I have spent half my life with a bag of peas on something. Luckily I’m still in on piece.
Injury is a pain - literally! But the plus side
to pain is that you generally learn to make fewer mistakes, and forge a body
that is accustomed to fixing itself.
Fighting and fixing go hand in hand, they
are like locks and keys. The more you damage, the more you understand how to
fix (and vice versa).
The most important point on this matter is, Kung Fu was
developed for the health and maintenance of the human being – not to smash the
vessel to the extent whereby the damage becomes irreversible.
Most people
suffer with something, and quite honestly, most people suffer unnecessarily
through misinformation, malpractice or laziness. The most important thing to
administer when healing is – self belief!
If you do not believe you are getting
better, chances are, you won’t. Along with self belief we sometimes require
practical advice so that we may speed our recovery and resume training and
activity as quickly as possible.
The following list is my personal top five healing products.
I keep all of them in my house and have used all these things regularly with
enough success to confidently recommend them to my training partners, friends,
and family over the years. – They all work – all of them.
They are not a
substitute for RICE, but work well in combination with the Rest, Ice,
Compression, Elevation routine AND STRETCHING – the most neglected regime in
most peoples healing endeavours.
I am not advising anybody to buy and use these
products, I am relaying personal experience, but you have a choice, and if you asked me which products I associate
to successful healing, this would be my definitive list.
I am not a doctor, and
I am not trying to be one, but I have experimented with my body and sought
advice from Physiotherapists, Osteopaths, Homeopaths, and Doctors of Chinese
medicine to come across a couple of products that work for me.
Hopefully this information is useful to some people and
works to alleviate some pain and help you to train stress free and to a greater
extent than you would have done otherwise, some of these products are capable
of alleviating ailments that have been stuck in a body for a long period of
time.
Obviously, some contraindications will always apply based on
your body, age, gender, and standard of health. I would advise that you
research these products thoroughly, prior to experimenting with them, but if
you are (in the most part) young, fit, healthy and in good shape, not pregnant, and not taking
prescription medication, you should have no problem with them at all. Remember that although I am mentioning products that are anti inflammatory, in cases of serious injury, allowing the area to swell is generally the best way forward and part of the natural healing process.
Here’s to wishing you a happier healthier lifestyle and
regime in 2013!
5. Wood Lock – disregard the name – even though it sounds
and smells like something you would treat a garden fence with!
This is a decent
analgesic and also carries anti-inflammatory properties.
I’m yet to find
something I prefer in terms of quick relief probably due to the concentration
of camphor, menthol, and Methyl Salicylate, which is greater than most other
similar products like your tiger balms, Thai oil, Si Chi, and other deep heat preparations.
This is great for forgetting about something and getting on with the job at
hand. Strains, swellings, mild bruising, and any discomfort experienced through
knocks or over exertion are reduced by massaging this preparation into the
skin.
I connotate the Wood Lock sensation as cool rather than hot. I also think
that my mind is so accustomed to the smell and sensation of Woodlock that it
works to remind my body that there is a problem in a specific area which
requires attention; I believe this contributes to accelerate healing.
I apply
this balm during training when I am conscious of an ache, massaging down the
growth line. Use your fingertips and be vigorous with rubbing. It is great for
shoulders, backs, ankles and elbows, lower lumbar buttocks, hips, and hairline
fractures. My knuckles also ache in cold wet weather or after bare knuckle bag
work, this product takes the pinch right out.
You can apply this during
training, for best results, I find that if I apply after a hot bath and go
straight to bed, when I wake, I am in a much better place.
DO NOT apply this
prior to having a hot bath/shower or before entering a Sauna!!! Wash your hands
TWICE before going to the bathroom
and all will be well.
4. Yunnan BaiYao Sports Spray – this is also an analgesic. I
have better results with this product when there is visible discolouration
associated to injury. Different things work for different people.
If an injury
is just a pain with no visible swelling or bruising, I use Woodlock. If however
I am treating bright red swelling, dark coloured bruising, black fingers/toes,
haematoma, I use this instead. It is very effective in the realms of pain
relief (for me), I have applied this to black toes and forgotten all about
them! I put some of this on Sifu John Smiths elbow once, and he seemed to
forget about that too! This is also great on sprained ankles. My students like
this for anything and everything. They often use it on their shoulders after
long periods rolling. I find myself replacing this quicker than anything else –
more than the Woodlock.
3. Welda Rhus Tox Ointment – this is a great little cream
for joints and damage to connective tissues, ligaments and tendons. I used this
preparation in combination with stretching when repairing damage to my fingers.
I have gained back complete natural motion in both. Whilst an Arnica gel will
get in deep to help strained muscle, this seems work better on tissue with a
weaker blood supply. It reduces pain and stiffness in cold wet weather, and is
great on the lower back after weighted sit-ups or dead lifting if you indulge
in that type of thing. Also good I find for painful elbows, hyper-extension and
repeated sprains. If you have pain in a joint or on an injury site that is
evident when you wake in the morning, but subsides throughout the day or during
exercise, if the injury feels like bruising, long after complete healing should
have occurred, if you ache when it is cold and damp – this is a useful cream.
