So I pushed with a new friend yesterday, and he was bigger than most of my push hands partners. I like pushing with bigger, stronger people so the challenge was welcome.
During our second session of the day, I had my left hand on top of his right arm near the tricep. My left thumb was over his bicep and I was attempting to maneuver his arm into position so I could ride his response and control the arm. He unexpectedly raised his arm and even though he didn’t seem to be in a position to do me harm, I heard a ripping sound in my thumb and I felt a painful tingle. He heard the rip too, and stopped to ask if I was okay. I could move my thumb but as we continued, the position happened again and my thumb almost dislocated. At that point, it was clear we had to stop.
One thing that push hands shows is how you can get injured in positions that you think should be safe. It brings out things that you wouldn’t have thought about from training on your own. I wouldn’t have thought that my thumb was vulnerable like that, but there was proof that it was. Time to look at my weaknesses.
And yet, getting hurt is just part of the game. We get tweaked a bit, heal up, and go back to it.
All part of the process of acquiring skill.
3 responses so far ↓
1 Hermann // Jan 22, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Yeah, the capsula of my left thumb was torn in pushing hands years ago and never healed right, so there is some hyper mobility.
But as you said, the fun is still there, and so I often push around a little with some friends and teachers.
2 Dave Chesser // Jan 23, 2008 at 10:05 am
Hermann,
I fully recovered from breaking my right thumb in two places back in 2001. I fully expect to recover from this as well. What I did then was work a lot with the metal health balls and other grip strengthening devices. I let it heal, then strengthen, then work on stretching it. Maybe that will work for you?
3 Curtis Adkins // Feb 4, 2008 at 6:07 am
For the last five months or so, I have been pushing with three heavyweights - 350lbs plus, 320 lbs and 230 lbs, while I top out at 175.
Contact varies, from the proverbial 4 ounces to somewhat intense, with some “standing grappling” for good measure. In the more intense moving step sessions, when things can go wrong, I usually don’t extend the thumb except to grab or the like. In certain pushes or types of contact I even will curl the fingers, losing sensitivity but avoiding bad angles.
So far only one problem, when a little finger got caught in clothing and got badly torqued. Very painful and stiff for about 5 days. I tried heat and ice without effect. Finally, I found and applied 麝香正骨水 Musk Zheng Gu Shui. It provided almost instant relief and I regained nearly full flexibility without any pain.
This is the first time I have gotten such quick results using any such meds and am not sure if it was the Zheng Gu Shui or some other factor. I have heard a lot of good things about Zheng Gu Shui but this is my only experience with it.
The musk version is now illegal here stateside. I haven’t tried the non-musk version but just got some and will try it for the next such injury.
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