Injury question???

[paperguynj]

i started BJJ about two months ago. I’ve been going about 4 times per week. We do a lot of live training and I really enjoy it. The school has a great group of guys and I get better with every class. Last week I hurt my right groin muscle and it is at the point where I can’t sleep at night let alone train. I’m going to take a week off to see how it feels. I don’t want to miss a lot of training and hurt my progress. Has anyone have this type of injury and how do you normally handle being injured and training?

 

[Gerry Seymour]

i started BJJ about two months ago. I’ve been going about 4 times per week. We do a lot of live training and I really enjoy it. The school has a great group of guys and I get better with every class. Last week I hurt my right groin muscle and it is at the point where I can’t sleep at night let alone train. I’m going to take a week off to see how it feels. I don’t want to miss a lot of training and hurt my progress. Has anyone have this type of injury and how do you normally handle being injured and training?

It's not clear to me which muscle you've injured, so I'll keep this general. Firstly, be sure it's a muscle and not a ligament or joint injury. Second, if the pain is severe, get thee to a physician. Rest is necessary for a pulled muscle (which is actually a minor tear). If it's a tear (a not-so-minor one), it may need more than rest. Keep it stretched, but avoid pain in the stretching. Give it some light use to keep mobility and tone, but avoid any use that's more than a little uncomfortable. Anti-inflammatory meds (NSAIDS) can be helpful. You might consider a trip to the physical therapist to make sure you get that muscle back in working order. Don't push hard to get back to full training, or you'll slow your recovery and lose more training.

 

[Flying Crane]

Yes, several years ago. I saw a sports med physician, he ruled out physical damage, but prescribed physical therapy, that went on for a few months, and I needed to do exercises daily, ideally twice a day, in between sessions with the therapist. I was out of training for several months, before it was better.

Ignoring it did not help. I tried to just train and hope it would heal up on its own. Nope.

 

[JR 137]

What the above posters said.

Muscle strains (same thing as a pull) take a while to heal up. Depending on the severity, and it doesn’t sound like it’s a slight strain by your description, it can take several weeks or longer. If you don’t fully rest it, you’ll make it worse. Going back too soon will have you going back to square one.

What happens when you “pull” a muscle is the muscle cells/fibers pull apart. They need time to stick together again, scar over, and heal up. The more you use the muscle, the more it pulls apart.

In the acute (beginning phase), I don’t suggest stretching at all. The more you stretch, the more you’re pulling the fibers. It seems really counterintuitive because your brain is telling you it’s really tight and a good stretch will loosen it up. IMO it’s one of the few times your body is giving your brain false information.

I worked as a full-time NCAA Div 1 athletic trainer (sports med, not personal trainer) for about 15 years, and still do at other levels on and off. I treated groin strains just like quad and hamstring strains. A lot of my colleagues were aggressive with strength training them, but I honestly never saw much benefit to that during the actual injury phase. They weren’t getting guys back on the field any quicker by doing that. I always did moderate mobility exercises, therapeutic modalities such as ultrasound, and rest. Rest was the biggest factor, having my athletes do nothing beyond regular day to day activity.

If it’s keeping you up at night, definitely see a physician and physical therapist. You’re beyond simply taking a week or two off and going back into it. Even if it feels better within a few days, if you get back on the mat, you’ll just re-aggravate it and have to start over again. Trust me, I’ve seen it countless times; guy who just want to get back out there and play learned the hard way more times than I can count.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

In the acute (beginning phase), I don’t suggest stretching at all. The more you stretch, the more you’re pulling the fibers. It seems really counterintuitive because your brain is telling you it’s really tight and a good stretch will loosen it up. IMO it’s one of the few times your body is giving your brain false information.

This is good to know. I've been doing this wrong. Thanks!

 

[now disabled]

What the above posters said.

Muscle strains (same thing as a pull) take a while to heal up. Depending on the severity, and it doesn’t sound like it’s a slight strain by your description, it can take several weeks or longer. If you don’t fully rest it, you’ll make it worse. Going back too soon will have you going back to square one.

What happens when you “pull” a muscle is the muscle cells/fibers pull apart. They need time to stick together again, scar over, and heal up. The more you use the muscle, the more it pulls apart.

In the acute (beginning phase), I don’t suggest stretching at all. The more you stretch, the more you’re pulling the fibers. It seems really counterintuitive because your brain is telling you it’s really tight and a good stretch will loosen it up. IMO it’s one of the few times your body is giving your brain false information.

I worked as a full-time NCAA Div 1 athletic trainer (sports med, not personal trainer) for about 15 years, and still do at other levels on and off. I treated groin strains just like quad and hamstring strains. A lot of my colleagues were aggressive with strength training them, but I honestly never saw much benefit to that during the actual injury phase. They weren’t getting guys back on the field any quicker by doing that. I always did moderate mobility exercises, therapeutic modalities such as ultrasound, and rest. Rest was the biggest factor, having my athletes do nothing beyond regular day to day activity.

