital. The doctor noticed a second cut after the fixed the major cut and decided not to use anesthetics while stitching the second cut.
#2: While moving a folded Ping-Pong table, one side fell over wedging my hand four fingers in the small space between the table and the side bar. Exposed tendons...
#3: Last November, 2 days before leaving for the Bahamas for my wedding, I slipped on some ice on the front porch and badly twisted my left ankle. Got acupuncture done that evening but became very sick when I got home. I was taking special meds to speed up the recovery but the side-effect was quickened circulation which resulted in higher than average body temperature. I had a very bad fever and slept the entire day. On the morning of our departure, we almost didn't go because I was so sick but I shrugged it off and we decided to chance it. Luckily, I made it past security as I had all the symptoms of SARS from the drugs. I was able to walk normally 3 days after the injury but didn't couldn't train for an entire month.
Charles
As my Kung Fu instructor is a also a doctor in Traditional Chinese Medicine, I see a lot of strange stuff. Once, a young man in his late teens hobbled into our school with the help of his parents wearing a regular top but down below, he was wearing his 'Gi' pants. This went on for a couple of weeks but each time he wore a different top but always the same pair of pants. Curiousity got the best of me and I asked what was wrong with the patient. Turns out that the young man was a participant in a local Taekwondo tournament and took a kick square in the 'sacks' and his testes swelled to the size of an orange. After repeated treatments, they returned to normal.
As for myself:
#1:Back in grade 7, I once planted my left knee through the safety glass (they type with wires) of a door. My friend was chasing me and the carpet below slipped away. That didn't hurt.. what hurt was while I was getting stitches at the hospital. The doctor noticed a second cut after the fixed the major cut and decided not to use anesthetics while stitching the second cut.
#2: While moving a folded Ping-Pong table, one side fell over wedging my hand four fingers in the small space between the table and the side bar. Exposed tendons...
#3: Last November, 2 days before leaving for the Bahamas for my wedding, I slipped on some ice on the front porch and badly twisted my left ankle. Got acupuncture done that evening but became very sick when I got home. I was taking special meds to speed up the recovery but the side-effect was quickened circulation which resulted in higher than average body temperature. I had a very bad fever and slept the entire day. On the morning of our departure, we almost didn't go because I was so sick but I shrugged it off and we decided to chance it. Luckily, I made it past security as I had all the symptoms of SARS from the drugs. I was able to walk normally 3 days after the injury but didn't couldn't train for an entire month.
Charles