Today I finished a course of acupuncture treatment for my wrist injury. It was a ligament sprain which I didn’t let to heal properly and continued training, as a result, it took forever (over 8 weeks) to heal. I’m almost there – I only feel a slight pain when I do wrist rotations in a certain angle - even though I haven’t yet re-started training with the sword. I am being over-cautious now.

I was thinking today, wouldn’t it be great if, at birth, we were given a manual to our body – how it should be used, how it should not be used, how to take care of it? It’s only through training, over-training, rest, injuries that I learnt my body limitations and risks (and only a very limited picture!!). I learnt that over-training leads to poor technique and weak muscles, which, in turn, lead to injuries. I learnt that letting the injury to heal is more important than not missing a performance or a training session. Why no one told me all this before???

Or perhaps they did, but I didn’t listen.