When should you quit BJJ because of injuries?

[2008]

I realize there are limits to the human body as far as injuries go, but when should you call it quits?

I have a partially torn labrum among other things in my right shoulder, although I am getting surgery for it this month. My left shoulder has problems too, but it hasn't been bothering me. I have 3 herniated disks among other things in my lower back. Saw a doctor and told me to wait to get better (I've had lower back problems for 20 years... I don't think things are going to change!) I've got permanent turf toe in both my big toes and I am looking at surgery in about 10 years, because the cartilage has broken up. Got neck pain from two sprain injuries, a thumb I have to tape, because sometimes I feel like it's going to pop out, and recent elbow injury from a partner that wanted to yank a kimura.

I love BJJ. I want to keep doing it. Am I stupid to keep on doing it knowing that I have prior injuries and that more will come in the future? Or is it just the nature of the beast and it beats sitting in a chair to die of a heart attack? Like I said, I am taking care of the injuries, I rest, ice, compress, elevate, I go see doctors, but it does seem like a lot and maybe serious.

So what do you guys think?

No offense to you and I mean this with the upmost respect, some people might be injury prone. If your getting injured every other month that's not good. Are you getting hurt more so than others at the gym or is it about average with everyone else?

How are your rolling intensity? If your going hard 100% all or most of the time I can see you getting injured or hurt this way. I normally go only 80% to avoid injuries.

I just took an official break from jiu jitsu, I plan to take a year off, and jiu jitsu is hard on the body. During my 6 years of training I had 3 medium level injuries. One was at my elbow due to armlocks and at my big toe where I broke the entire nail bed one time and other time I sprain it doing a sweep.

To be honest I don't know why jiu jitsu dosen't have an off season where you can take a 3 month break(to rest, enjoy life, or whatever) then come back to jiu jitsu refocus. Jiu jitsu is fun but the weekly grind of training 2-4 times a week for years does get old and taxing on the body.

 

[ShindoNinja]

I realize there are limits to the human body as far as injuries go, but when should you call it quits?

I have a partially torn labrum among other things in my right shoulder, although I am getting surgery for it this month. My left shoulder has problems too, but it hasn't been bothering me. I have 3 herniated disks among other things in my lower back. Saw a doctor and told me to wait to get better (I've had lower back problems for 20 years... I don't think things are going to change!) I've got permanent turf toe in both my big toes and I am looking at surgery in about 10 years, because the cartilage has broken up. Got neck pain from two sprain injuries, a thumb I have to tape, because sometimes I feel like it's going to pop out, and recent elbow injury from a partner that wanted to yank a kimura.

I love BJJ. I want to keep doing it. Am I stupid to keep on doing it knowing that I have prior injuries and that more will come in the future? Or is it just the nature of the beast and it beats sitting in a chair to die of a heart attack? Like I said, I am taking care of the injuries, I rest, ice, compress, elevate, I go see doctors, but it does seem like a lot and maybe serious.

So what do you guys think?

Sounds like you are in the same boat as I am. I'm 40, just got my brown belt after about 9 years of training with numerous injuries. I've had 4 knee surgeries, 2 within the 9 year span. Broken floating ribs, torn shoulder labrum that I opted to physio instead of surgery. Cervical and lumbar spine issues, stenosis and bulging disc etc... I've considered quitting due to the neck stuff. If the neuroligical problems contiue to get worse, I'll have to stop rolling hard. As it is, I pick my partners and days that I roll. I need a day to recover after rolling 3 or 4 rounds. If I don't rest and train like 3 consecutive days, I really pay for it.
I've been transitioning into teaching. I think that's how I will stay involved in BJJ after I have to stop rolling. I'll never quit, but everyone gets old - it's better than the alternative.

 

[Coconutwater]

Sounds like you are in the same boat as I am. I'm 40, just got my brown belt after about 9 years of training with numerous injuries. I've had 4 knee surgeries, 2 within the 9 year span. Broken floating ribs, torn shoulder labrum that I opted to physio instead of surgery. Cervical and lumbar spine issues, stenosis and bulging disc etc... I've considered quitting due to the neck stuff. If the neuroligical problems contiue to get worse, I'll have to stop rolling hard. As it is, I pick my partners and days that I roll. I need a day to recover after rolling 3 or 4 rounds. If I don't rest and train like 3 consecutive days, I really pay for it.
I've been transitioning into teaching. I think that's how I will stay involved in BJJ after I have to stop rolling. I'll never quit, but everyone gets old - it's better than the alternative.

Not to get too into it but the neck stuff sucks. Shooting sensations in arms, numbness, pain, the neck injuries are the worst. I’m too stupid to stay away.

