Don’t Let an Injury Affect Your Training…
I’m an idiot. I’m man enough to admit it. Not all the time, mind you, but sometimes I can show an amazingly remarkable lack of intelligence. So, yeah, I injured my wrist pretty bad while I was under my desk fixing my computer. I like to tell people I hurt it while I was saving a busload of school children from a horde of cannibal leprechauns. In reality, I guess I put too much weight on it while in a weird angle while I was trying to climb out from under my desk.
Now, that’s not the idiot part. It was an accident that could happen to the best of us. In hindsight, I could have climbed out differently but this was the way I had done it for 30+ years with no injury. No, the idiot part was my actions immediately following said injury: I denied it. I figured it was a cramp or maybe the result of sleeping in a bad position. There was no way something that stupid could injure my wrist!
Well I ignored it for a couple weeks. After two weeks, it hadn’t gotten any better. Plus the wife found out about it. At that point I was informed that I had a doctor’s appointment and I had no choice but to go lest I face the wrath of the tiny Asian wife. Don’t laugh, she’s small but she can be quite scary.
The appointment was made for the following Monday. The problem is, it was Friday. She went off to work and I said “I want to go to the gun range with some friends of mine”. So I packed up a new test gun, a Smith & Wesson Model 686 revolver….chambered in .38 special and .357 magnum, and then headed off to the range. Idiot factor 8, commence!
Have you ever shot a .357 magnum with a sprained wrist? Trust me…it’s not a good idea.
So now I’m grounded. No pistols for me until I’m all healed up. Does that mean I’m done shooting for a while? Heck no! There’s more to firearms than pistols!
My plan for the next couple weeks is to work on my rifle skills. It’s probably the most neglected of my firearm types. I’ve spent a great deal of times with pistols and shotguns but, for some odd reason, it’s been almost 6 months since I’ve spent quality time with a rifle. Now, the only rifles I have are my AR-15 and a .22LR Remington. Both have ammo that’s a bit hard to get. The bright side is that I stocked up on .22LR long before the meltdown so I’ve got some to burn.
With a bench rest in tow, it’s time to really focus on one skill. That’s the point of this article, really. If you’ve sustained an injury, try to find a creative way to continue doing what you enjoy. I’ve found, in the past, that it is far too easy to write off hobbies and skills due to injury. I’ve always regretted it too. For example, I hurt myself at the gym a while back and never started back when I had recovered. Once you get out of the swing of things, it’s really hard to get back in. What I should have done was continue going to the gym and just worked on the stuff that wasn’t injured…exactly what I’m doing here.
So don’t let your training suffer because of a temporary injury. Stay active and stay motivated.
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