Injury=Learning

         Having an injury can both be frustrating and eye opening.  I've been having intermittent issues with my right knee for a few years now.  Sometimes it will be good for a long period of time, and sometimes it will flare-up.  This time the flare-up has been lasting.

        I've seen practitioners in the past but have never gotten a great answer for what's been going on.  I'm going to a different physio now and we have a new line of thought.  We did a lot of strength testing of the knee.  Best guess is that I have patellofemoral syndrome (patella = knee cap, femoral= thigh bone, and the connecting tissues: ligaments and tendons that become inflamed) that just never got the chance to heal fully.  Which is why the knee will be good sometimes, but not others.  I have a program of exercises I've been doing to help strengthen the muscles surrounding the structure of the joint, and also being very mindful of the joint.  The worst motion is bending the knee over the toes, especially if I try to do a deep bend.

        As far as my Kung Fu goes it definitely affects my stances.  Horse stance you'll see me let that right knee go in, the outward pressure doesn't feel the greatest on it for long periods of time.  Same goes with the high back stance, which I find to be the worst stance for that knee.  So right now my stances are just a bit higher than they normally are.  Having to adjust my stances on the fly is a bit difficult, because my body is trained to do them a certain way, and I find myself still trying to get into those stances during forms, until I get that sharp reminder that I can't right now.  I can still be effective in what I'm doing, just need to make some tweaks.  Also general activity does make it swell a bit, so y the time we're done class I do need to rest it a bit.  We don't think there is any tearing or anything major, just a tendon that is angry, and has been for some time.

        What this particular injury has taught me is that I can still move in a way that keeps me centred and grounded, even if I need to make my stances a bit higher.  It makes me pay more attention to how I'm moving, when and where in my feet I am connected to the earth, and when I'm not.  How my lower body moves and leads versus when I can feel my upper body leading.  It is also showing me how stable I actually am, even in stances that aren't bothering my knee, because I have that greater body awareness.  So even though it sucks to have an injury, it does provide a lot of insights through mindful movement.