Don’t Stop Me Now – Jiu-jitsu Comeback
Every great journey must begin with a simple step. This is mine. My Jiu-jitsu Comeback.
There is a chair in the Emoto Knee Clinic. The chair is bright deep blue, fully adjustable and has a four-point harness to keep its occupant in place. It also reads the muscle strength of a leg; measuring the maximum force output and muscle speed.
It’s pretty cool. I like that chair.
According to the Chair – and my left leg being the standard – during a leg extention to measure maximum strength (“Big push!” according to Aono-san my therapist), my right leg has a output of 75%. A high speed extention (“Fast push!”) has an output of 64%. In the words of Aono-san, “Not bad.”
Bending my leg is a different matter. For maximum strength, my leg performs at 53%, while for high speed it performs at 56%. Aono-san says, “Oh. Oooh! Bad, bad! No good. Bad.”
Also I still do not have full range of motion in my leg. Wait, that sounds bad, let me clerify. I’m unable to fully extend and bend my right leg under it’s own power. I have full range, I just have to work my leg to get where I want it to go to. Pulling my leg to get my ankle to touch my butt or pushing my knee down so it’s completely flat is no problem. I have one month to get my leg to do it all by itself. 右足、頑張れ!!

me and Aono-san
To recap: leg needs to be stronger, more flexible, and at a full range of motion. Put in the effort and it’s only one month from being “cleared” to pursue the jiu-jitsu. One month away… crazy, huh?
I’m getting super turbocharged pumped just thinking about how close I am to training again. Hee!