The entire Copa de HK staff and those who promote brazillian Jiu Jitsu in Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s biggest BJJ, or brazillian Jiu-jitsu, tournament was held on September 5, 2015. I, Dr. Bluestein, was lucky enough to be a part of the event team. I took part in ensuring all participants were registered and their weight was on point for the competition. I also helped with the overall operations of the event in a supporting role.
I love to see athletes participating at the highest level. I observed some minor injuries that occurred during the competition, such as bloody noses, contusions, sprains and strains that were handled by the St. Johns Ambulance team. There was one major injury, a dislocated elbow elbow, suffered by a fellow team mate. He is doing well now and is recovery is ongoing.
I noticed some competitors complain of neck pain, for more information on reducing neck pain during your BJJ (jiu jitsu) , Muay Thai, MMA, or wrestling, click here.
Do you have any martial arts tournaments coming up? Have on-site care for your competitors injuries. Contact me here for more information.
I was both a volunteer and injury consultant this past weekend for the mini Copa de Hong Kong Jiu Jitsu Tournament. I had a couple athletes ask, “what is the most common condition I see from combat athletes?”. In the past, I saw many lower back pain patients but most frequently it has been all neck injuries. I believe this is because athletes now train their core, abdominal and back strength much more frequently. As well, strength and conditioning for the lower back is a staple in many general body programs. Neck strength, conditioning and mobility is generally forgotten and currently this leads me to see more neck pain patients.
“Neck strength, conditioning and mobility is generally forgotten and currently this leads me to see more neck pain patients.”
Neck pain from both combat (jiu-jitsu, boxing, wrestling, muay thai, mma, football, basketball) and non-combat sports (basketball, football, tennis, golf, badminton) are quite common. Neck pain from combat sports can be particularly difficult to treat. This is due to the fact that sports typically involve techniques that strain the neck during training. Common injuries tend to occur in hyperflexion, rotation, traction and compression. The most common form of neck pain I see is from flexion based injuries from getting your neck snapped down, being pulled in a thai plum, being stacked while playing guard or being choked and head locked.
Neck pain is usually felt in the highest portion of the spine, the cervical spine area. The cervical spine area, has 7 vetebrae. When the area becomes moved beyond the normal functional range of motion both passive (bone, disc, ligament, capsule) and active tissues (muscle, joint, tendon) can become injured. The neck and upper back area has both superficial to deep areas of soft tissue that covers vertebrae (see below). Neck injuries may also cause pain into the mid back or shoulders and many times is mistaken for problems in those areas.
I have neck pain from a jiu-jitsu, wrestling, boxing and/or muay thai, what can I do?
Having your neck pain evaluated by a Chiropractor will help determine the extent of the injury and what your prognosis (the forcast of your condition) will be. If you have already recovered from a previous neck pain or injury, prevention of the next one should be what you are thinking about. Having your neck and body assesed is the best way to know how your body is moving and how painful or dysfunctional issues have affected the function of your joints.
In my clinic, if a person reports pain then I perform an SFMA, neurological, orthopaedic and palpatory assessments. Your Chiropractor should locate the dysfunctional issues and tissues (tissue Extensibility, Joint mobility, chemical pain, motor control issues, or vestibular issues). A skilled practitioner should be able to palpate using a layering technique like Functional Palpation before performing any Functional Release or Active Release techniques. Many Chiropractors possess the skill to palpate specific structures and are experts to do so. The type of treatment administered will be based on what will provide the quickest neck pain relief and return to function.
I have recovered from a neck pain and injury, what is a safe and effective exercise I can peform to help strengthen my neck?
Many athletes will typically stretch to get rid of pain and improve passive range of motion. Is that enough to prevent injury? Just stretching in order to allow your body to get into a range of motion is not enough.Aquiring strength and control in ALL RANGES (short and long ranges of motion) will help prevent injuries. This means having active ability in these ranges of motion.
