It is rare that I attend class on a night other than Thursday but with pressure mounting both at school and home as my graduation from CLC approaches I was still having more panic attacks than usual this week. As a result, I called Sensei and asked him to bring me to Equa Do on Tuesday so I could use some of my fear and frustration productively.
On our way to class we stopped at Lowe's to pick up some boards so I could do a demonstration for the other students, whom Sensei told me were having issues with confidence. After warmups and a class spent working on variations of brush trap strike the time for my demo arrived.
The board was set up on two cement bricks as always but I found it impossible to break. At Equa Do we have a
"Three strike you're out rule" meaning that someone attempting a break has three tries before they must stop and try another time. This is in place to prevent injury.
However, by the time I struck for the third time I was in much more pain than when I have broken in the past, and that board was still intact. I can't really describe it but something about that break just felt wrong to me. I had already ruled out strength and positioning as the issue, so that left the board itself. It turned out on closer examination that this was the case and the board had been cut so that when laid horizontally for breaking it was cross grain. Breaking cross grain is the quickest way to injure oneself so I did a short knife fighting demo instead.
It turns out I did injure myself, spraining my wrist badly. Following difficulty with managing swelling and pain I went to the ER the next day where it was put in a half cast and I was provided medication.
Misha
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