(In my previous post, I described the quad injury and resulting muscle spasms that occurred right after I purchased Little Rock Taekwondo in 2000)
Two years as a school owner, and I could not train. I couldn’t teach. I wasn’t sure I was a martial artist anymore. I admit, right here, that I am a little competitive. And it just killed me to see people that started after I did pass me up in rank. Yes, I know that may be shallow, but it did.
Also during those two years, some other things were going on that created a little stress. My husband Charles had a heart attack, five months later a five way by-pass. We had another business from which I had semi-retired from when I bought Little Rock Taekwondo. During Charles’ recovery, I was doing double duty. A typical day began with me at the surety business at 5am, working through lunch. Then off to the Taekwondo school from 3:30pm to 9:00 or 10:00pm. Worry about Charles, about our family, and both businesses kept me on edge. We experienced 9/11 which not only affected us all emotionally, but affected the martial arts school in a very negative way. We closed our surety business, and Charles retired. My former instructor and partner in the Taekwondo school left and moved to Dallas. We adopted our daughter Keely during this time, and experienced all of the sleepless nights and stress of parents of a newborn.
And the leg injury was always there. Twinges, pain, and spasms when I tried to push myself. I gained weight. I can remember the shame of sitting on the bleachers and watching camps, seminars, the US Team tryouts at my school. I wasn’t participating, I was watching.
For the first time in my life, I could not defeat an obstacle. Believing in me didn’t get it. Focus didn’t get it. Physical strength, mental strength didn’t get it. It is not easy for me to give up. But I did. Two years of hope and disappointment every time I tried to exercise finally defeated me.
Then, I read an article about acupuncture. And I thought, “why not”? I made an appointment, and met Dr. Martin Eisele for the first time. He wanted to know what was going on, not just physically, but emotionally. It took at least an hour for me to fill him in on the soap opera of my life. I started sessions that day. Three weeks later, no pain in the quad.
Martin said that the pain and emotional stress that I experienced with and after the injury had all settled in my quadracepts. The acupuncture sessions released the pain and stress from that area.
I don’t know how it worked, I just know it did. I was able to start training again.
I was thirty pounds overweight and woefully out of shape. All of my staff out ranked me, although none of them had even been born when I received my 1st Dan in 1978. All my friends that I had trained with before the injury were ahead of me. I was the owner of the school; all eyes were on me every time I stepped out on the floor. It was time to start over again.
Michelle Rae 