Goju Ryu Karate: Zebro's Adventure
Goju Ryu Karate with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and Multiple Disabilities
Monday, September 27, 2021
On Karate, Pants, and the Flow of Teachable Interventions
Sunday, January 31, 2021
What's Making An Ask?
Tuesday, December 29, 2020
On Static vs. Dynamic Exercises and Stretching*
"If you can't explain it you don't know it well enough." -Einstein
On Static vs. Dynamic Exercises and Stretching*
- Given
- When the muscle must contract it's happy to do its job, even if that job is a little tougher because of instability.
- When the muscle must relax, those fibres have no idea where to stop because tendons aren't stabilizing or providing usable feedback. So, the muscle is inclined to remain contracted: "Any time now, tendons.... Guys?"
- Interventions: milieu approach, e.g.,
- Isometrics give the muscles a chance to practice both strength (muscle's ability to contract)
- Short, sustained reps for tone (muscle's ability to remain contracted), and
- ...also releasing and relaxing in between reps (except they suck at relaxing).
- Manual therapies aid in the physical release of muscle fibres which can only relax passively.
- Pharmacology aids in the chemical release of muscle fibres, which are chemically gated by extraneous sympathetic activity, hormones, diet, exercise, psychology, family hx, etc.
- Things I couldn't fit elsewhere
- Timing - time of day/month; interventions before/after activity; last meds, food, hydration, electrolytes
- Psych - last boost of oxytocin or dopamine; last interpersonal reaction; psychological flexibility; emotional regulation; cats?
- Environment - weather; climate; physical safety risks; fall risks
- Adaptive equipment - tapes; braces; splints; mobility aids, environmental mods
- Support - care team; community members; friends; family, and access to them all
- Misc - what else is hurting (and what isn't!); energy levels; cognition; quality of above factors
- If a muscle group isn't working right, check the opposing muscle groups.
- Ongoing "learning opportunities" (that aren't necessarily functional goals, but are more qualitative)
- Emotional endurance when things look bleak for a long time
- When I get sick, any of this knowledge that isn't rote goes out the window.
- Prevention and managing crashes (exhaustion, injury)
- I forgot how to know when a muscle is fatigued vs. exhausted, and when that's a useful vs. hazardous.
- WTF, diet/guts?
- Consistent exercise program
- Managing kinesiophobia and coping without a port like a freakin' boss
- WTF, mind/body connection?
- Communicating with providers succinctly ;)
- Things to remember
- "If you can't explain it you don't know it well enough." -Einstein
- I didn't come this far just to make it this far
- I must rest when my rampage is over
- Didn't cause it, can't cure it, might bitch about it, can endure it.
- Nourish to flourish
- Take your meds. Your doctors know they're not prescribing Jolly Ranchers. (that's mine!) :)
- Sometimes to let it heal you have to stop fuckin' with it. (also mine) :)
Saturday, September 19, 2020
IOGKF PerĂº Entrenamiento especial
Wednesday, September 9, 2020
Zooming In On My Progress
Online learning is getting to me. In karate tonight over Zoom I tried Sepai kata for the first time. I miss my dojo. It'll be interesting to see how my body tolerates karate with no port and overall reduced activity after the pandemic ends. I look forward to building back up because looking back won't do me any good.
I've been in physiotherapy for a year and a half now since sepsis ended. I've been out of the dojo since before the pandemic hit the United States, where I live.
Learning karate online has been a lot of fun because it's different and I get different things out of it. I can turn the volume way up on my Sensei's voice, for instance, whereas in the dojo I'm almost totally deaf. Learning online I can write notes down and scribble out my questions and their answers. I can rest, add a fan, hydrate, and manage blackouts more easily. The cats are distracting but that's only because I want them to meet my dojo family.
It's frightening that my body has deconditioned in so many ways because of sepsis. My muscle memory is carrying me further than my actual memory in some cases, and in other cases I'm choked up from drawing a blank.
My Sensei is extremely generous with my schedule and my abilities. He has things he wants for me and I have things I want for myself. At the end of the day we're glad to be alive and we have faith that this is the foundation for anything else we can imagine to come true. :)
Sepai, though, which is thought of as the oldest kata, has a lot of moves in it that are new to me. It looks like Sepai bunkai might be easier to perform than the kata itself (at least, kihon bunkai).
I'm frustrated most moments of the day with the pain, which is a lot worse, a lot sooner. Pain control in the U.S. is a strange racket. With Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome it is unrealistic to expect that one may ever be completely out of pain. But it is realistic to expect that I can learn to defend myself. I don't need every kata to be lovely. I don't need every bunkai to work. I need to practice and ingrain a few solid techniques that will work for me in different situations against different types of people. I choose to see my life as worth defending. There are many people in my life I wish saw themselves that way, but I can only control myself and invite others to join me in the adventure, in the work. And boy, is it work.
Eventually, everyone gets seasoned at working toward or fighting for something, so long as we do not give up and check out. And even that is another type of fight altogether worth besting.