I'm currently nursing a torn lateral knee ligament which happened as I switched my hips as I passed guard.
Cause of most knee injuries:
- poor warm up. essential for promoting blood flow to the muscles ensuring correct muscle recruitment.
- Poor core stability (especially around the hip). You will tear your ACL/ cartilage by having your knee twist (usually inwards) while your foot is planted. The strength around your hip controls the amount of twisting through your knee.
- Wrestling shoes- Shoes act as an anchor of the foot to the ground, hence any rotation through the trunk will twist the knee and the foot is stuck.
- Stretching (especially hamstrings)- I believe stretching to not be beneficial in grappling arts. it is great for preventing muscle injury but actually makes the risk of joint injury more serious. I have a question for you... how many people do you know who have torn a muscle (e.g. hamstrings) during grappling???? Very few i suppose. At least in comparison with joint injuries. If you wish to stretch i think its better left until after your training.
What does the evidence show about stretching? By stretching you decrease the natural pull of a muscle when it is not contracting (or passive tension for those in the medical field) Therefore in a resting state an unstretched muscle is actually holding the knee joint together by compressing it. by loosening up muscles around the knee there is less compression and hence it is easier to twist causing injury.
Not only does stretching decrease muscle tension but it also increases the time it takes for a muscle to contract from when it recieves the signal to do so. (increases electromechanical delay) therefore if your knee goes into an awkward position- the body sends a signal to the muscles saying correct this position, however it takes longer for the muscles to contract- hence more chance for injury.
- ego (yours or your partners)- for leglocks- obvious one in my opinion.
- Takedowns- The position of the knees with alot of takedowns is a recipe for disaster.
- For women- not being on the pill- There is evidence that women sustain more % joint injuries than men. Why?.... Oestrogen. Oestrogen has a similar effect to stretching on muscles and ligaments. It relaxes them. Sudies show that women actually sustain more joint injuries closer to menstruation as the oestrogen levels are much higher. Women on the pill show lower % of joint injuries. (The pill decreases the levels of oestrogen for those who dont know.)
I am thinking of running classes for martial arts studios (especially for instructors) in terms of injury prevention because i think there are alot of myths flying around and alot of ways which injuries can be prevented which are not being addressed.
However i would need some time gathering matierial before doing so.
effed mine up going for a td. had a body lock and went for the takedown and the kid switched on me and went around to my back and tried to throw me. my knee was anchored to the ground and went out to the side and popped really badly.
worst pain ever! turned out to be a partial (luckily) tear of my meniscus. No surgery required and I was back slow rolling in three weeks and training full time in 6.
Nick Caggia
Irish Cream
mtg is correct as usual.
ttt
both of my knee injuries came from me fucking up a take down
Lach you provide a lot of really great info.
My ACL was torn to shreds during a takedown by a newbie. He had seen my tap out one of his classmates the day before and felt the need to prove something (I'm a girl and was new at this school). Anyways we were sparring for takedowns, and my knee got caught on the mat and was forced to go where it shouldn't. He was using strength instead of technique (hate newbies). Anyways, I didn't know it was my ACL until a year and a half later when I went to see a sports medicine doctor (love em) and finally had surgery.
LifeType1, go see a sports med doc. When I didn't know it was my ACL that was destroyed, my knee would pop out as well.
trying rubber guard while being a complete noob at it and buddy explodes out of it. pretty much the dumbest thing i've ever tried to do. RG is cool though, i just don't have the flexibility for it..yet.
" Nick Caggia"
Correct! But youre in good company. He's clipped some big names.
4 later
Something I've seemed to notice about people who sustain knee injuries is that they are top heavy. A lot of people that lift seemingly forget that they have a lower body. Without strengthening and stretching the muscles and tendons in your legs, you are going to be much more prone to injury.
I don't have this problem because my build is actually the opposite of that, this is from playing 16 years of high level soccer. So I don't mind people throwing leglocks on me because honestly they don't really hurt, unless of course they are done correctly.
Heelhooks cause the most injuries in my gym, that's why I don't like throwing them when rolling
juicing....
I've had three knee injuries in 6.5 years of BJJ, all "minor" sprains.
First one was caused by a guy throwing his weight onto the side of my knee, with my leg extended (I was on my knee with the other leg). I guess he was trying to get my back or something, and fell on my knee instead. Knee popped, MCL sprain.
The next one was a PCL sprain. While doing some standup sparring, I threw a round kick and my kneecap hit the other guy's shin. In addition to the sprain, deep bruise to the patella or thereabouts. That one hurt for a while.
Third one was a ACL sprain from a heel hook. Came out of a scramble, started to stand, and my training partner went for my leg, hard. That knee is still stiff and sore, until I warm up, over a year later.
Never had a knee injury before I started BJJ. Maybe my ankles were too weak from years of getting shredded playing basketball, and they'd roll over before my knees took the hit (that's one theory I've come up with).
Meniscus is the most common by far...
Most common reason HAS to be not warming up correctly... i been to alot of places and hardly ever see a good warmup.... and second is probably takedowns drills that aren't run/supervised correctly... i almost always blame the instructors for this.. not the moron students... cause if the instructors had a handle on the students they wouldnt be morons!
"Most common reason HAS to be not warming up correctly... i been to alot of places and hardly ever see a good warmup"
Im ALL ABOUT warming up. The cool down is almost universally disregarded but I will never sacrifice a warmup I want to jump into the action.
I saw a guy get a severe sprain of the knee with instant swelling of the joint from getting his knee twisted in someones half guard (lockdown). Not sure how it happened or what structures were damaged, but it was a pretty bad injury.
Mine was hurt when the opponent attempted to jump guard on me, but instead kind of fell onto my leg, which was locked out and bent backwards somewhat, tearing ACL, meniscus, and peroneal nerve. Had surgery for the torn nerve, but still waiting to see if it worked or not.
p.s. it is not true (as some people seem to think) that knee injuries can always be fixed up good as new. If you damage the nerve, even the best surgeons may not be able to make it right again, your foot can be paralyzed.
And damaged meniscus is often just trimmed/ cut out (hmmm, seems like a set up for future arthritis)
"And damaged meniscus is often just trimmed/ cut out (hmmm, seems like a set up for future arthritis)"
yes, they say this up front... the reason why people pick trim instead of repair is because its a 6 weak recovery instead of 6 months!
but all those trim jobs are gonna be sucking when theyre 60... i know... i trimmed mine too lol