2. Yunnan BaiYao Capsule – I don’t really like oral preparations,
but this one is clever.
This is a haemostatic agent – it stops bleeding. It
subsides bleeding internally and externally – fact.
If you have been fighting and
injured, this will work quickly to accelerate the healing process by helping
blood to clot and repairing blood vessels.
This is good for anything strained
or injured especially deep internal bleeding. It also supports liver function and
has antiseptic qualities. This is great for cuts, excessive bruising and swelling,
or as a tonic once or twice a year. It is also good post surgery. If you
smashed your body up pretty bad, this is good to take whilst you rest. Two
packs are sufficient. I dose two tablets three times daily with food and water,
until they are gone. Don’t take this and lie down or on an empty stomach. This
needs to dissolve in your stomach not your oesophagus.
There is a small
microdot coloured red in each packet – don’t take this one – you don’t need it
unless you are bleeding excessively. This is an excellent, natural medicine. One
I hold in high regard.
If you are on blood thinners, or have a history of blood clots, heart conditions, or strokes, I would not recommend that you ingest this. You should not ingest this if you are pregnant.
If you are on blood thinners, or have a history of blood clots, heart conditions, or strokes, I would not recommend that you ingest this. You should not ingest this if you are pregnant.
1. Serrapeptase – This thing is amazing. Serrapeptase is a
proteolytic enzyme first discovered in Silk worms which allows them to hatch
from a cocoon without melting themselves. Now it is produced in the lab, and
works to dissolve non living organic protein – Fibrin, scar tissue, cysts,
arterial plaque are all non living organic proteins existent in our bodies to a
greater or lesser extent. Scar tissue is our friend whilst healing, but after
the body has finished its job, scar tissue may remain which in turn inhibits
the natural glide of muscle tissue. This is a common cause or reoccurring pain
after injury or surgery.
Serra has the power to dissolve scar tissue adhesion's
that restrict natural movement. After two and a half years attempting to heal a
smashed foot that had healed in the wrong position, I took the 80,000 iu – two
tablets three times daily on an empty stomach in combination with a stretching
regime and a medicated Yunnan Baiyao analgesic patch on the ankle and instep of
the damaged foot. Two and a half weeks in, whilst stretching, I actually felt
what I imagine was an adhesion give way in the foot, the pain I had experienced
for two years when lifting out of compression vanished completely (and so did a
problem in my shoulder that I was not treating). I finished the bottle. This is
also anti-inflammatory. I would give an injury a good eight/twelve weeks to
heal before consuming this, but, if after serious injury or surgery you still
experience pain during exertion, a bottle of this may work to bring you more freedom
of movement and reduce pain indefinitely during sporting activity. If you are
undergoing rehabilitation post surgery, and using stretches designed to break
up scar tissue – I would advise that you invest in a bottle of this. I wouldn’t
use this and Yunnan Baiyao oral preparation at the same time. If I have been
ingesting Yunnan Baiyao, I would take a break of 14 days before introducing
Serrapeptase to my system.
I would always rest, ice, stretch, massage, and give
the injury minimum eight weeks healing time before attempting to reduce scar
tissue with this product. I would not begin taking Serrapeptase until swelling had subsided. It might be wise to make a list of all old/re-occurring
injuries whilst taking this and seeing what else disappears.
A couple of general things - You must ice, you must stretch,
you must massage, you must continue to move as naturally as you did prior to
injury - you must believe you are fixing
and rest appropriately (sleep) to ensure your body can do its housework and
mend in good time.
Always remember, that your body has a miraculous capacity to
fix its self and trust it to do a good job.
With this in mind, we are what we
eat. When healing, it is important to alkalize your body through diet. You can
research this on the web and look at what foods contribute to an alkaline or
acidic state of being.
Oral pain killers mask pain. I don’t do this, if my body
hurts, it is hurting for a reason and I want to know about it especially whilst
I examine what and when I am hurting, (especially during training).
Don’t be
afraid to sit in a pain. Find an injury and play, get to know it intimately and work
with it to remove it.
Be gentle with yourself! Over-zealous rubbing, pressing
and flexing can be counter productive, remember some injuries may be layered,
an old unfixed injury may be the underlying root of a more recent complaint, as
one vanishes, you may open something else you had forgotten about – don’t
worry, be patient and persevere to get to the root of the affliction. Trust you
instincts whilst healing, remember, nobody knows your body better than you.
Believe – believe you are mending AND YOU WILL!
A good doctor of Chinese Medicine can tell you more about
the properties of Woodlock and Yunnan Baiyao.
A good Homeopath can talk you through Rhus Tox.
There are dozens of testimonials on the effectivity of
Serrapeptase, research thoroughly.
Good Luck and happy training.
These products are available at http://fiveelementtcmsupply.com/products/topicals.php?page=products&pageL=topicals. Wood Lock oil has been discontinued, but the same formula is now sold as White Flower Strain Relief.
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