Injury, Pain and the Healing Process
A look inside the body’s healing process—from inflammation and tissue repair to rehabilitation and the gradual return to jiu-jitsu training.
Understanding what happens to the body after an injury and how the different stages of healing can affect your return to the mat.
Words: Dr. John Park
From the Jiu-Jitsu Magazine Archives
Most of us will agree that in the world of a jiu-jitsu athlete, there is nothing worse than not being able to train.
It only takes a few days off the mat before withdrawal sets in and we start getting irritable and impatient. For many of us, even just one week away from jiu-jitsu seems like an eternity.
Day in and day out, the thing that interrupts our training the most are injuries, both acute and chronic.
What happens to our body parts when we get our joints hyperextended from a submission? What happens to our knees with every repetition of closed guard techniques?