My girlfriend and I just went to an introductory Capoiera class on Tuesday night. It turned out to be interesting and fun; and we’ll probably go again. Because it was the first class after the holiday season, all of the levels were mixed together, I guess it was meant as a “get back into it” class. That mix of skill levels together with a blend of Spanish, bits of Portuguese and African made for an exotic and at times confusing class.
The class was attended by 15 people in a large old warehouse a with rough concrete floor. Capoiera has music and singing involved that keeps the action flowing. Everyone is barefoot and there’s lots of hand clapping to the beats too. So the whole experience was absorbing. I didn’t notice the roughness of the floor because I go around barefoot much of the time and the bottoms of my feet are fairly tough. My girlfriend doesn’t share my interest in barefoot locomotion and wound up with two big blood blisters on the soles of her feet.
That’s what got me thinking about injuries. A doctor once told me that maybe 80% of patients he saw would (did) get better on their own without his help. Of course, he’s able to assess the problem for them and help them to manage it; but if they hadn’t seen him they’d still get better most of time.
With that in mind, here’s something I’ve eventually figured out: don’t continually test your ailment. You know what I mean; you keep checking it out by bending a sore joint, picking at a scab, or poking at a sore muscle. You’re probably just slowing down the healing process.
We always want to return to the way we were before an injury. But don’t keep testing the situation. It’ll get better faster without your interference. It’s just my observation. I’m not talking about health problems that do need outside attention. But probably those too.
After class when we returned home and tidied up her wounds. They were scrubbed clean and had Neosporin applied before putting socks on both her feet.
It’s tempting to keep checking on the progress. But if we stop testing her broken blisters and she can wear shoes for a few classes, she’ll be back to barefoot Capoiera soon.