Positive Side of Pain & Injuries in Martial Arts

No pain - No gain, you must have heard of this phrase a million times by now. If you ask me, Pain is your closest ally when learning any kind of martial arts or even other sports for that matter.

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It is of so much importance that it even sometimes acts as your teacher which tells you what techniques are more effective when applied to which part of the body and which strikes will have the most effective and with what intensity.

Until now, since millions of years of human evolution, a human brain has naturally adapted to register memories associated with pain faster and for a longer duration of time than that learned from slow adaptation or at an evolutionary pace.

Let me state an example in the context of my above statement.

As a child, we are new to the world and the world to us. In any moment of time, if a child happens to hold or even touch a cup of hot water, it never repeats it for much longer.

The pain and shock send a signal of imminent danger to its tiny brain where it is registered for a lifetime. Likewise, any shock, pain, or discomfort from an injury, big or small, even as little as a scratch is transmitted into our memory system which in real-world warns us to evade, escape or counter any threat which may be associated with our previous registered painful memories.

Personally speaking, pain from a kick to the groin is way-way too different from that received on the jaws, or the one took of thighs from that taken on solar plexus if you know what that is.

Once you are familiar with these pain, you give your 100% to avoid them next time and at the same time, you learn to use their intensity against your opponents if needed.

But this does not mean that you have to get injured to learn the techniques better :). All you need is to be more careful. No instructor can guarantee you full safety while practicing but most of them recommend the use of protective gear when sparring or striking the sensitive areas like groin, eyes, jaws, shin, and likewise.

On February 13th, 2012, in a journal by research news portal "ScienceDaily" quoted -

"It has long been known that the central nervous system "remembers" painful experiences, that they leave a memory trace of pain. And when there is new sensory input, the pain memory trace in the brain magnifies the feeling so that even a gentle touch can be excruciating."

Now for the important question? - How do we prepare for such moments and how do we accept pain with positive mind frame during our training years?

The answer lies in your training routine;

To elaborate, the type of exercises, workouts and variations you add to your daily practice regime. For example, we all are familiar with pushups which are most common part of one's exercise routine, but if you keep a section of it dedicated to knuckle pushups say 5-5-5 reps for a start, after only few days you will absolutely stop feeling pain in your knuckles plus feel exceptional power in your shoulders.

In this blog, I have tried to share my experience on how simple knowledge can be perceived and translated for our betterment but in the end, it still is my own thought processes and anyone has the right to differ on it. I respect it, totally.

If you ever wish to ask me any specific query you have , please feel free to write your comment below. I would love to be answer if it falls under my experience domain.

Jai Hind.