*wheeee*... ow.

[curgoth]

So, I dragged my grumpy ass off to jujutsu, and I had a fairly good class. Joel (the instructor) tipped me off to why I was doing so poorly (I was pulling back and setting myself up for an armbar), and I was starting to feel like I was getting it. Then, near the end, during free grappling, my partner and I got too close to the edge of the mats, and I ended up dropping all of my weight onto my elbow, on the hard tile floor. It made a pretty scary sound, but, thankfully, it was my elbow and not my head. I figured I was ok, but after moving around a bit, I realised that my left arm was slightly numb... I went on through the rest of class, and helped put away the mats, got changed, etc., then I really started to notice it. My body is really good at blocking out pain when I get hurt - a little too good, since I often don't realise how badly I've hurt myself (or that I've hurt myself at all) until 30-60 minutes later, when the adrenalin/endorphins wear off. I covered my shoulder in a535 when I got home, so we'll see how I feel tomorrow. Anyone know what I should be doing for this sort of thing? I don't think I should be icing it up, at least not yet, since I think that'll make it tighten up...

In other news, I've only been able to get one of my earrings back in. I can't find the hole at all on one end, so I suspect that it may have healed shut in the past 3 hours, which is impressive since I got the ear pierced in 1997, and haven't had the hole open for more than a couple hours at a time since. So, I may have to go shove it through to re-open it (or maybe use a needle) so I can get the earring back in. I'll get Zil to look at it first though, so I don't get blood all over the place needlessly.

Grr. Body and I were getting along so well before last week...

I'm also starting to get tired of being bald... so I may not shave this weekend. We'll see how I feel.

Comments

[solar-mango.livejournal.com]

Ice it! Generally speaking ice at least won't do harm, and will likely help. It's the general first aid rule, ice! The exception is cramps, which doesn't apply here.

If you see someone about it, they may tell you heat later on...but you'd have to check with 'someone' (ie. your doctor) about that one.

Hope your feeling better.

[curgoth]

See, I knew there was something about icing at one point, and heat at another, with one of those points being right after the injury, and the other being much later... but I couldn't remember which, and didn't want to do the wrong thing.

Blah!

I'm going to go steal ice from the work freezer and see if I can manage to hang it over my sore spots.

[djinnthespazz.livejournal.com]

Have Zill fuss with the ear. I let my holes go empty for long periods, and I often have a panic attack when the hole seems to dissappear... and then the damn thing will go in and be fine.

Hope that's your case, too.

[curgoth]

Zil got the earring back in... I think I may have carved a second channel in that ear that doesn't go all the way through; the hole did go all the way through, just not where I kept poking it.

[hudziecz.livejournal.com]

I was always taught that you apply ice to sore joints (like the elbow) and heat to sore muscles. Ice for the joints so they don't swell, and heat for the muscles to bring more blood to the area and promote healing.

[tygerdsebat.livejournal.com]

that elbow injury sounds a lot like what I did to my knee back in TKD. I didn't care for mine right, but I do remember being told to elevate and ice it and they gave me naproxin for the pain and to help keep down inflamation.

Hope you didn't hurt it too badly, joint pain sucks.

[curgoth]

I think it's just the muscles in the shoulder/arm that are damaged, not the actual joint itself; I landed on a hard, fixed slab of bone, pretty much the hardest point on the body, so the elbow is fine. Unfortunately, the shock travelled up and yanked around the muscles above it.

[kalivor.livejournal.com]

General prescription for sports injury: RICE

Rest
Ice
Compression
Elevation

Mango gave you the exception ... if it's not a cramp, ice won't make it worse. Heat helps to relax sore muscles, but really doesn't have any magical healing powers that I'm aware of. Cooling it, compressing it and elevating it will help reduce swelling and should make it feel better. It should also makes diagnosing it easier if it's a serious problem.

Rest ... well, that's self-explanatory. Don't be doing anything that might make it worse until it's feeling better. And perhaps for a little while after that (if it takes a while).

[kalivor.livejournal.com]

Oops ... forgot a couple of things:

1. Ice it directly, not through a shirt or somesuch. Yes, it's uncomfortable, but it really doesn't work properly when it's being applied through a layer of clothing (even a thin one!). At fencing we tape a bag of ice directly to the skin, so that there's only the plastic between.

2. 10-15 minutes on, 10-15 minutes off. Don't ice for less than 10 minutes at a time, or more than 15 ... too little and you're not accomplishing much. Too much, and you may find out that I lied when I said that it can do no harm. You want to spend as much time without the ice as with it.

3. I was sure there was a #3. Dang.

[curgoth]

I managed to get #1, eventually... i started out icing my shirt, then slid the ice undeneath a bit later. Fortunately I'm wearing a loose Pete shirt today, so I can slide a bag of ice under my shirt by undoing an extra button.

I've been not far off on #2, but only by chance; my hand getting too cold, or someone coming an bothering me, etc.

I'm starting to think that this morning's idea of trying to do as much of my gym workout as possible tonight may be a bit... stupid. I think I will go, stretch, do situps, and then soak in the hottub before coming home and icing the shoulder again.