I have had my fair share of injuries in Karate and Jiu-Jitsu. Most of them were minor, like bruises, sprains, and strains.
So far, I had gotten away with no broken bones or torn ligaments—until yesterday.
It was supposed to be a light sparring seminar focused on Sen-no-Sen and Go-no-Sen techniques. We were doing light
sparring drills, and as things heated up, someone executed a perfect Ashi-Barai (leg sweep) on me. I tried to maintain
my balance, but my leg was swept out. However, contrary to what we typically do in Jiu-Jitsu or my Goju-Ryu Karate club,
it was a linear pull, not an attempt to lay me on any side.
I saw myself falling in slow motion onto my (now bad) right knee. As I hit the ground hard on that knee, I heard a loud
pop. Allegedly, everyone else, including the folks outside in the viewing gallery, heard it too. I had no control over
my knee anymore, so I felt myself falling backwards. The now flexed knee on the ground caused my leg to slowly circle around
from the back to the front as I fell backwards.
The seminar proceeded. I toughed out the pain and maintained my composure without swearing too much, watching all the
action from the sidelines. No walking. I was braced with knee support leggings, so the gravity of what was to come
eluded me at that point in time.
I was supposed to go out with the Karate folks to a restaurant after the seminar. I was supposed to see my family in
Germany for Easter in a few days. My kids had been looking forward to this trip for a while. This is not happening anymore.
In the ER, the situation became clear. As I pulled my leggings off, my kneecap was almost halfway up my thigh. This could not
be good. The ER doctor was very pessimistic about me ever being able to do Karate again or properly walk. I had a
complete rupture of my right-side patellar tendon, and the way I fell likely damaged half of the quad tendon as well.
Surgery is my only option, and it has to happen in the next two weeks to avoid having to find a donor tendon or make
a tendon graft.
Kids are off to play dates while my wife parked me at the ER. Spreading the news will not be fun.
Welcome to the shit-show. I hope I can at some point come back to martial arts. Maybe see this as the first step
in documenting the journey.
I do not blame my sparring partner. At this point, we all signed the waiver acknowledging the risks involved
in sparring. I consider it a freak accident. While I am still in shock and unaware of the gravity of what is
going on, the other party might have deeper regrets with sending someone home with a life-altering injury.
Technically, they followed Shihans instruction…
And now I might be out for a while with this …
Published: 2025-04-13
Updated : 2025-10-04
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