Armbar injury

genjix

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Hi!

Before you tell me, I'm definitely going to see a doctor but just wanted to run this past everyone here for advice.

Basically ~50 days ago I got caught in an armbar and didn't submit because I thought I could get out. There was a loud crunching sound and immediately the other guy released me (because of the sound), but I had no pain and carried on training.

Afterwards the pain was intense, so I rested it for the rest of the week and went back on the following Monday... Fine, but the next day just a simple exercise in warm-up (reaching out to grab my partners Gi) suddenly caused sharp pain.

I went immediately to emergency of the hospital and they told me I've probably just sprained it (stop being a pussy). Then during the next days I had to go travelling for 50 days and had no chance to see a doctor.

Now whenever I do something strenuous on my arm like chinups it aches... Is it just a stretched ligament or could I have cracked the bone? shit.
 
if it only aches you probably don't have anything broken..

broken would probably translate into intense pain.
 
Aching is normal for stretched ligaments. As above, intense pain would be what you get from a break.

You will probably be fine.

But, yeah, see a doc.
 
I had a similar situation with an Americana and it wound up being a ligament torn clear off the bone... I could get around but could not extend my arm very far at all.. I wound up getting surgery (which only made things worse). The surgeon hit a nerve and half my right hand went numb. After a lot of physical therapy I still have a bit of numbness.

In short, go easy on it until you know what's going on. An MRI wouldn't be a bad thing so at least you know what you're working with. It doesn't sound broken but I'm not a doctor. Honestly, you should push for proper exams and go easy until you have them.
 
We should have a sticky on arm bar related injuries, they seem to pop up pretty often.

There are varying degrees of hyper-extension, from it being a simple straining of the ligaments to where they damn near have torn away.
 
Several months ago my arm was pinned in preparation for an Americana attempt and my elbow just gave out and cracked loudly a few times. Like you, I didn't feel any immediate pain, but I did stop training. After about an hour it hurt pretty bad and I couldn't extend my elbow past 90 degrees.

I took 1.5 months off training and even then when I went back I had to tap immediately if anyone put any pressure on that arm. After a couple weeks of that it was only sore after classes. And now as of a couple of weeks ago it has finally stopped giving me problems altogether. This was a total time of 5 months.

So my point is you may in for a decent amount of time babying it. When you do get back into training don't try and be a hero and just tap as soon as you feel pain in your arm, regardless if you're in danger of submission or not.
 
Similar thing happened to me a couple years ago to a kneebar. I was a noob and thought I could get out of it. I was rolling to win instead of learn. It took me out of training for a long time but it was a very important lesson. Ego will not only hold back your training but it'll get you hurt. Now if someone just gets in checkmate postiion for a kneebar I'll tap. Same thing in an armbar. Once my arm gets extended straight theres just no point in fighting. Tap and roll again and learn from it.
 
Thanks for all the info, it is so great to know :) Yep, I've learned a valuable lesson here about ego.
 
If you have insurance, I would def go check it out...

I "popped" my ankle while triangling someone and rolling over to mount about half a year ago... The pain came in later that night and I'd experience shooting pain when I stepped wrong

Luckily, I think I maybe fully recovered, but it still hurts on some days
 
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