Finger and forearm injury prevention for Judokas

Your fingers and forearms are so important for determining how much Judo you can do week in, week out. If you sustain an overuse or acute injury within the forearms muscles or fingers you can off the mat for quite sometime. It is very important that you include a few finger and forearm injury prevention strategies into you weekly schedule. These include:

Elastic Band open/shuts
Judokas are constantly clenching the gi and therefore utilizing the flexor muscles in the forearm a great deal more than the ones used to open the fist. Elastic bands open/shuts will strengthen the opening muscles and tendons thus creating a balance between the two muscles. To perform open shuts simply place an elastic band over your fingers and begin opening and shutting your fingers. At the beginning start with one elastic band and perform around 50 repetitions and slowly build up to 100 repetitions with 2 or 3 elastic bands.

Stretch your forearms
Make sure you stretch your forearm muscles, especially after an intense training session. So many Judo players finish Randori, bow off and head home without stretching. Stretching will help loosen the muscles in the forearms and prevent any future injuries.

Tape your fingers
There are a few things you can do that will prevent finger injuries when doing Judo. Care for your fingers by:
- Warming them up before practice
- Keep your nails cut short
- don't entwine your fingers within your opponents Gi
- Do finger strengthening exercise
- Tape them every session.
I tape my fingers every session, whether it is with one my clients, a technical session or a Randori session. For me personally I 'feel' stronger when I'm taped up, and if something as simple as taped fingers makes me feel stronger when fighting, then I'm going to do it.

Avoid 'locking out' in the gym
Locking out is a lifting term which describes straightening a knee or elbow joint as far as it can go when performing exercises such as bench press or squats. 'Locking out' results in your joint bearing the load opposed to the muscles. It is important to protect your joints by not locking out when strength training. Always keep a slight bend in your joints at all times. This will also mean that your muscles are constantly under tension opposed to your joints giving them a quick break every now and then.
Locking out is mostly seen during a bench press but exercises such as shoulder press, dips and other lifts where the elbow is extending. It is important when performing these exercises to keep a slight bend in the elbow joint.
If you implement these strategies into your day-to-day training and lifestyle you will find that you will not suffer from any forearm or finger problems.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6569352

Bruises - Injuries in Judo

If you have been doing Judo longer than a week you have probably already suffered a nicer shin clash or foot sweep gone wrong and received a nice bruise on the shin or ankle.
this article is not on how to foot sweep properly (make sure your turn your foot) but on what a bruise is and what you can do to treat a bruise or even prevent them happening in training.

What is a bruise?
A bruise occurs when a part of your body is struck by something (eg a badly timed/executed foot-sweep in Judo). When the muscle fibres and capillaries are hit they become crushed and blood from the crushed capillaries leak out and get stuck under the skin, forming a bruise.

How to treat a brusie?
To treat a bruise it is important to ice it. Icing your bruise induces vaso-constriction (blood cells closing), this will help stop the amount of blood that is flowing to the area, thus making the bruise smaller. If the bruise is quite big or painful you can also elevate it above your heart to decrease blood flow to the area.

How to prevent a bruise?
Firstly, make sure you footsweep properly by turning your foot and sweeping with the flat of your foot. To prevent fellow Judokas from cracking you in the shins you can buy some soft shin pads and wear them at training. This will prevent the impact from a stray footsweep.
Yuo can buy some shin pads from Grapplingstore.com  just follow the link below
http://www.grapplingstore.com/contents/en-uk/d13.html

Grappling injury - Jersey Finger

What is it?
A jersey finger is an injury to one of the the finger tendons. Typically, an athlete will sustain a jersey finger while participating in tackling sports such as Rugby, Judo or BJJ. The injuries are usually sustained while an athlete is grasping a player's jersey (when attempting a tackle in rugby) or during intense grip fighting in Judo and BJJ.

The injury usually ovccurs when a finger becomes stuck in the gi or jersey and then having the material being quickly ripped away.
A jersey finger is an injury to the flexor tendon of the finger. The flexor tendon pulls the finger down into the palm as you contract the flexor muscles of the forearm. The injury occurs at the tip of the finger, and typically the tendon snaps back to the base of the finger or even into the palm of the hand.

Symptoms of a Jersey Finger
An athlete who has sustained a jersey finger will be unable to bend the finger down into the palm of the hand. This is usually an obvious injury as the fingers normally rest in a partly flexed position. If you set your hand on the table at rest, the normal posture of the hand is a position similar to if you were to be holding a glass. The reason is that the tendons flexing (bending) and extending (straightening) your finger are balanced. Therefore the finger assumes this partly bent position. When the flexor tendon is injured, the finger will straighten excessively at rest. At rest, patients with a jersey finger will notice one finger straightened out unexpectedly.

