I'm Back! (part 2) More like a fizz than a bang...

Ok, so I thought I was on my comeback trail about 6 months ago but it was a false alarm. Sure the pain in my buggered shoulder was starting to ease but I wasn't prepared for the subsequent tightening of my whole shoulder. I realized that this was the 'frozen' part of what they told me was a 'frozen shoulder'. As the pain subsided the joint simply got more and more constricted so that I could only raise my right arm to about a 45 degree angle, only reach the top of my butt with the assistance of my other arm and no sideways movement at all. It was a bit scary really.

I had to go to the US for 2 weeks in May/June and thankfully this coincided with my shoulder finally giving a hint that it might free itself up a bit. Luckily, as I had a lot of camera gear to lug around. Since my return home I've been stretching it and just doing some gentle suburi to a point where I decided I had enough movement to come back to training at last!

It was great to see everyone again and to be putting the keikogi on again. It was also wonderful to see and meet our visitors from Japan, and although I'm not quite ready to take on the hardcore jigeiko that I witnessed that night, simply swinging a shinai and taking the beginners through their paces was an absolute joy.

Try imagining taking a year out of your kendo life and you will only get a hint of what it is really like without having to wake up every night for 6 months in pain and then wondering if you will ever get full movement back in your arm. I'm not saying this to get sympathy - I'm happy to be back training and on the mend - I just want people who get an injury to do something about it immediately, learn from my experience and if it means taking a few weeks off then do it and give your body the chance to recover. That way it will simply be a bit of an annoying inconvenience, but isn't that better than losing a year of kendo?

I feel a bit like a broken record on this so I'll try to write about other things from now on!

Good luck to you all at the Founders Cup and I wish you every success in the gradings and comp. I'll be with you in spirit.

I'm in Japan for the next 2 weeks but will be back at the dojo on a regular basis when I return.

It's great to be back...