 

[Foppa21]

I'm only 31, and my back is great, but I actively avoid closed guard. At some point, you have to learn for other people's mistakes. I'm not going through the 5+ years of getting stacked it takes to be able to land triangles effectively.

Things started going downhill for me at 30. I've noticed that from about 32, stuff like bending over to pick stuff up aren't as smooth.

I haven't played closed guard actively for years just because I find it a bit boring, if I go closed it's usually because I'm tired lol. On the triangle thing, I hope I'm not speaking out of turn, but let go if you get stacked or alternative, drill changing angles and maintaining distance to hips on the triangle.

 

[Foppa21]

No offense to you and I mean this with the upmost respect, some people might be injury prone. If your getting injured every other month that's not good. Are you getting hurt more so than others at the gym or is it about average with everyone else?

How are your rolling intensity? If your going hard 100% all or most of the time I can see you getting injured or hurt this way. I normally go only 80% to avoid injuries.

I just took an official break from jiu jitsu, I plan to take a year off, and jiu jitsu is hard on the body. During my 6 years of training I had 3 medium level injuries. One was at my elbow due to armlocks and at my big toe where I broke the entire nail bed one time and other time I sprain it doing a sweep.

To be honest I don't know why jiu jitsu dosen't have an off season where you can take a 3 month break(to rest, enjoy life, or whatever) then come back to jiu jitsu refocus. Jiu jitsu is fun but the weekly grind of training 2-4 times a week for years does get old and taxing on the body.

80%???? I go at 50%-60% most days lol.

Your offseason is when you make it. If you want to take a break you can. Most people in my area take it off at this time of year as summer and Christmas coincide.

 

[Big Nasty Edison]

I suffer from bulging discs and thought I was going to stop have gracie jiujitsu. I had extreme pain, mind boggling pain. Burning and tingling in my legs, couldn't sleep on a bed at night. Couldn't even sit on the toilet. Give all of that there was no way I could keep doing BJJ.

I don't have a good answer for OP but there does come a point with certain injuries, especially spinal injuries, that grappling just becomes out of the question.

 

[ShindoNinja]

Not to get too into it but the neck stuff sucks. Shooting sensations in arms, numbness, pain, the neck injuries are the worst. I’m too stupid to stay away.

I hear you bro! I have the same symptoms, numbness in the fingers, tingling down the arm, loss of strength and burning pain in the palm and the back of the hand. I had a doctor tell me I was one major incident away from being paralyzed. Since then I've had another MRI and my current specialist believes the last doc was a little heavy handed with his analysis. I'm not in a good place, but I'm not on the verge of paralysis thankfully. I can't stay away either, I just have to change the way I train. I don't allow big guys to smash me, if the dude is large, I make sure I end up on top. If I am stuck in an awkward neck risking position, I'm not too proud to tap.

 

[ShindoNinja]

I suffer from bulging discs and thought I was going to stop have gracie jiujitsu. I had extreme pain, mind boggling pain. Burning and tingling in my legs, couldn't sleep on a bed at night. Couldn't even sit on the toilet. Give all of that there was no way I could keep doing BJJ.

I don't have a good answer for OP but there does come a point with certain injuries, especially spinal injuries, that grappling just becomes out of the question.

You just trained through these symptoms?

 

[Coconutwater]

I hear you bro! I have the same symptoms, numbness in the fingers, tingling down the arm, loss of strength and burning pain in the palm and the back of the hand. I had a doctor tell me I was one major incident away from being paralyzed. Since then I've had another MRI and my current specialist believes the last doc was a little heavy handed with his analysis. I'm not in a good place, but I'm not on the verge of paralysis thankfully. I can't stay away either, I just have to change the way I train. I don't allow big guys to smash me, if the dude is large, I make sure I end up on top. If I am stuck in an awkward neck risking position, I'm not too proud to tap.

Yeah, we’re pretty much in the same boat.

It sucks because when we switch partners I have too much pride to turn away bigger guys or newer belts (spazzers), because I never have before...

The head instructor knows my situation and says don’t roll with big guys or new blues (also spazzy) but it’s tough.

There is something really wrong when u feel numbness and crap through your arms. Lol.

 

[nefti]

80%???? I go at 50%-60% most days lol.

Your offseason is when you make it. If you want to take a break you can. Most people in my area take it off at this time of year as summer and Christmas coincide.

I'm 40 and I go 80% most of the time. Jiu jitsu should be safely done at high intensity.

