ET's Info-Stew

Today I was all prepared to take my 5th gup test, which is a landmark test in Tang Soo Do. But they apparently gave me the test last week, telling me it was in preparation for the test which would take place today. I guess going to the LLNL dojang yesterday paid off. So now I'm a 5th gup!

I was working with Cho Dan Bo Eric on the 4th gup material, which is pretty much the same as the 6th gup test, except with Pynyang Oe Dan (intermediate form number 5) and higher expectations on fluidity and coordination. At about 8:50pm we were working on alternate Self Defense techniques, in this case the wrist grab from behind. The move I was testing was to turn clockwise (from above), raise Eric's arm opening up his middle, allowing a quick jab to the ribs.

On one particular attempt, my last of the night, I planted my left foot down and turned my body. Pain shot through my knee and I knew immediately, unfortunately from experience, that I had dislocated it. As before, it quickly popped back into place, but I knew I was down. I fell to the ground in pain and it was 30 seconds to a minute of intense, grit-your-teeth pain before the pain subsided. Fortunately the Masters had medical equipment ready. They had me lay down, elevate my leg, and put on an ice pack. Kathy let me use her knee brace for the night.

I don't think this dislocation is as serious as my previous one, but it is very unfortunate. Last time it took weeks before I could put any stress on my knee (other than walking) and several months before I felt near normal. This morning I had just committed to doing regular exercise, doing a 25 minute jog. Now this is going to put those plans way behind. Well, at least I'm going to do a better job of healing this time.