Headaches after rolling as a newb...

[StevieSparkZ]

Does anyone know why this occurs? I mean anyone have an intelligent medical answer?
I remember when I first started BJJ, the first few weeks I had headaches after rolling live. So fast forward about a year and a half later, my buddy who started doing it with me stepped off the mat after about 15 mins of hard rolling and said he had a headache. Anyone?

 

[ahcshon]

i think its dehydration headaches. Drink more gatorade and water

 

[omgitsrick]

He's probably just not used to being shaken around so much. Remember doing front and back rolls and being dizzy? Same concept

 

[MC92MR2]

hows your breathing? make sure your constantly breathing when rolling. holding your breath and tensing up can enlarge the veins in your head which causes the headache.

 

[MonkeyNuts!]

Dehydration headaches - you lose water, which is a primary component of plasma, the liquid portion of blood. This leads to less stroke volume, venous return, cardiac output (all basically leading to less blood pumped into systemic circulation by heart), which ultimately drops your blood pressure, and causes decreased systemic perfusion throughout your body, including your brain. There are mechanisms in your body (ie baroreceptors) which act to increase your blood pressure as well as redirect blood flow away from relatively non essential organs and send to your brain, but train long enough and you lose enough fluid that your biological responses will have a hard time keeping up. Also, I suppose with less blood going through the pulmonary circulation, you also may end up with either general hypotensive effects on respiratory exchange or even ventilation/perfusion mismatch - basically leads to improper oxygenation of the blood. You also have loss of electrolytes, which can lead to various adverse effects, since you need electrolytes for proper oxygen delivery as well as maintenance of the acid-base balance in your body.

If you hold your breath and tense or exert, the effects can be similar to what is known as a Valsalva manuever. That's basically what you do when you defecate - increased thoracic pressure against a closed glottis. This thoracic pressure causes a push in the pulmonary circulation, which leads to an early rise in blood pressure. However, like MC92MR2 stated, the blood gets backed up in the veins (decrease in venous return) because the returning systemic blood is unable to move against the high thoracic pressure (fluid mechanics - blood in vessels move with pressure gradients). Thus you get a big drop in blood pressure, which happens after about 5 seconds. So I don't know if you're actually holding your breath that long, but it's within realm of possibility that your blood pressure is being affected this way.

So yes, always hydrate yourself during practice (and hydrate yourself well before practice begins), replenish electrolytes if you can (teh gatorade), and remember to breathe.

I'm just a lowly MS1 (soon to be MS2 after path kicks my ass), and I don't think I did so well in physiology (the damn exam was so close to the April NAGA)...

 

[ShadowNINku]

I get headaches from rolling hard, it is mild when rolling moderately to hard, but If I roll hard the headaches are worse and get worse with more fatigue I get, training chokes gives me a slight headache too but this is a bit more obvious

 

[judogido]

Damn, EternalRag3, what a reply.

Without knowing the exact medical reasons for it (ie; just through experience) I would also have said drink more liquids (throughout the day leading up to training as well as small amounts during training) and release your breath when performing anything that involves a lot of exertion.

 

[PhillyD45]

OUT OF SHAPE

Your body has never worked so hard. Your heart is straining to get oxygen EVERYWHERE in your body. Your blood pressure is through the roof. The prssure in you brain is high.

There is "in shape" and then there is "grappling shape"

 

[rghtcrs4u]

could be he has bad cardio right now, dehydration, or straining too hard

 

[StevieSparkZ]

EternalRag3 and PhillyD45 both great answers in different ways of course keep em comin!

 

[wufabufa]

OUT OF SHAPE

Your body has never worked so hard. Your heart is straining to get oxygen EVERYWHERE in your body. Your blood pressure is through the roof. The prssure in you brain is high.

There is "in shape" and then there is "grappling shape"

truth. some of friends that wrestle get bad headaches after their first few practice because they have to acclimate to the intensity of the workouts.

 

[andrewbc]

drink gatorade or make your own thirst quencher

 

[boxing_kangaroo]

ive pretty much just started grappling and ive never experienced this. i just feel sore but i take supplements and sleep 8-9 hours to recover. ATM i have bruised ribs and bicep from being knee rode hard and bicep crushed but its all good

 

[ChumsGum]

Dehydration headaches - you lose water, which is a primary component of plasma, the liquid portion of blood. This leads to less stroke volume, venous return, cardiac output (all basically leading to less blood pumped into systemic circulation by heart), which ultimately drops your blood pressure, and causes decreased systemic perfusion throughout your body, including your brain. There are mechanisms in your body (ie baroreceptors) which act to increase your blood pressure as well as redirect blood flow away from relatively non essential organs and send to your brain, but train long enough and you lose enough fluid that your biological responses will have a hard time keeping up. Also, I suppose with less blood going through the pulmonary circulation, you also may end up with either general hypotensive effects on respiratory exchange or even ventilation/perfusion mismatch - basically leads to improper oxygenation of the blood. You also have loss of electrolytes, which can lead to various adverse effects, since you need electrolytes for proper oxygen delivery as well as maintenance of the acid-base balance in your body.

