Attitude towards pain

[DWx]

Do you think that as a MAist, your attitude to pain has changed?

What I mean is like a cut or a graze, (or like I did again this week, a burn from the oven) doesn't bother you so much now that you have been in the martial arts? And that you are more perceptive to different types of pain and know when it could be something to be ignored or when its something you have to deal with instantly? I've found that compared to my non-MA friends I can withstand a lot more and can block out things if I need to but I also know hen something is a serius injury by what it feels like.

[joesteph]

Before I had started weight-training, DWx, I was more sensitive regarding pain, but due to strains, etc., that occured while training, I became less sensitive. I no longer weight-train, but when we do joint locks, or if I have an MA training injury, I'm much more open to accepting the pain and keep moving forward.

An immediate difference in reaction to pain between me and someone newer to MA is in the joint locks I referred to, above. While other adults may tap at what I consider early, I'll tell my partner to "give it the gas." I wonder if, because we may have less fear as we perform MA, we "feel" less pain; pain, I'm suggesting, would be heightened in the mind by fear.

[tallgeese]

I think that this should be a natural outgrowth of training. It has to do partly with the constant beatingw we take. On another level, it's develping the will that continues to get up off the mat week after week. It's both and should happen as a result of training. If it dosen't, I'd question the methodology of the training.

[Truestar]

Mine has just recently.

About a month ago we were in our Saturday grappling session. Previous to that day I was always sensitive to pain, and wasn't really willing to take some.

Our newer student, who wrestled and is a good ground fighter, put me in a leg lock. My instructor told me to just deal with the pain and fight out of it.

This student yanked on my leg, but I resisted to urge to tap and got out of it. It didn't hurt afterwards, so I thought to myself, "What was I worried about?".

Since then I've been more willing to take pain, whether it be a leg lock or a cut.

I still don't like burns though.

[tallgeese]

I'd offer a word of caution on the tap out refusal. As nice as it is to gut thru this sort of thing, remember you're tapping for a reason. Usually to avoid the destruction of a joint.

If it's a pain compliance only sort of thing, that's one thing. But if anything is in a position to get torn or injured tap. It's what training's for.

[JohnC]

I'd add that perhaps doing contact sports teaches one the difference between discomfort and damage. The first one can work through, the second means stop. Both can have similar pain but should have different reactions.

[KarateEd]

I think that the MA practitioner's regular encounters with pain (whether it occurs during sparring, hitting a heavy bag, or simply being sore from training) makes us more neutral toward pain than most. I do believe that my attitude toward pain has changed from when I was not involved in MA.

[Tiger1962]

Do you think that as a MAist, your attitude to pain has changed?

What I mean is like a cut or a graze, (or like I did again this week, a burn from the oven) doesn't bother you so much now that you have been in the martial arts? And that you are more perceptive to different types of pain and know when it could be something to be ignored or when its something you have to deal with instantly? I've found that compared to my non-MA friends I can withstand a lot more and can block out things if I need to but I also know hen something is a serius injury by what it feels like.

I'm not going to lie; I don't like pain, never did, never will. I don't mind feeling sore after a good workout but that's different than limping out of class with bruises and sprains. But, I don't believe in taking a hero's approach to it either. That being said, since I've been training all these years, I feel I do handle it differently and probably better, than I did before I was ever a martial artist. I can probably handle more than I could when I wasn't training.

I know a lot of people say, "well, you should feel pain so you can deal with it if you're ever attacked." To a certain extent, that is true, HOWEVER after all the injuries I've racked up from training, I want to be able to walk out the door and go home at night & be able to return to train. What good or how effective am I if I am hurt so bad I can not even defend myself?? Does developing nerve damage or carpal tunnel from repeated wrist locks where your partner hesitates to release make one better from dealing with the pain? No, it means that injury will probably affect your job or life. Same thing if you smashed up your knee or ankle or having your arm or leg hyperextended from your partner in class, or having a torn rotator cuff. These are not "prizes" or "medals" in pain management. I see them as affecting my job and my life.

Like everyone else, I have a job, responsibilities, bills, mortgage, etc. to pay. If me or even my spouse for that matter, get seriously hurt in class, there's no one to support us or pay our bills. So I take pain very seriously. If I'm doing wrist locks with a partner, I tap when I feel pain and if my partner doesn't release immediately, you can bet she or he's going to hear it from me or else I am going to react accordingly. I've got chronic pain now that I have to deal with now that sometimes alters what I can or can not do - - all injuries I've gotten in class. So that's why if I'm partnered with someone who has a macho outlook on pain, I make sure I set the record straight from the get-go.

This is the reason that instructors need to keep a close eye on kids especially, but also adults doing wrist locks or head locks or anything that involves tapping out or the similar. Someone can get seriously hurt - and permanently.

[bushido_man96]

I'd add that perhaps doing contact sports teaches one the difference between discomfort and damage. The first one can work through, the second means stop. Both can have similar pain but should have different reactions.

I agree here. My middle brother played football up through college, and Wrestled in high school, as well as doing TKD for a time. He is tougher than I am, and he can handle pain pretty well. He played a few weeks of football in high school with a bad shoulder, because if he would have gone to the doc, he knows the doc would have told him to sit. He wouldn't. His arm was hurt so bad that he was hiking the ball with his right hand, and then throwing it up into the D-lineman after hiking. Pretty much played a game with one arm.

That said, I don't think I could deal with quite as much pain. However, with getting banged and clashed in sparring, I have found that at times, you have to work around the pain. You either protect it by switching a stance, or you grit your teeth and work through it.

I would also say that there is a difference between just pain, and an injury. My brother had an injury. I don't think I have really ever trained or fought through an injury like that. Still, both are a demonstration of toughness.

[JohnC]

T1962 and B96 (you folks should really get together ),

In my opinion, as a training objective one needs to at least have / develop a gut feel for the pain one can take and still function, as it matters in surviving the fight. Note, I said pain not damage. However, usually one must risk the latter to get the former. It's a balance very hard to find, especially when dealing with lots of students with different abilities, mindsets, etc.

I usually reserve this intensity of training in working with students for myself and my seniors. We have far more experience in judging the balance and, if we're wrong or make mistakes, it's on our heads for the damage done. I tend to put far more controls in place when the students work with each other. I'm not sure if this is the best / only way. What I do know is that we've gone 6 years now without a significant injury.