Treatment of a Jersey Finger
There are a few different ways you can treat jersey finger depending on how bad a tear you have sustained. If you have completely torn the tendon then surgery is the best option to repaid the injury.
If you have only suffered a sprain or slight tear you may be able to tape your finger to prevent the finger from fully flexing and fully straightening. You may also want to ‘buddy tape’ your fingers (meaning you tape the injured finger to the finger next to it) and this will help the finger not become stuck in the gi or jumper while applying a technique.


http://orthopedics.about.com/od/fingerconditions/qt/jersey.htm


For more Grappling injuries visit my grappling injuries page on the right.

Grappling Injury - Cauliflower Ears

Someone asked me the other day what a cauliflower ear is. Many people get a cauliflower ear from the constant hitting and rubbing on the ear from doing judo, bjj, wrestling or sticking your head in a rugby scrum.

A Cauliflower ear is simply a bruise (or hematoma) that doesn't heal. Your ear is made up of cartilage and when you get a hit or knock to the ear blood enters you ear and becomes stuck in between the cartilage. If the blood cannot drain and get out of the ear then it will set and go hard.

As the blood in the ear starts going hard the cartilage will start to shrivel and fold a little bit which is why the ear looks similar to a cauliflower. The pic below is before i got my ear drained by a syringe.

The doctor will put a local anesthetic on your ear and then stick a syringe in and suck out all the blood that's stuck in there. If you do this straight away before the cartilage is damaged then your ear will remain the same. If you don't drain is straight away the blood will go hard, once this happens you are unable to drain the blood out and the only way to fix it is to get an operation.

Many people believe that you get a cauliflower from 1 hit, but that is very rare. M,ost players get their caulis from training 6 days a week and the ears are constantly getting hit and bumped, hence why the more experienced and serious judo players get caulis while the recreational stay happy as larry.

You can wear some headgear called cauli stoppers to prevent a cauli ear (but who wants to wear headgear forever?)
http://www.grapplingstore.com/contents/en-uk/d273.html

The headgear is great but in the end if you train all the time at a high intensity you will probably get a cauli somewhere on your ear.



Here is my ear after it was drained a few times but because i kept on training my ear kept refilling with blood and was getting semi hard. The Dr said that he couldn't pierce my ear with the syringe so you can see where he cut it with a knife to remove the blood.



If you look at the above picture and then the picture below you can see how the ear has kind of shrivelled a little bit and has a weird shape about it. That's what happens when the cartilage dies.



So my ears are a little strange and mostly i they don't really get noticed by people very often which is ok but if i go into primary schools or do a few tours at the AIS kids notice straight away because if they don't know you they study everything about you and pick up on it pretty quick.

Recovery

As i am in Japan training and recovery is very important between sessions i thought i would re-post my recovery artcile. You can find other article i have written on the pages section on the right.


Do you ever wake up the next day after a grappling or weights session with sore muscles?
Many people wake up sore and uncomfortable after a session of judo, weights, running r any other intense exercise. A great deal of people surprisingly don’t have much idea about how to recover from a session, or even where to begin.
This article is going to give you brief explanation of what steps you should take to help your body with recovery. There are many different means of recovery from massage, nutrition, hydration, compression, sleep and cryotherapy.
But many of these forms of recovery are expensive or not readily available to athletes no training at a sporting complex. Therefore we must use other means in order to recover in between sessions, especially at training camps where there are 2 or more sessions in one day.

First step: Hydration
The first step in recovery is hydration. If you are dehydrated you cannot perform at your optimum level so make sure you are hydrated throughout the training session. A good way to know if you are hydrated at during a session is to weigh yourself before and after to see if you are the same, if you are lighter it means you are less hydrated than the start.
During vigorous training try to drink at least 200ml of water or an electrolyte sports drink every fifteen minutes.
For general knowledge sake room temperature water (although is not as nice) is more easily absorbed than cold water.
Please also be aware that the best fluid to re-hydrate from is anything that contains alot of salt (electrolytes.) These electrolytes will `soak up` all the water in the drink and hold onto it, thus rehydrating u faster.

Second step: Cool down and stretching
After your session it is very important to cool down and stretch. A cool down should consist of low impact exercise (eg walking around the mat) and stretching all muscles worked. Hold each stretch for a minimum of 20 seconds each.

Third step: Nutrition
Immediately after your session try to ingest some sort of simple sugars, eg piece of fruit, sports drink (not for the hydration value but of sugar) muesli bar or some lollies. This is especially important at training camps where you have multiple sessions in one day. You must recover as quickly as possible between sessions.
You have a window of approximately 1 hour after a session when your body is craving nutrients. So as soon as possible eat a meal high in complex carbohydrates (to replenish energy stores) and plenty of protein (to repair muscles) as well as a glass of water to re-hydrate.
Many body building companies make supplements that are to be taken purely after a training session. These protein supplements are full of fast acting proteins (for quick absorption) as well as simple and complex carbohydrates to give your body more energy.
Bear in mind that when dieting for competition recovery after a session becomes very important but also tricky due to the fact that many athletes don’t ingest carbohydrates at night time. Therefore these athletes must get a protein meal as soon as possible.

