A useful subject for eveyone to read about i think. What sort of adaptations have you made yourself during training to help you cope with any problems that you have for example bad knee's etc? What sort of things has your instructor modified to help you during class to make things easier? Personally i have found since getting contact lenses it has helped my balance a lot during kick as i now feel more comofrtable commiting to spinning tilting and generally moving my body about. Also all the sticks in my class are taped at the end so that there is something there to make them more visable for me. I'm interested to hear what everyone else does
My right knee isn't quite right, so I rarely use my right leg when I have to do something with my knee, such as squat, bunny jump etc. I tend to put most of the weight on my left leg instead, which works OK so far. I'm however considering asking the instructor to be excused from the piggyback squats, I'm not sure they're very good for my right knee.
contact lenses were the best thing i ever bought for martial arts don't need to fret about breaking my glasses and plus i can see everything now were as before everything was alittle to blurry to be safe when i looked over them oh my sensi has a dodgy knee in one kata we go from a sitting down kneeling position to a cross legged on, your just ment to ean back and pull you legs forward but he lets people pull their legs from uderneath and bring them round if it hurts
After screwing up my left knee royally I have developed a score of coping mechanisms to compensate for it. When we do front rolls in aikido I roll out on one straight leg because my limited mobility won't let it come underneath me again as I go to stand. Back rolls are still out of my reach unfortunately. For the longest time after my injury I just did everything oe-legged. I have also developed the weirdest "skittering" type movement instead of running for when we do laps. It is odd looking but at least I get the cardio out of it. Nobody laughs...much. Now I just have become very good at protecting it and modifying the moves to suit the limitations my knee presents. Simple things such as sitting in seiza are impossible for me so I get to sit funny (I'm so special! ). The draws in Iado have been modified for me as far as which knee goes down and steps forward. Same as in tenkan for aikido, I still don't pivot well on one knee so there have been some modifications there.
Ah, a thread for me! I have bad knees (will hopefully get better), an inner ear disorder (permanent), and am not yet 100% recoverd from a bicep tear, so I have to make numerous adaptations. I currently also have a wheezing problem (thanks a lot, pneumonia :woo: ), so if Sensei thinks I'm stuggling too hard for air, he'll tell me to rest. In Tai Chi Chuan, my knees don't let me bend down far enough to get all the way down for "Needle at Sea Bottom", so it comes out looking more like "Needle at Sea Top". When doing heel kicks or separation kicks, I don't raise my kicking leg very high, because of my bad balance (this is only a problem in Tai Chi, because the kicks are done slowly; I have no problem with the faster kicks we do in Ninjutsu). When we do heel kick warmup drills, my teacher tells me to focus ahead on one single point; that helps me avoid getting dizzy. In Ninjutsu, I sometimes have to use a higher stance, if the lower one will be a problem for my knees. Some techniques I have to do standing, instead of kneeling. Sensei will often demonstrate alternate positions for those whose knees won't cooperate. I am considering getting a pair of knee pads to use in groundfighting (shouldn't be a problem, as long as I find ones with velcro instead of buckles). I have problems with ukemi, since most of the rolls induce vertigo in me (more than that little bit of momentary dizziness people often get); in addition, the "beginner" position is often from the knees or from a crouch, which I can't do. I'm sitting out most ukemi at the moment (except stuff that doesn't involve my knees or turning over, like otoshi). When the dizziness abates a little (pneumonia made it worse), I'll take some private lessons to work on ukemi, and how to start them from a standing position. Because my right arm/shoulder isn't entirely healed yet, I will often use left-handed strikes for any drills that look as if they'll be rough on the shoulders. Because of my bad ukemi, I will often get thrown or taken down differently than a person who can easily roll out of a throw. Nothing unusual here; newbies don't get "tossed around" the same way the advanced students do. Before the bowing in and bowing out ceremonies, Sensei lets me sit in a regular seated posture instead of Seiza, for the time that he is talking or answering questions. I'll then get into Seiza just for the actual bowing procedure. Since Ninjutsu is a very adaptable style, I basically do what I can; if I have trouble doing something, I ask to be shown alternate methods, and I skip what is impossble for me (or what my doctor won't let me do).
