Many of you have been injured, had therapy and recovered. Others have been involved in incidents that perhaps were more of a blessing than it appeared at the time. Almost 20 years ago, I was involved in the archetypical domestic incident. I attempted to separate the perpetrator from the victim to interview each separately. He violently resisted. As was most often the case, I was working alone in a rural area. I effected the arrest but was injured in a fall from a porch with about 400 pounds of human beings — brothers — on top of me. The radial bone in my left arm was fractured. The blessing? I had promised my late wife that I would try less dangerous work before our child was much older. I was older than most with a child so young. The injury led to a career change, which included working for a large church, later industrial security and becoming a full-time writer. Never say never!

The inspiration for this story came from the therapy I underwent during recovery. I had been injured before and more severely, but this injury nagged me for more than a year. I was doing well with therapy — pain was never an issue — but when I went through the drive-through to order something masquerading as a meal, as I grasped my coffee in the normal manner, my hand let go and I dropped my cup. It happened at home; in fact, it happened intermittently almost every day. My nondominant shooting hand is my writing and sports-playing side, so I was in a jam — and this arm had been injured before, some years earlier. Strength testing indicated my nondominant arm was down to 25% of the strength of the strong-side arm, from a normal of about 75% in most humans my age.

I was put through a course of mirror image therapy, which is often used after an injury. The injured limb works out with the uninjured side until the injured limb begins to “learn” from the other limb and recover. The therapist was patient and thorough. There is a difficulty in a merger of different capabilities, as I learned in watching the therapist go through a routine without pain or difficulty. But most of us learn well from directed training. We all have strong and weak points. Martial arts did not help me and prior training did not. The mirror image training by this therapist at the hand center helped a great deal.

It isn’t all about strength training; I also built my coordination back up.

An instructor must be able to leave the pulpit and get with the congregation. They must be able to slow down a little and demonstrate the skill or movement they are illustrating. As dance troupes illustrate, human beings are able to harmonize their movement to an amazing degree. Most of what we learn begins with interaction with others. The basis for cooperation is apparently wired into the human hard drive. When working toward a common goal, cooperation must exist. Hopefully, a good trainer looks past their paycheck and the student looks past a certificate. A student must have a good attitude but always ask questions.

Was I a student or a patient? As it turned out, both. I watched the demonstration of mirror image therapy. We began moving both right and left hand and arm together. The injured side could not keep up if I went full speed, of course. I began slowly moving in tandem. (This therapy works for legs as well, and just the hand or ankle.) The injured side began to build up. I don’t know if I built new neural pathways — that is beyond the extent of my knowledge — but I gradually stopped dropping things and my arm grew stronger. It isn’t all about strength training; I also built my coordination back up. It is amazing how the simple coordination between the limbs is derailed. Even the common cop stance, arms akimbo, is difficult to adjust into after an injury in one of the limbs. I knew what I needed to do, but my limbs would not coordinate. The injury could have been more severe, and should have been considering the height, weight on my body and point of impact. But it was not. But broken bones heal more quickly sometimes than pinched nerves and small injuries.

I watched the therapist and repeated their movements. Then I did my own exercises in my home, carefully building speed strength and dexterity. The therapist demonstrated what I already knew: Words are sometimes clumsy. Nonverbal communication is especially appropriate when the skills being taught require unconscious repetition. As one example, indicating where to focus our attention is much slower than simply pointing. Humans quickly pick up another focal point. This facility is sometimes referred to as joint attention. Joint attention is vital to a cooperative effort such as training. A glance often allows us to recognize another’s intent and mimic their movement. There is a connection between perception and action. Have you ever been in the cruiser and both officers reach for the radio at the same time? This type of movement is called involuntary imitation (sometimes involuntary impersonation) and is the basis for children learning language and adults learning complex skills.

My recovery was satisfactory, and I am thankful. I met the therapist halfway with my own work and did as I was instructed. Later, in firearms training, I applied what I had learned and became a better instructor. I applied mirror image training to my students. I learned to carefully pace myself and move at their speed and accuracy level. It is vital that the student learn correctly, of course, and they may mirror a poor student as well if you are not vigilant. A cooperative relationship in training is vital. The objects in mirror training are action, perception and understanding the unconscious cognitive processes. In short, mirror image therapy led to a deeper understanding of how the two sides of the body — we are bilaterally symmetrical — work together. In my case, I think I not only made the most of my recovery, but I also developed greater depth in my own instruction.