Fourth step: Shower
The shower is the best place to complete hot and cold periods. 1 minute cold and 1 minute hot is the best way to remove lactic acid and other waste products from your body.

Fifth step: Before bed
Before bed if you have many bumps and bruises it might be wise to take 1 or 2 anti inflames eg Nurofen to help relax your muscles and joints. Please be sure to follow the instructions on the packet.
As well as taking anti inflames I highly recommended taking a multi vitamin especially for those dieting for competition or on a low carb diet.
Make sure you also get a good night sleep, everyone is different but studies suggest a minimum of eight hours sleep a night is recommended due to the fact that your body does all of its recovery while you are asleep.

Sixth step: Following day
If you are still sore the next day then make sure you start the day with a protein and carbohydrate rich meal of some sort. This may include eggs, bread, cereal, oats, milk, yoghurt etc. If your muscles are still sore have anther stretch after your morning shower or on your lunch break at work.

These guidelines are what I believe will aid recovery between training session and this is very important during regular training but espeicaly at training camps.

Please note that these guidelines are something that I follow and are in no way meant to replace that of a medical professional. If you need more info talk to your coach as well as some of the older athletes at your club and get some ideas about what they did in order to recover from training.

Ear Torn off in MMA

Shigeyuki Uchiyama was en route to a win over Masaya "J-Taro" Takita, bloodying his opponent with punches and knees and controlling the pace comfortably. Thingswere looking good for the Grabaka fighter until somehow, during a double leg takedown that fell through the ropes, the top of his ear was torn off.

It was not clear how the cauliflowered ear was torn but blood could be seen on the top and bottom ropes. Most likely, Uchiyama's ear was caught in the vertical ropes that keep the horizontal ropes even, although no blood could be seen on them.

ShareAs soon as Pancrase officials identified what the bloody lump on the canvas was a doctor check was called and the bout was stopped at 2:57 of Round 2.

Uchiyama was taken to hospital along with his severed ear immediately following the bout. It is not yet known if his ear can be reattached. Alarmingly, no adjustment or check was done to the ropes following the accident and bouts continued as normal. Masaya Takita was awarded the win by TKO.



For more info check out:
http://www.mmafighting.com/2010/06/05/shigeyuki-uchiyamas-ear-torn-off-in-pancrase/?sms_ss=facebook

A Cauliflower Ear - Some photos

Someone asked me the other day what a cauliflower ear is. Many people get a cauliflower ear from the constant hitting and rubbing on the ear from doing judo, bjj, wrestling or sticking your head in a rugby scrum.

A Cauliflower ear is simply a bruise (or hematoma) that doesn't heal. Your ear is made up of cartilage and when you get a hit or knock to the ear blood enters you ear and becomes stuck in between the cartilage. If the blood cannot drain and get out of the ear then it will set and go hard.

As the blood in the ear starts going hard the cartilage will start to shrivel and fold a little bit which is why the ear looks similar to a cauliflower. The pic below is before i got my ear drained by a syringe.

The doctor will put a local anesthetic on your ear and then stick a syringe in and suck out all the blood that's stuck in there. If you do this straight away before the cartilage is damaged then your ear will remain the same. If you don't drain is straight away the blood will go hard, once this happens you are unable to drain the blood out and the only way to fix it is to get an operation.

Many people believe that you get a cauliflower from 1 hit, but that is very rare. M,ost players get their caulis from training 6 days a week and the ears are constantly getting hit and bumped, hence why the more experienced and serious judo players get caulis while the recreational stay happy as larry.

You can wear some headgear called cauli stoppers to prevent a cauli ear (but who wants to wear headgear forever?)
http://www.grapplingstore.com/contents/en-uk/d273.html

The headgear is great but in the end if you train all the time at a high intensity you will probably get a cauli somewhere on your ear.



Here is my ear after it was drained a few times but because i kept on training my ear kept refilling with blood and was getting semi hard. The Dr said that he couldn't pierce my ear with the syringe so you can see where he cut it with a knife to remove the blood.



If you look at the above picture and then the picture below you can see how the ear has kind of shrivelled a little bit and has a weird shape about it. That's what happens when the cartilage dies.



So my ears are a little strange and mostly i they don't really get noticed by people very often which is ok but if i go into primary schools or do a few tours at the AIS kids notice straight away because if they don't know you they study everything about you and pick up on it pretty quick.