Muay Thai: Part 3 — Injuries and Verdict

I’m here in Thailand, for a month’s worth of Muay Thai training. 

First and foremost, I am getting my ass kicked - mostly figuratively but also kinda literally too. It’s getting better, but there’s always a next level to get to and I’ll never stop getting my butt wiped. Anyway, I have attended three weeks of classes, with one week to go. So here’s my update: Part 3 of 3 — Injuries and Verdict.

Injuries: Couldn’t escape injuries - minor, annoying, and one that’s absolutely ridiculous.

Any serious physical activity is bound to result in a few minor nagging injuries, if not major ones. I had my share of injuries, but thankfully nothing serious enough to fully sideline me from training.

Bruises -

I got bruises on my shins and elbows. I was warned by a friend this might happen, and I didn’t understand until it happened. It wasn’t the result of anything drastic. Just the normal kicking and elbowing during typical training sessions. You see, normal people don’t use their shins and elbows, so we are weak in those body parts. And when you subject them to blunt force repeatedly, they will bruise. The good news is that after a while, shins and elbows will toughen up. It still hurts to kick with full force repeatedly, but I’m holding up much better these days.

Bruised ribs -

Having bruised ribs is one of the most annoying injuries. It hurt to put pressure on it. So any motion to lie down or get up would cause a bit of pain. Even worse, was that even coughing or sneezing would be too painful. I would have to hold sneezes halfway and prevent them from coming out. Seriously. It was that painful. Nonetheless, I had to continue on with my training. I took it as easy as I could, with partial push ups and taking a long time to go down and up for sit ups. Took about three weeks for a full recovery,

So how did this happen, you ask? Well… In one of the first classes, we learned a technique to counter a kick by catching the opponent’s leg, and then sweep their standing leg out to knock them on the floor. Cathy and I were paired to practice this with each other. Now normally during practice, you take it easy, and don’t actually take down your partner. Cathy didn’t understand this concept, and with her gung-ho attitude, she basically body slams me to the floor. There is also an art to protecting yourself, and I had no idea how to brace my fall. So I hit the ground real hard. This, my friends, is how you bruise your ribs.

Blisters - 

We are barefoot during training, so there’s a lot of friction on the feet. From stepping on the mats all day to twisting the foot for kicks. My baby soft feet just weren’t used to the rigors of Muay Thai. So they’ve blistered and calloused.

Sand toe -

OK, so this is not an injury that has a real term for it. So I made up the name - “sand toe”. I’m pretty sure this is an extremely obscure and rare injury. For you doctors out there, I’m even willing to bet that ICD-10 doesn’t have a code for this. If this has happened to anyone before, I’m sorry and let me know so we can laugh about it together. 

“Sand toe” is what happens when you have a popped blister on your toe, then sand enters through the hole, filling up the blister. 

Let me slow that down and spell out exactly how that happens:

1. You get a blister on your toe

2. The blister pops, resulting in a small hole

3. However, you leave the remaining blister intact, to protect the raw skin underneath that is still developing

4. You go to the beach, because the weather is great and who doesn’t love beaches

5. You enter the water, and with each wave sand is kicked up and slowly fills up the blister

6. Thus, lots of sand in your toe - “Sand toe”.

Sand toe, is a minor irritation at first, but becomes more and more painful. Every step is pressing sand to raw skin. The remedy: cutting out the blister to release the sand, then bandaging up the toe to protect the developing skin. Good news: full recovery is just a matter of days.

So yeah, that’s my weird freak injury. And if any medical professional has seen this injury before or knows its actual name, please share.

Photos of Sand Toe available upon request. Special thanks to “Doctor” Cathy for operating on my toe.

Verdict:

I am so glad that I did this. Getting fit is great. Learning a martial art is great. (Yay for being slightly more capable of defending myself). This experience has been so wonderful. I will definitely be back at some point in the future. This will also kick start a more active lifestyle for me. When I finish this sabbatical, I will either continue learning martial arts, or join a gym, or both.