In the world of JiuJitsu or Marshal Arts for that matter injuries are very common. Some of the most serious in Jiu Jitsu are knee injuries and if you’ve made it to this post, you are most likely looking for information regarding a particular knee injury suffered while training. In this article I will describe what led to my injury with emphasis on a time frame of how long I was off the mat recovering, along with some dos and don’t while trying to get better.
The above clip is a quick example of what we were covering in class on October 26th 2017. The Osoto Otoshi is the Judo technique we were drilling and I was the one in position doing the throw. This was my fist time learning this throw and unfortunately some white belt mistakes and consequences were heading my way. Looking back at it now, I was out of proper position and my sweeping leg ended up sweeping both of my training partner’s legs and was combined with a downward application of force to complete the move. He lost his balance and with my sweeping leg stretched out, all the weight came crashing down on the side of my leg directly over my knee. My training partner was considerably heavier by 50lbs and I felt and heard the pop in my knee immediately. This was the first time I have ever felt this kind of pain in my knee. Immediately ice was applied and we wrapped it up as I sat out the rest of the class. Trying to stand after was a huge task, my mind would tell my leg to move in to position and there would be a delay before minimal movement of my leg. I would then have to use my arms to help my leg in to position. The instability I felt while standing was like never before on that leg and later during recovery I needed a cane for balance.
As in the picture at the top of this article taken 8 days after the injury, that was as far as my leg can possibly bend, achieved with pain and discomfort. A major hurdle for me other than the depression of not being able to train was that I did have to work my regular job which included me standing and walking for periods of time while I needed to tend to my leg. Leg extensions were fine, however any kind of leg curling action was very painful with a sharp pain shooting up the outer side and center behind my knee. This seriously inhibited my range of motion.
I was off the mat from Oct-27th to Nov-14th, and due to the fact that my health coverage was nonexistent I relied on the internet and the experiences of others for a direction of steps to take. I was not able to see a doctor to know exactly what was wrong, but I did undergo physical therapy for my other other (left) knee a few years prior and I implemented the same exercises and treatment to my injured right knee.
Key things which helped me
– Ice especially at the end of the day, when knee is most likely swollen from constant moving.
– Keeping a brace on to ensure proper alignment when walking, but not too tight to allow blood flow.
– Fish oils, zinc, natural anti inflammatory, Amino acids and glucosamine chondroitin.
– Use of biofreeze before warping or putting on the brace, all of which you can pick up from your local CVS
– Lastly passive motion especially after swelling begins to go down!
Getting mobility back in to my knee was very important to me and was a very tedious process. By passive motion I mean using the knee joint for movement but by using very little muscle involvement from that injured leg. This was done in the very early stages of my injury and was anything from using my good leg to guide the injured leg into a curled position for about 10 reps and 4 sets to just sitting on a swing at the park and using my body weight to swing in and out of the curled position of that leg. I was very cautious not to push to the point of pain while doing these movement especially in the early stages of the injury. By November,15th I felt about 50 percent better. I was able to peddle the stationary bike with out too much pain, and was able to get back on the mat and drill certain positions with no live rolling for another month. This recovery process was very slow and the way I was gauging my progress was trying to see how well I can sit on my heals as needed while trying to open guard. This would be something I struggled with for months to come as I was forced to sit out of the Good Fight tournament held in Brooklyn that December.
However I was in training mode for NAGA Long Island which was set for that January after. This leads me to my list of Jiu Jitsu knee injury don’ts.
-Do not rush your recovery. I made the mistake of trying to roll too soon. I felt like my knee was 65-70 percent better and felt like my skills were digressing because I was away from the mat for so long so I wanted back in. But the truth is from time to time when I would periodically roll live with a partner there would be instances where I would feel my knee curl a little too far and too quickly causing an instant shooting pain. This would throw me off my game as I try to cover it up so no one notice allowing me to keep rolling. By doing this you risk allowing your injury to become chronic and rob your self of future progress, so take all the time necessary to recover.
-Do Not sign up for any tournaments until you are 100 percent ready. This was a mistake I made and will continue to elaborate in my next post!
This picture was taken on 17th January 2018, in this one I was visibly more flexible that previously with my injured leg. However the range of motion was still compromised as I was still unable to sit on my heals with no knee pain. The pain was still there with certain movements and explosive movements were definitely out for that leg at the time.