Comments on: BJJ Poll: What Is the Worst Injury You Have Suffered While Training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu?

By: Repollo

Repollo — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:42:37 +0000

I had my tibia and fibula broken while training. It kept me off the mat for over a year, but am now back and training. The worst part is that it was totally avoidable, but the other guy was a little overzealous in training.

By: John

John — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 01:22:41 +0000

Partial PCL tear with full MCL tear of the knee – no surgery, just months of rehab.
Grade 2-3 tear of AC joint in shoulder – no surgery, just months of rehab.

By: Jen

Jen — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 06:19:24 +0000

I’m surprised more haven’t required surgery. Is it that most of the responders simply haven’t been training long enough yet?

By: Franck

Franck — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:12:40 +0000

hello Caleb
all the injuries that i had ( in retrospect ) were self inflicted : ac joint separation , broken toe , inflamed sternal cartilage , injured wrist for a year and what not ….
I am not a masochistic , but it was mainly linked of me being to tight , or doing a shitty stand up move , pull to hard etc… I literally changed my training approach in order to prioritize fluidity , and for me it changes everything , I did compete in that fashion too and it was OK . I can get more intense during training, and still maintaining a good endurance good positioning and a greater awareness. just flowing with the go. I speak for myself : relaxation is the key… I sure do have some small stuff here and there but it is nothing compared to what I used to have on a regular basis.
peace to all .
F.

By: Fernando

Fernando — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:09:16 +0000

Partial tear of MCL. A week from the Florida State Championships. Hurt like hell

By: Caleb

Caleb — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:40:57 +0000

@ninjamurf – well I was wearing a gi when it happened…

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:35:21 +0000

I tore a MCL on a botched take down. Knees are the worst injury.

By: ninjamurf

ninjamurf — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:33:11 +0000

Had a couple of knocks. Hyperextended elbow but I only took about a week off. Pulled some muscles in my neck recently that kept me out for a couple of weeks. My question, Caleb, is what did YOU answer?! Did you actually consider it a BJJ injury? (Or did you consider it a “clumsy guy warming up” injury? LOL)

By: patrick

patrick — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 05:33:09 +0000

Got the evil three of knee injuries – MCL, ACL and Meniscus tears – which led to surgery! Yea!

Moral of the story? Knees – take really really good care of them.

By: slideyfoot

slideyfoot — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 13:12:03 +0000

I’ve had injuries in two previous martial arts (judo and something called Zhuan Shu Kuan, which is basically kickboxing) that put me out of training for months, but three years into BJJ, nothing that’s kept me off the mat for longer than a week.

I think BJJ gives you a lot greater control over avoiding injury than many other styles, due to the ever-present option of tapping before serious harm, though of course some injuries just hit you out of the blue (like Caleb’s unfortunate warm-up accident).