Monday, December 15, 2008

I Have a Pain in the Hip Flexor

I like that this image looks a bit knock-kneed ... like me.

My mighty kicks are mighty no longer. Last week I learned the spin-rear crescent kick, and did pretty well with it, especially considering that it's a brown- or black-belt basic.

The next day, I had trouble walking. My right leg didn't seem to want to straighten without pain. My father is about 6'3". I learned at a young age to walk taking long strides, which was de rigeur if I wanted to keep my dad in sight. But last week I was reduced to taking little ladylike steps. Bah.

The pain went away in a couple days, and I didn't think any more about it.

This past Saturday we did a lot of kicking in karate class. I didn't have any problems while I was there, but as the day wore on, my hip started hurting more and more until I was hobbling around the house. Just to make things more fun, my lower back began to hurt because of the way I was walking and holding myself.

I must have lost my mind, because Saturday night I went to sleep without taking any sort of pain reliever (Tylenol PM is my all-time favorite at bedtime -- just 1/2 a tablet does the trick: puts me to sleep and takes care of whatever pain I might have.) So I spent the night sleeping in 2-hour increments, waking in between in pain from trying to change position.

Sunday was spent with my buddies, the hot rice bags -- one on my lower back and one along the crease in my thigh. Sweet, blessed relief. I met a girlfriend for lunch and was mortified to find when it was time to go that getting into the car required me to grab a handful of jeans on my right thigh so that I could lift my leg up and over, into the car. Today I discovered that I can't use my right foot to step on the handle to flush the toilet at work. This is not good. (Note: I used my left foot. I know my potty etiquette, thank you very much!)

So karate is right out for the rest of the week. I've had my warning: If I don't let this injury heal completely this time, the next time I go to kick the snot out of a BlastMaster might be the last time. That would be sad, because my plan for if I'm ever accosted is to destroy the attacker's knee. Gonna need a strong leg for that.

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