Frustrations and Neck Pain...

November 8, 2009

I've spent the past half hour or so on my mat (aka "pillows") working on a drill that's been giving me particular grief. Again, I don't know the name and haven't been able to find an image/video, but it involves planting your head on the mat next to your opponent's hips and "jumping" your lower body over his knees and onto the opposite side of his body. (If anybody knows the name, feel free to let me know.) It's quickly beating out forward rolls as my least favorite drill. My problem is that in planting your head, your neck and shoulders end up bearing a decent amoutn of weight.

The extra weight would probably be no big deal to most people, but my neck's a bit delicate. About a year ago, just 24hrs after a 15 hr flight (plays havoc on your neck and back), I went out dancing. A friend put me into multiple spins during a dance and everything was fine. I danced with him again. More spins. Everything still fine. I sat down after the last dance though and felt a pain shoot down the right side of my neck. I decided to call it a night. I woke up the next morning and my neck was incredibly stiff. I did a few sessions of accupuncture and tui na everything was magically better...or so I thought.

Last class someone elbowed me in the exact spot that I'd strained dancing. It didn't hurt and wasn't swelling, but I iced it and gave up that drill for a couple of days just to be safe. Well, after trying it again and making quite a bit of progress, I'm back to icing it. That's enough practice for today. I might be making a trip back to Dr. Lin soon.