If you hold your breath and tense or exert, the effects can be similar to what is known as a Valsalva manuever. That's basically what you do when you defecate - increased thoracic pressure against a closed glottis. This thoracic pressure causes a push in the pulmonary circulation, which leads to an early rise in blood pressure. However, like MC92MR2 stated, the blood gets backed up in the veins (decrease in venous return) because the returning systemic blood is unable to move against the high thoracic pressure (fluid mechanics - blood in vessels move with pressure gradients). Thus you get a big drop in blood pressure, which happens after about 5 seconds. So I don't know if you're actually holding your breath that long, but it's within realm of possibility that your blood pressure is being affected this way.

So yes, always hydrate yourself during practice (and hydrate yourself well before practice begins), replenish electrolytes if you can (teh gatorade), and remember to breathe.

I'm just a lowly MS1 (soon to be MS2 after path kicks my ass), and I don't think I did so well in physiology (the damn exam was so close to the April NAGA)...

I'm 41 and have been rolling for 3.5 yrs. As a white belt, I primarily trained 2 times (60 min classes) a week and never had headaches. However, I'm in better shape now and upped my training to 4 times 90-120 min classes) a week as a blue belt. Unfortunately, after training headaches seems to be the norm for me now and thinking about decreasing my training is depressing.

I do all that I can to prevent them; hydrate before, drink 40 oz of water with propel powder during training, and have a protein shake after.
i have excellent choke defense so I don't find myself in positions too often where I'm holding my breath too long. I mostly calm and relaxed except when I have to explode during scrambles.

anyone have any ideas other than decrease training?

 

[Thrawn33]

Much good advice in this thread. Hydrate, warm-up, breathe,slow your roll.

 

[freaky]

Yea, I think it's out of shape too. Especially, if it's just after 15 mins of rolling. For you, might be dehydration since you said you didn't get the headache until afterwards.
Or maybe he hit his head and he didn't even know cuz of the speed and adrenaline.

I remember when I started working out, like jogging and other simple exercises, I would get a fat headache. Cardio is a huge problem.

You don't get headaches anymore right? Then it's definitely your cardio and same for your buddy. Guy needs to do some cardio work out along with his bjj training. Tell him to calm down and stop rolling so hard. Rolling should be all technique and no power. Very gentle. It's a gentle art.

 

[Coati858]

For those suffering from headaches, it might be helpful to specify where the pain is coming from. IIRC back of head is tension headache, then you've got migraines, eyestrain, dehydration, etc.

 

[DrJitsu]

It's not dehydration or conditioning. These do not cause headaches.

It's almost certainly holding your breath. When you hold your breath enough to drop the content of oxygen in you blood (which is actually pretty hard to do) then the vessels in your brain dilate to increase blood flow to to brain. This increased blood flow to the brain causes a headache. This is part of the pathophysiology of a migraine by the way, but I digress. This type of headache is worst after training - on the drive home. Focus on your breathing -like go 50% and just try to maintain a steady respiratory rate no matter what you are doing. Soon you will be aware of how much you are holding your breath. And the headaches will go away.

The other consideration is for so called "tension headaches". These would not occur so much right after training but would be more of a daily headache. These have to do with chronic neck pain.

 

[Dogstarman]

It's conditioning as others have said. When I used to run track. During practices when I would run really hard 400s, I'm talking sub 50 seconds. I would get a ringing in my ear and be bit dizzy.

 

[45ACP]

I've only gotten headaches a few times but had a really weird thing happen a few weeks ago. I had severe pain IN MY EYEBALLS that started almost immediately after I left the gym.I do remember tapping to a pretty nasty guillotine that night, but that's not really anything new. I'm pretty used to having my neck wrenched on at this point.

It wasn't awful if I was focusing on something far away, but any time I'd try to focus my eyes on something very near to my face it was excruciating. To the point where I was afraid I was going to have to call out of work the next day (I sit in front of a computer).

Fortunately it was gone by the time I woke up the next morning and hasn't happened since, but has anyone else experienced anything like that?