I was getting close to earning my orange belt when my left shoulder really started bothering me.

A x-ray revealed calcitic tendonitis in my left arm. A MRI revealed torn cartilage in my left shoulder.

I have met with my surgeon and he determined that I need surgery.

However, first things first. I'm going to Las Vegas in late October and have tickets(4th row) to see Penn and Teller. I don't want a bum shoulder with all of our luggage we have to drag around. Plus it'll put a damper on shopping and all of the "other" activities that Las Vegas has to offer.

At 50 years of age, at least I was able to give karate a shot. I always wanted to do it when I was a kid.

I think I'll simply drop karate and focus on my tennis game when I recover. I like tennis much better anyway.

I'm hoping I'll be able to actually get back to reading my neglected magic books while I'm recovering. There's always a bright side.

There are more girls on the tennis court, that there are in the smelly old gym.

Maybe not as good as a baseball bat, but hey, a tennis racket makes a better weapon than a bare hand anyway.

Good luck with the recovery.

Tom

I tore two ACLs in Tae Kwon Do, and stopped one belt short of first dan.

If I had the time, I'd probably go back and finish it, though I'd consider wearing a couple of carbon fiber knee braces.

Best of luck on the shoulder. You can commiserate with Danny Doyle.

Do Taichi after you've recovered a bit.

It's great and not too high impact.

Thank you all for the kind words.

I had my surgery today. I was very surprised to find out that my surgeon found and removed a born spur in my shoulder.

I was also given color photos, eight in all, of all the areas that were looked at and operated on.

I'm glad it was my left shoulder because I'm right handed.

It'll be four weeks in a sling along with therapy and pain meds.

I'm looking forward to getting back to reading some magic books.

Karate was fun while it lasted. I can now cross it off my bucket list. I'll return to tennis next summer. I'm really looking forward to that!

Tennis is a tough game, one can get tennis elbow and all that and them balls hurt. Last time I played I had lie down for a week. I liked playing it when I was younger but I just like watching it now.

I've started my physical therapy. It's a step in the right direction!

Glad to hear your moving forward. But on a side note, how was 4th row at Penn & Teller?

If you do take up tennis, remember to train both arms! I played for many years, and developed a strong right arm. But my left was a lot weaker, so I didn't really exercise it too much. Now that I'm older, I'm feeling like my spine is kind of twisted because of all the vigorous right arm activity.

P.S. Enjoy the magic books!

Do you wear glasses?

LOL, Magnus !

I had some issues from my traditional karate class too. Shin splints. A tweaked ankle from having one of the blackbelts twist my foot into a stance I wasn't ready for. That's the only thing I didn't like about that method was the uber-traditional "one size fits all" approach. I remember Bruce Lee talking once about how hundreds of years ago a martial artist had a bad leg and now everyone in that guy's lineage stands like they have a bad leg because it's tradition. I did enjoy the challenge of that school, if not the constant injuries.

Absolutely!

Don't skimp.

After my first torn ACL I was told I'd be on crutches for six weeks and in physical therapy for six months. At PT I usually did twice as many reps as the therapist said. There was another patient there, and after a couple of weeks he asked why I was working so hard (he wasn't). I asked him if he liked coming to physical therepy. He said, "No." I told him that neither did I, so I was working to get out of there as quickly as I could. I was off crutches two weeks after surgery.

After two months they told me not to come back, as there was nothing more they could do for me: my "bad" leg was stronger than my "good" leg. (In fact, they tried all of the tests they could to find one where my good leg was better than my bad leg. They finally found one: a fatigue test.)