Ok guys I've not been around for a while as some of you may remember I found out last year that I was looking at shoulder surgery's on both sides.
Well I've now had two surgery's done both went well and the Bonney spurs that caused the impingement s have been taken out. Right side has been left with a slight tear in the supruspinatus which the Dr felt would do more worse the good to repair. I've also found out I have a slight tear in the cartilage of the knee and cartilage degeneration from wear and tear.
So my question to the more experienced guys if your still with me lol is at 32 and a green belt is it worth going back to Judo or just leave it and start BJJ . I would like to earn my black and maybe compete again as I did once at county level and feel I'd do a lot better a second time round. Do you feel I could reach my goals or is it best to call it a day? Do any of you have similar injures that you've managed to carry on with? Many thanks and sorry for the long post . 
Well, I am no doctor but the knee issues are of a concern to your judo future. I know guys who wear the professional knee braces ($800-$1000/ea.) These guys are in their 50's and have been doing judo since there teens. They have bone on bone from cartilage degeration. And their knees still hurt afterwards so they take ibuprofen before they work out. This will limit future wear and tear on as pertains to your carilage issue. Mat work is no fun against a guy who wears these. You need a rehab program that strengthens the entire leg(s) also. You need a general program to strengthen/maintian flexibility the entire body for judo's wear and tear.
Yeah your right , and that's what I was thinking about the Knee's.
I had to leave the building trade ( plastering /scaffolding) and now at home with the kids in the day and gone back to personal Training part time. So I really do need my knees working as best they can as sometimes I'm running with clients .
Well I'll bow off Lol
At least I've got some throwing experience before doing BJJ which will be a plus I think. Happy training lads ;-)
I stopped judo for a year to concentrate on BJJ in part because it was making my fused ankle throb in pain after many of my practices. A couple of months ago the head instructor (with help from my son) talked me into coming back and just scaling back to where I go off to the side and do my own thing during the parts of the warmups/randori that are likely to aggravate my ankle. So I basically just view my judo classes now as "drilling takedowns for BJJ," but I find that I'm actually enjoying the judo more because I'm putting a lot less pressure on myself to 'not suck.'
Obviously your situation is going to be different than mine, but I just figured I'd throw that out there.
What are your training goals?
I train both BJJ and Judo for fun and to better myself. At this stage of the game, Judo is better for my body and grappling longevity than BJJ because of: injuries, age and maturity of my training partners. I won't give up either, but I'm more likely to be hurt by a 20-something year old with no career and a lot of passion than a recreational Judoka so I'm really choosey about my training partners.
My training goals have all changed due to my injury's . It was to become a more rounded fighter due to having mainly training Boxing with a bit of Thai. I wanted to learn a practical grappling art and maybe compete . The goal was Black Belt in Judo .
Now I suppose it's just to get back on the mat and see if I can still be competitive without causing myself anymore injury's or time off.
Just starting BJJ and doing Judo here and there isn't a bad idea . All I need is two new shoulders and Knees and I'm good to go lol thanks for the replies.
To delaxan: Many of us follow you in one way or the other. Picking parts of judo that will limit our chance of injury or avoiding parts that aggravate a current injury. I cannot take the hard throws on the tatami anymore. Crash pads for full throwing practice are fine. I randori with opponents who are my size/age and maybe they score a yuko throw against me which my body can take. Mat work, I avoid the much larger opponents. I will continue to do judo this way until I no longer can or my injury(L/hip)improves. And we do occasionally do tournamnet style randori every now and then. The most recent one was last Friday and I fought my Korean training partner.
I am a 46 year old walking map of combat sport's injury: 1) knee surgery from Greco wrestling 2) elbows of both elbows from boxing 3) knee surgery from BJJ 4) 3rd elbow surgery from BJJ 5)3rd knee surgery from judo 6) 4th elbow surgery pending...
Yet, I still wrestle, play BJJ and Judo
I teach more than I practice. I do very limited drilling. 80% of my training is live sparring.randori.
I just choose my partners wisely, play always relax, focus on a game where my tactics and techniques are very limited up effective.