Below is a video from my colleague and mentor, Dr. Andreo Spina. Featured on Jits TV, our functional range conditioning exercise will help prevent neck pain injury. This exercise is also beneficial for those who just want general conditioning for there neck.
There are other great conditioning and neck strengthening execises that a qualified personal trainer or strength and conditioning coach can give you to help prevent neck pain. Just be sure you have all the prerequesites for doing the exercises by seeing you Chiropractor. They can determine if your neck is prepared for more difficult movements.
Do you practice brazillian jiu jitsu (BJJ), muay thai, boxing, wrestling, or judo and get neck pain? See a Chiropractor for an evaluation and improve your joint health and mobility.
Athletes of all skill levels may suffer from back pain or stiffness at one point in their life. Typically, the spine is overlooked during a pre-game warm-up. A good spinal warm up can help improve shoulder range of motion and decrease stiffness overall in the spine. Off court spine mobility drills, in addition to a proper core strength and conditioning program, will help athletes improve back movement and reduce the chance of injury and pain. Back pain affects nearly every person at some point in their lives. Prevention of back pain is key, especially in terms of extending the playing lifespan of athletes.
Below is a video that has some good spinal mobility exercises that and help improve mobility and decrease the the likelyhood of typical back stiffness (what does stiffness mean? Click here) and back pain that athletes suffer from. It was produced with the great people at Coachbase
Remember, daily preventative exercises , and hands on treatment OR reduced performance and/or back pain, YOUR CHOICE (My lawyer buddy always phrases things like that haha).
I was asked to answer some questions regarding ACL tears in sports by the people at Coachbase. Below is part 1, which is some knee anatomy review, symptoms and initial treatment.
Many personal trainers, coaches and manual therapists give staticstretching programs to their clients as a way increase range of motion, decrease pain and improve performance.
Stretching can be either beneficial or detrimental to one’s health and performance depending on when and how it is prescribed. Stretching prescriptions also differ between practitioners.
How do injuries occur?
Injuries that occur are most likely the result from the tissues such as muscle and tendons, inability to absorb forces required of them. Injuries most usually occur within the normal range of motion and during eccentric (lengthening a muscle under load) portion of a movement. Therefore, stretching tissues in order to increase their ability to bend or deform, will not allow them to be more resilient to injury.
Benefits of stretching
1) Injury prevention– Pre-exercise static stretching does not prevent injury and may actually cause injury due the decreased ability to produce force by the muscles and their absorption capability. Long term regular static stretching (>3 to 4 weeks) is beneficial and can improve force, jump height and speed.
2) Decreasing pain– stretching can have an analgesic effect by increasing pain tolerance. PNF (proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation) stretching has been shown to increase the range of motion (ROM) of both the stretched and unstretched limb. This indicates that there are effects on the brain itself.
3) Muscle Hypertrophy (muscle enlargement)- some studies have shown that there can be an increase in the muscles ability to contract (MVC), thus affecting the muscles ability to grow.
What happens during stretching?
ROM may improve in one of two ways: changing shape properties of the muscle cell AND/OR changing your stretch tolerance.
Acute, short term static stretching can have an immediate effect on ROM by changing the cell shape, but the effect is short lived and the tissues return to their normal resting length.
Long term stretching (>3 to 4 wks) allows change in ROM but no change in cell properties. Change is due to central nervous system (brain) stretch tolerance. Your brain allows for this. You are altering the stretch reflex. The stretch reflex is a safe guard mechanism at prevents over stretching. If your CNS decides you cannot control the ROM the stretch reflex is turned on and your ROM becomes limited.
To reduce potential injury during a particular activity, talk to your Chiropractor or health professional about how to expand and strengthen your ROM and reduce your change of injury.
-if you would like get a copy of some of the research articles used, do not hesitate to contact me 🙂 –
Disclaimer: Remember that any information on this blog should not be a substitute to your healthcare professionals examination. I have not examined you; therefore, the above should not serve as medical advice. Research is also changing constantly and some information may change at a later date due to new available science.