 

[finalboss]

No offense to you and I mean this with the upmost respect, some people might be injury prone. If your getting injured every other month that's not good. Are you getting hurt more so than others at the gym or is it about average with everyone else?

How are your rolling intensity? If your going hard 100% all or most of the time I can see you getting injured or hurt this way. I normally go only 80% to avoid injuries.

I just took an official break from jiu jitsu, I plan to take a year off, and jiu jitsu is hard on the body. During my 6 years of training I had 3 medium level injuries. One was at my elbow due to armlocks and at my big toe where I broke the entire nail bed one time and other time I sprain it doing a sweep.

To be honest I don't know why jiu jitsu dosen't have an off season where you can take a 3 month break(to rest, enjoy life, or whatever) then come back to jiu jitsu refocus. Jiu jitsu is fun but the weekly grind of training 2-4 times a week for years does get old and taxing on the body.

Not injury prone. I think I wrote when I was a toddler two girls partially dislocated my shoulders. In the infantry hurt my back carrying insane amounts of weight. I don't roll 100 percent, it's not a competition, and I'm not winning anything. Unfortunately, maybe it's because the professor is very competition oriented, sometimes the guys lose focus and don't realize how they're rolling. Maybe they don't want to feel they are underperforming and are letting the coach down.

 

[hillelslovak87]

I stopped trying to grapple when my right knee was sufficiently fucked. I tore my acl and mcl alongside messing up my cartilage in my left knee back in 2013, so by the time I quit grappling in 2009, I had been relying upon my right leg so much without knowing it, even when walking, that it was my bad knee.

 

[Coconutwater]

I stopped trying to grapple when my right knee was sufficiently fucked. I tore my acl and mcl alongside messing up my cartilage in my left knee back in 2013, so by the time I quit grappling in 2009, I had been relying upon my right leg so much without knowing it, even when walking, that it was my bad knee.

Damn.

 

[CFGroup]

1.
You're absolutely right on this one! I'm doing swimming, because it's soft on the joints and very good for my back. Honestly, I need to lose a lot of weight. I think at least a small percentage that negatively affects my body.

Dropping the weight is critical.

What were you in BT?

You can get back to that weight. Last April I 180'd my diet and dropped 20lbs with only biking for exercise pre op.

Swimming is the best low impact conditioning out there so that's a great baseline to maintain. A buddy training with Dean Lister is rolling with Navy diver who's tough as a nail because of the extreme conditioning in low G training you can gain. I think of biking as my baseline, so however beat up I am I can always go back to it. On of the older but new Shodan's had the same condition as I did, but was carrying 70lbs extra. I had to only load him up in stuff like Koshi Waza where I was able to take Ukemi because I was so diligent in maintaining my weight and conditioning regiment off the mat.

Think of developing a program that strengthens and develops better flexibility for yourself. Focus on the areas of injury to build on. I can fucking say for certain from the last 4 months if you start slow and just define your present range of motion and strength and carefully build from that baseline, barring any necessary surgery you'll be able to rehab some if not all that damage.

I went from feeling like I was splitting open when I sat on the crapper to alife!w short trot in 4 months.

So again think of your whole day of movement as being an extension of what skill you're building on the mat. I know it sounds corny but every breath you take is training, every step, every pivot walking standing up from a chair, from the coach, getting out of bed, up and down stairs, and all the exercise and conditioning you do, it's all part of refining your physical skill that's culminated through your Jujitsu and will aid you in health through your journey.

Idk, that's how I look at the phrase "Judo/Jujitsu is life".

 

[Matsukaze]

80%???? I go at 50%-60% most days lol..

I thought damn 80%... I need to step my game up Lol! I'm mid 40's and I keep it around 60% so I can have a lot of rolls and not burn out after 2 or 3..

 

[2008]

80%???? I go at 50%-60% most days lol.

Your offseason is when you make it. If you want to take a break you can. Most people in my area take it off at this time of year as summer and Christmas coincide.

Usually 80% is my gym max but that depends who I'm rolling with. If I'm rolling with someone who is super competitive I try to match their intensity w/o over doing it of course.

Nothing wrong with going 50% or 60%, but that to me is 'flow rolling' intensity. I'll definitely go at that pace if I'm rolling with a trusted partner who I can trust not to injure me or a brand new, zero experience, non-spazzy white belt who I'm trying to be gentle with and not injure.

Nothing worst then rolling with a dude when your going at 60% or 70% intensity and he is trying to murder you going at it 110% like it's the adcc. Don't get me wrong there is a time and place for that and those hard rolls serve a purpose but not every single time.

 

[2008]

I thought damn 80%... I need to step my game up Lol! I'm mid 40's and I keep it around 60% so I can have a lot of rolls and not burn out after 2 or 3..