Yoga, light lifting, easy non-impact cardi and posture therapy are main conditioning. I go to the chiro and massage therapist every week.
Good to know your still doing it your a monster on the Mat!
Gonna take some time out of Judo I think as you said its all the drilling and taking the falls and to reach black from green I'd think I'd have to take a fair few more falls .
I'm gonna try BJJ for a a year see if the shoulders recover and the maybe back on to Judo just to grade and not compete . It sucks getting old!
nowado- I forgot to add a (upper cervical) chiropractor every 2 1/2 to 3 weeks and sports massage that focuses on acupressure 1/month are a must for me.
I practice Yoga now. After a lifetime of wrestling + Judo & some MMA for a few years, combined with an all day desk job, I'm too injury prone to play judo any more.
I have been playing Judo for decades...recently my lower back started hurting a lot from the constant throwing.
Now, I am considering some stretching / Yoga for the lower back.
nowaydo - I am a 46 year old walking map of combat sport's injury: 1) knee surgery from Greco wrestling 2) elbows of both elbows from boxing 3) knee surgery from BJJ 4) 3rd elbow surgery from BJJ 5)3rd knee surgery from judo 6) 4th elbow surgery pending...
Yet, I still wrestle, play BJJ and Judo
I teach more than I practice. I do very limited drilling. 80% of my training is live sparring.randori.
I just choose my partners wisely, play always relax, focus on a game where my tactics and techniques are very limited up effective.
Yoga, light lifting, easy non-impact cardi and posture therapy are main conditioning. I go to the chiro and massage therapist every week.
Also you were very good at Judo which makes it worth it to a degree .
I'm only a Green at 32 and started judo just to have a bit of grappling experience for self defence and to add to my striking rather than competitions.
I ended up really liking Judo.
I'm going to give BJJ a go and maybe as you said go to a Judo club every now and then just for some Randori .
I'm not that good in judo, but thanks. I can't be with the little drill time I get. I just use posture and experience to survive.
Yes, my Chiro is a necessity. I have severe cervical arthritis in my neck from years of wrestling. I do not let anyone touch my neck. The chiropractor thinks I'm crazy for continuing BJJ with my neck. It's 19 inches and stiff as a tree trunk. Not pretty. But only doing sparring and no drilling puts my body's destiny in my own hands, rather than drilling with a partner, doing repetitive movements, putting my body in someone's hands.
I retired from judo due to injures and switched to bjj, just recently jumped back into it and competing for the first time in 3 years. It's possible but take it easy, being only in my mid twenties I can't train as hard as I could when I was 19, I can only imagine how hard it is on your body for you.
Yes its possible.
I would goto bjj for a few year till your 100% then slowly make my way back into judo
Good luck 
I talk to judokas at Judo tournaments who are switching to BJJ after their judo career is over. Many are in their 30(s). Too many prior injuries and chance for more injuries as they work in their profession. So they opt for BJJ. Many of these guys have solid ground games. One in particular I talked to last weekend judo tournament fought recently in the IBJJF Masters/Seniors World Cchampionships 2-3 weekends ago in Cal. Went 3-1 in the purple belt light div 30-34.
I think parts of newaza are more dangerous than throwing tachi-waza.
Outkaster - I think parts of newaza are more dangerous than throwing tachi-waza.
Cant see this. Throwing and being thrown is a lot more taxing on the body IMO .
Thank for the advice everyone , I'll give BJJ a go in the new year and see how it goes.
A Karo thread came up and it got me wanting to go back to judo. I did have a microdiscectomy on my l5-s1 and have gotten back into doing karate, kickboxing and catch wrestling with no real problems.
Should I go back to the judo dojo or is it too risky to take all the bumps?
I assume you mean L5. I do not know what S1 is. Anyway beginning judo is very safe realatively. The warmups,tumbling, breakfalls will give you an indication to how your body can respond. Uchikomis, turnovers will further test your body's ability to adapt to judo. Throws on the crash pads are safe even if the thrower doesn't rotate you properly. Just make sure he doesn't miss the pad like some do.