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Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Brain Damage?
pure_eval13
Registered User new member
Registered User new member
Hi,
I am wondering if practicing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu can cause any kind of brain damage. I've signed up for it but I notice that during the training you tend to bump and shake your head around quite a bit. There's quite a bit of rolling around and bumping against the ground, plus the occasional elbow/knee to the head.
Can that cause someone to slow down mentally at all? I've googled this and all the results seem to be about "no reasearch indicating that being choked will cause brain injury" but that's not what I want to know. I'm talking more about the actual act of grappling and roughhousing on the ground. Especially if you are in a profession that requires you to be mentally sharp.
Can anyone shed some light on this? Thanks.
I am wondering if practicing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu can cause any kind of brain damage. I've signed up for it but I notice that during the training you tend to bump and shake your head around quite a bit. There's quite a bit of rolling around and bumping against the ground, plus the occasional elbow/knee to the head.
Can that cause someone to slow down mentally at all? I've googled this and all the results seem to be about "no reasearch indicating that being choked will cause brain injury" but that's not what I want to know. I'm talking more about the actual act of grappling and roughhousing on the ground. Especially if you are in a profession that requires you to be mentally sharp.
Can anyone shed some light on this? Thanks.
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if you're just rumbling around once a week i don't think you need to worry about it much, but there is a risk of concussion in most contact sports, and that can in turn carry long term effects that science is just learning about
But it takes more than a bit of a jostle to damage your brain. We wouldn't have survived very long if that's all it took.
Provided you aren't getting into any real fights, and when doing serious sparring you are wearing sufficient protective gear, then the worst you have to worry about is some accidental hits while learning and practicing.
Just be careful, and if the teacher/class seems to be ignoring, or even worse, allowing, things that are injuring people, then find a different instructor.
There should also be mats, pads, and other safety equipment around to facilitate learning without killing yourself as well.
Brazilian jiujitsu is actually very concussion light, compared to say striking integrated MMA, or a judo, as it has minimal striking and very little falling.
It's a physical activity. There's risk. Like mountain climbing or riding a motorcycle or generally going outside. Concussion, TBE in particular? Minimal factors. But there is a bit of risk.
But you know, like the vikings said, you can hide every day in a hole and when the fates cut your thread, rain will fill the hole
I host a podcast about movies.
American football and boxing are notorious because there is constant and repeated violence against the head.
Boxing is a sport where the aim is to deliver repeated blows to the head until one part can't stand up due to repeated concussions. Yes, that's what a KO means. Brazilian Jiujitsu on the other hand relies primarily on submission, which means the focus is more on grappling.
In american football there is plenty of repeated headbanging as that's the way tackling has evolved with the addition of helmets and shoulderguards. Rugby, while in many ways a much bloodier sport, does not have the same problem and overall features less permanent injuries.
I'd say you're pretty safe. A lot safer than if you had for example practiced riding.
Now your ears on the other hand. Cauliflower ears are pretty common among professional grapplers, although not so common among amateurs. Earguards is a good thing though.
-Antje Jackelén, Archbishop of the Church of Sweden
a big part of the early training will be protecting yourself from head trauma while sparring/grappling
ed: I mean, CTE is a major issue, but is an issue that faces people who have made a lifetime/career in a sport or pursuit that involves repetitive head trauma. It isn't really something us weekend warrior types need to be worried about
that's why we call it the struggle, you're supposed to sweat
There's always some risk to any physical activity. If you're worried about ANY risk then stay at home. All things considered, there are much more dangerous activities with regard to head trauma.
Hey thanks for the mention. I'm flattered.
Well, BJJ is a fantastic martial art, and can be very safe but it varies greatly gym to gym. Some of the gyms that claim to be MMA gyms advertise BJJ or have a style that's real rough and you can get banged around a bit while some are much more mellow. Usually the higher the skill level in the gym the safer you'll be. That goes for thai boxing as well, when I had my old coach who had a full contact karate background, we wore headgear and I went home with concussions very consistently, my new coach fights at a very high level and fought in Lumpinee stadium and with his coaching we spar with no headgear and have a very very low injury rate, it's very rare that I go home rattled now.
Same thing with BJJ, the higher the level the smoother and more controlled it is the less you get bumped around or injured, and when the top guys have that going it spreads to the rest of the group.
What gym are you looking at, do you have a link to their website? I really wouldn't worry about getting punchy or anything with BJJ man, it has it's set of health risks don't get me wrong but overall it's a very safe art to train. As long as it isn't with idiots.
I love south american ground karate
Also, while he's right here about taking headshots, don't freak if they put you in a sparring sort of situation where you might get tapped out the first day. That's a regular practice at my place, usually new guys are invited to roll ((BJJ sparring)) with someone with a bit of experience on their first day, you might get choked a little or armbarred, that sort of thing, but as long with it's with someone experienced it's fine, just tap anytime you're even slightly unsure of things or feel at risk and be friendly.
Oh and if a striking gym, boxing, thai boxing, whatever, invites you to spar a striking art on day one run.
I love south american ground karate
wut
Yeah I've seen it a few times just hey here's some gloves, give it a shot. Turrible.
I love south american ground karate
Ouch! We have had people come for there first time when it is a sparring day, the instructor or a senior will work with them with no contact, getting use to just throwing a punch or a kick or timing or even just some one stepping. Contact doesn't start to happen until later when they get there gloves and headgear and even then its light contact until they feel they want to raise the level.
As a guy who does do a striking art, i've had my bell rung a couple of times, never had a concussion, but have had cracked ribs, broken toes, etc. Your experience will depend on the school and the instructors though. If you have a good one you'll be pretty safe, injuries do happen though.