Chronic Pain Disability & Training

[hellhound]

I studied IMA/JMA for awhile and continued to do so when I got this condition. At one point it just became to painful to due to certain techniques and keeping up with class. Since I have too much (to never fight at all is best) fighting experience and some solid training under my belt I felt if I really poured my heart into DVDs would work as I am a detail oriented person. After searching through many of the internal styles not in the big 3 I found and now do Wudang Xiao Yao Zhang. My wife trains the Wudang 18 form new frame and practices the application side of it intensely. So I have a training partner and we spar and whatnot together. We also do standing together. I get to train at my own pace in a style I like much more than the ones I studied at a school. Of course I'll never be able to truly master it however it still allows me to train in MA and benefit from it unlike people who never trained or fought and studied out of books/DVDs. I was wondering what peoples opinions are on this since I have experience and proper training or if there is other styles I might want to look into also (not too many quick turns as I am on morphine, lower/60 degree angle hand movements, can be medium paced like bagua, does not twist me too much and my problem is my kind of like spinal arthritis so low impact and not harsh on the spine, short forms). Also any good muscle relaxing/pain tips would be highly appreciated. One thing to keep in mind is that I do not want to do Taijiquan, it is too slow and it would cause me pain to take 20 minutes to do a 10 form frame. I thank you for any replies given. Regards and happy new year.

[hellhound]

I have a t4-t5 spinal disc pushing into my spine along with chronic myofascial pain (sudden stop when I was a passenger in a car). I have tried everything, chiro, accupuncture, celebrex, soma, ultracet, zanaflex, lidocaine patches, epidurals, trigger point injections, etc... I'd say I tried at least a couple dozen different approaches for over 2 years before they put me on morphine. They started me at 15mg a day and found that I need at least 60mg a day. I also take Neurontin(Epilepsy drug) for the pain and to lengthen the time of tolerance to the morhine. Side effects are taken care of through other meds (compazine for nausea, ex-lax for constipation). I don't get sleepy or anything. I am still in pain however it is bearable. Certain movements aggrevate it such as raising my arm above a 60% angle. I mentioned others in my first post. Feel free to post any other questions you may have. I also thank you in advance for any info you could provide.

[hellhound]

I will be sure to look this up. I think my main problem is I took a long time to have it worked on and the myofascial knots are too tight. That is why most things do not work on me.

[hellhound]

Don't worry about it. Even though I am on Morphine and Neurontin I am still in pain and any chance of not having to deal with the for the rest of my life (only 29, 26 when I got it) is a wonderful oppurtunity. Most likely I will read the site more thoroughly and go from there over the weekend. Again thanks for chiming in. KFM seems to have rather knowledgable peole in many areas and not just MA and I was not disappointed when I asked a question of my own. The information you have given hits the nail right on the head for the health part of my question.

[hellhound]

Sadly if I could do an in-patient program I would of gone on disability a long time ago. I have a high profile career, 2 kids (one with $600 support a month) and I managed to make it from the ghetto selling things I shouldn't to people like my friends mother to a software engineer who makes more than some of the lawyers I know. I've never had a vacation in the 10+ years I have been working in this industry and I am definitely not going to spend my first in a hospital. I hear what you are saying about the daily grind however to me this is heaven compared to where I was say 12 years ago. Thank you for taking the time to talk to me and I will continue to ponder on a good holistic approach for me. Best regards to you and yours.