After around 3 weeks total abstinence from Wing Chun due to a mysterious injury, I've started my training again. I usually go to class once a week, twice in a good week, and do 15 minutes training on my own Monday - Friday so a complete stoppage was really hard to take.

This morning I did a quick Siu Lim Tau and Chum Kiu (which I learnt just before I got injured) and it felt good! Thankfully, I could remember Chum Kiu in its entirety, so in that repect I don't think I've lost anything. Obviously, my technique is a bit rusty, and certainly my muscles aren't as strong as 3 weeks ago, but at least I'm back. All being well, I'm going to try to make all 3 classes this week.

The injury is still there but its symptoms have reduced. There's some swelling round my left knee (I hate joint injuries) and it hurts when I kneel down but both the swelling and the pain have reduced. I think it might be bursitis. My main concern was the pressure exerted on the knees when doing siu lim tau and also that exerted on them when turning in chum kiu, but my speedy routine this morning didn't cause any pain. So it's looking good!

I don't know how I've done this but I've got an injured left knee. There was nothing specific I can remember that might have caused it, but there's a definite tightness around the joint, especially when I squat. It doesn't hurt and there's no visible swelling, but I can feel it nonetheless.

Although it causes me no problems I decided not to go to my Wing Chun class tonight. Although this problem is related to my abstaining from Wing Chun, the decision whether or not to train with an injury is common to many disciplines. In this instance, my main fear was that there would be a mammoth leg training session that would cripple me or that when chi sauing I would make a sudden movement and twist it.

Of course there's the inevitable argument raging in my head:

me: you should go to class, we don't train legs often. You'll be alright.

me: but if we do a lot of legwork, I'm either going to have to grin and bear it and risk injuring myself further, or I'm going to sit out. Aside from the mental impact of feeling defeated by that decision, there would be the feeling of loss having paid my $14 for the class, half of which I'm not part of

me: and so on

But...I think it's important to ere on the side of caution. One of the me's above is possibly right in saying we don't train legs often so I could get away with going. But there's too much to lose if I knacker my knee in completely. I won't be laughing if I then have to miss a month or so of training. If I can just keep this drama queen hat on a bit longer the risks are just too high!

Anyway, the class started at 20:30 and it's 20:34 so I'm definitely not going. And just to seal the decision, I've had a massive curry for my tea. Not going.

Update: OK, after a little internet research I think I know what the Mystery Injury might be. Water on the knee/bursitis. Stupidly, yesterday I was seeing how far I could push the joint by kneeling on the ground and seeing how far I could sit on my heels. It felt tight, and I shouldn't have done that. And a couple of days ago in the gym I was doing the same, the idea being that I should try and loosen the joint up. Jeez, I'm a hazard! I think rest, cold compresses and anti-inflammatories are the way to go. Duh, I can't believe that I've gone and aggravated the injury!