Second last post and a pleasant surprise!

This month will mark the one year anniversary of my surgery. I will have my one year checkup at the end of the month and will post the results and my ideas/feelings of the past year. My next post will also be the last post I make...

My reason for making this thread of posts was/is two-fold...

Firstly it was a way for me to shift my focus from being depressed and negative to a positive one...an outlet of sorts that allowed me to have a constructive rehab experience post-surgery.

And secondly, I found there was very little out there as to how a karate-ka would/can deal with the ACL surgery and post-op rehab with the ultimate aim of returning to full training.

I have no idea if anyone reads/ has read my blog and posts...but I hope that if anyone has and found them helpful then I am glad. I was a mess with trying to cope and "get ready" for the surgery that would either repair my knee or ruin it, and my karate life with it...and having little to no "karate" specific (I could only find Taekwondo, Brazilian Jiujitsu and kickboxing references online) stories I found myself stressed quite alot.

I have come a long way since my last post, my training is still not 100%, and I still find issues with my knee (and the "good" knee which has suffered from overuse trying to cover the bad knee).
On a whole I feel like I have done well with rehab and my return to karate.

On a training note. In my last post I mentioned that I wasn't passed on my last test (nunchaku kata)...this was presented to me in February (I took January off from training) and took me by surprise. (My surname has a slight spelling mistake, but I don't mind!)
Naitou-sensei, the Head Instructor from the Hiroshima honbu of the Gensei-ryu Karate-do International Butokukai presented me with my Sandan (Third Dan) certification upon my return to training. I was more than a little taken aback as I was under the impression I would be resitting my test in another year!

This gave me another push to get myself back into shape and to strive forward with other areas I wish to explore in the karate world. (Referee qualification, Japan Karatedo Federation certification and training at the Butokukai Honbu someday.)

I will leave my post there and conclude everything in the final post after my check-up.