If it’s keeping you up at night, definitely see a physician and physical therapist. You’re beyond simply taking a week or two off and going back into it. Even if it feels better within a few days, if you get back on the mat, you’ll just re-aggravate it and have to start over again. Trust me, I’ve seen it countless times; guy who just want to get back out there and play learned the hard way more times than I can count.

great post

I'd just say make sure it is a muscle and not something more serious

 

[Xue Sheng]

I would like to also add...it is best to see a Doctor about such thing....and none of us, no matter how much experience we may or may not have with muscle pulls, are doctors

 

[JR 137]

I would like to also add...it is best to see a Doctor about such thing....and none of us, no matter how much experience we may or may not have with muscle pulls, are doctors

And even if any of us were, we’d still say see a doctor because there’s no way of knowing without actually seeing it and physically examining it.

 

[JR 137]

This is good to know. I've been doing this wrong. Thanks!

Everybody does. So did I until a colleague put it into the right words.

“Think about it: the fibers are pulled apart. You want them to stick together so they can heal. The muscle is tightening up on its own so the fibers can stick together. Stretching the muscle just pulls those fibers apart more.”

Made sense to me. Every time I pulled anything, I’d stretch the hell out of it to get it to loosen up. I mean, when a muscle is really tight, it makes sense to stretch it. Not in this case though; it’s counterintuitive and counterproductive.

Towards the end of my rehab program, I’d have athletes do a really good warmup, stretch, then ice it immediately afterwards. A few days of that, then I’d start with the heavy sport specific stuff.

I also did a lot of myofascial release/ART (active release) stuff. I found that stuff worked quite well.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Everybody does. So did I until a colleague put it into the right words.

“Think about it: the fibers are pulled apart. You want them to stick together so they can heal. The muscle is tightening up on its own so the fibers can stick together. Stretching the muscle just pulls those fibers apart more.”

Made sense to me. Every time I pulled anything, I’d stretch the hell out of it to get it to loosen up. I mean, when a muscle is really tight, it makes sense to stretch it. Not in this case though; it’s counterintuitive and counterproductive.

Towards the end of my rehab program, I’d have athletes do a really good warmup, stretch, then ice it immediately afterwards. A few days of that, then I’d start with the heavy sport specific stuff.

I also did a lot of myofascial release/ART (active release) stuff. I found that stuff worked quite well.

How do you know when it's reasonable to start stretching? Is it enough to wait until the primary pain goes away?

 

[Gerry Seymour]

I also did a lot of myofascial release/ART (active release) stuff. I found that stuff worked quite well.

I just rub the **** out of it. That seems to help, in the absence of real skill.

 

[JR 137]

How do you know when it's reasonable to start stretching? Is it enough to wait until the primary pain goes away?

I usually wait a few days after the initial injury. Then I typically stretch to the point of discomfort (ie NOT pain) and back off a little bit.

I just rub the **** out of it. That seems to help, in the absence of real skill.

Rubbing the sh!t out of it has a technical name - cross frictional massage.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

I usually wait a few days after the initial injury. Then I typically stretch to the point of discomfort (ie NOT pain) and back off a little bit.

Perfect, so when I've been lazy and not doing the stretching the first couple of days, I was actually getting it right. When I was all conscientious and getting right to stretching, I was making it worse. Lazy beats proactive!!

Rubbing the sh!t out of it has a technical name - cross frictional massage.

I'm putting that on my resume.

 

[paperguynj]

Thanks for the information guys, I really appreciate it. I’m going to see a doctor about it this week. I am fortunate to have two have two brother in laws that were both NCAA wrestlers, Practice BBJ and are both PT’s. I’m beginning to think it’s a tendon or ligament injury. After resting it, the pain is more manageable but not going away.
Are these kind of injuries normal and is taking time off usually understood by the professors? I’m a 46 year old former college football player, we would usually ignore injuries and hope it would go away. I’m not one for sittting out if that makes any sense.
Thanks again for the advice.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Thanks for the information guys, I really appreciate it. I’m going to see a doctor about it this week. I am fortunate to have two have two brother in laws that were both NCAA wrestlers, Practice BBJ and are both PT’s. I’m beginning to think it’s a tendon or ligament injury. After resting it, the pain is more manageable but not going away.
Are these kind of injuries normal and is taking time off usually understood by the professors? I’m a 46 year old former college football player, we would usually ignore injuries and hope it would go away. I’m not one for sittting out if that makes any sense.
Thanks again for the advice.

At 46 (I’m a few years ahead of you), they are more common by far than back in your football days. And we’ve learned a lot since then. My brother had a soccer coach in high school who still thought water deprivation in practice was a way to improve endurance.

And, yeah, any good instructor or coach will understand the need to recover. Most will have some light-duty drills for you when you can get started back.