That's nothing. I rolled with guys in the past that seem to go 100% all the time like it's a tournament. Obviously these guys tend to be the better of the bunch at my gym but its still annoying. I know one guy who is not necessarily a dick, but it seems whenever I roll with him I either get a weird injury or almost injured. First time he couldn't get a RNC so he goes for a facelock, that was a wtf moment for me. 2nd time does some weird label choke I wasn't expecting scrape the side of my forehead that gave me an ugly bruise/scar afterwards. My friend at the gym, said, yes, that guy rolls with everyone like he's at tournaments. And my friend is a competitive purple belt so he knows what's up.

 

[Big Nasty Edison]

You just trained through these symptoms?

No. My injury occured in the Spring of 2016. For like 6 months I could barely sit in the car to drive to class. But I went anyway (and would have to stop on the way and get out and walk around it was so bad). I just went and sat in class and observed to keep in the habit of going to make sure I didn't quit. Then when I was healed enough, I would use the time everyone else was drilling to do the stuff my physical therapist had me doing.

Then after about 8 months or so I ended up getting the injections in my back. Maybe around Fall/Winter 2016. That helped make the pain manageable. It never truly went away so at that point I just started training through the remaining pain. At first I started out just letting people mount or take top side control and just "survive". Obvious I was VERY picky with my training partners here, and I didn't work escapes or erversals. Literally just months of hiding my hands from those positions. Then as my mobility came back I gradually increased participation.

About two months ago my pain started to come back really bad. I had gone from a 10 out of 10 on the pain scale down to a 3 out of 10. But in October of this year, I started going back up to 7 and 8 consistently as I think the injections started to wear off. They were too expensive to do again and never addressed my injury. In October I started seeing a chiropractor and doing spinal decompression therapy and THAT has been a miracle. After one treatment I went from a 8 out of 10 on pain down to a 4, just over night. I've been going every week since October and I'm down to like a 1 or 0 most days.

If the spinal decompression hadn't been a miracle fix for me, I would have had to quit BJJ. No way I could do ANYTHING with the level of injury and pain I had shot back up to. I would have had to switch to like Tai Chi if I wanted to keep doing martial arts at that point.

 

[finalboss]

Dropping the weight is critical.

What were you in BT?

You can get back to that weight. Last April I 180'd my diet and dropped 20lbs with only biking for exercise pre op.

Swimming is the best low impact conditioning out there so that's a great baseline to maintain. A buddy training with Dean Lister is rolling with Navy diver who's tough as a nail because of the extreme conditioning in low G training you can gain. I think of biking as my baseline, so however beat up I am I can always go back to it. On of the older but new Shodan's had the same condition as I did, but was carrying 70lbs extra. I had to only load him up in stuff like Koshi Waza where I was able to take Ukemi because I was so diligent in maintaining my weight and conditioning regiment off the mat.

Think of developing a program that strengthens and develops better flexibility for yourself. Focus on the areas of injury to build on. I can fucking say for certain from the last 4 months if you start slow and just define your present range of motion and strength and carefully build from that baseline, barring any necessary surgery you'll be able to rehab some if not all that damage.

I went from feeling like I was splitting open when I sat on the crapper to alife!w short trot in 4 months.

So again think of your whole day of movement as being an extension of what skill you're building on the mat. I know it sounds corny but every breath you take is training, every step, every pivot walking standing up from a chair, from the coach, getting out of bed, up and down stairs, and all the exercise and conditioning you do, it's all part of refining your physical skill that's culminated through your Jujitsu and will aid you in health through your journey.

Idk, that's how I look at the phrase "Judo/Jujitsu is life".

Army infantryman... HOOAH!!!

 

[Foppa21]

Usually 80% is my gym max but that depends who I'm rolling with. If I'm rolling with someone who is super competitive I try to match their intensity w/o over doing it of course.

Nothing wrong with going 50% or 60%, but that to me is 'flow rolling' intensity. I'll definitely go at that pace if I'm rolling with a trusted partner who I can trust not to injure me or a brand new, zero experience, non-spazzy white belt who I'm trying to be gentle with and not injure.

Nothing worst then rolling with a dude when your going at 60% or 70% intensity and he is trying to murder you going at it 110% like it's the adcc. Don't get me wrong there is a time and place for that and those hard rolls serve a purpose but not every single time.

Yeah, that's the type of rolling I like. Because of my limited time, I feel that I get the most out of flow rolling. A bit more time to through options. I find that when I go 80 or above, the competition side of me comes out and I return to type and never try anything new.