Armbar injury - treatment suggestions?

[NYBJJ]

Well since I started BJJ 4 months ago, I have had tons of bruises, one fractured rib, 3 brusied ribs, a banged up knee and feet, and now...

last night I was the recipient of a really good armbar. I'm not in any serious pain, but when I straighten my arm, It feels uncomfortable. The guy I was rolling with really laid into it, I wasn't expecting him to pull so hard, but like a dummy I tried to spin out of it, as soon as I felt the pressure I felt a crunching feeling.. it's hard to describe. If I apply pressure to the inside of the elbow (where the forearm muscle meets the elbow) its tender, and hurts. No swelling or bruising.

Anyway... whats the best way to treat it now? heat? moist heat? dry heat?

Thanks

Rich

[blitz]

I had the same thing happen to me because my opponent slipped and my arm straightened. I just didn't roll for a week and took it easy. But honestly, how do you have all those injuries lol, I've been doing it for 6 months and I haven't been injured once excluding this one.

[NYBJJ]

I had the same thing happen to me because my opponent slipped and my arm straightened. I just didn't roll for a week and took it easy. But honestly, how do you have all those injuries lol, I've been doing it for 6 months and I haven't been injured once excluding this one.

I don't know... maybe I'm getting too old for this stuff (36). I had a late start... but I haven't felt better! I see progress in myself... which is why I stay. The ribs were my fault again... I was working on trying to pass someones guard and their knee was in my rib cage. I tried to work around applying pressre with my body... then POP! it was uncomfortable! but I delt with it for 2 days and on mothers day I woke up having a hard time breathing... my wife still holds it against me for sitting in the ER for half of mothersday. And in the end.. they can't do anything except make you feel no pain!.

[darkrelevance]

doctor/ professional medical attention is always a good idea.
if its bothering you alot, go see a doc.

id just ice it for now, and not grapple for a bit. if it gets worse or doesnt get better see a doc.

[OmaPlata]

Well since I started BJJ 4 months ago, I have had tons of bruises, one fractured rib, 3 brusied ribs, a banged up knee and feet, and now...

last night I was the recipient of a really good armbar. I'm not in any serious pain, but when I straighten my arm, It feels uncomfortable. The guy I was rolling with really laid into it, I wasn't expecting him to pull so hard, but like a dummy I tried to spin out of it, as soon as I felt the pressure I felt a crunching feeling.. it's hard to describe. If I apply pressure to the inside of the elbow (where the forearm muscle meets the elbow) its tender, and hurts. No swelling or bruising.

Anyway... whats the best way to treat it now? heat? moist heat? dry heat?

Thanks

Rich

thats what white belts do they dont know when to hold off


take a couple days off it will be fine, joints take some time to heal

[mea140]

Well since I started BJJ 4 months ago, I have had tons of bruises, one fractured rib, 3 brusied ribs, a banged up knee and feet, and now...

last night I was the recipient of a really good armbar. I'm not in any serious pain, but when I straighten my arm, It feels uncomfortable. The guy I was rolling with really laid into it, I wasn't expecting him to pull so hard, but like a dummy I tried to spin out of it, as soon as I felt the pressure I felt a crunching feeling.. it's hard to describe. If I apply pressure to the inside of the elbow (where the forearm muscle meets the elbow) its tender, and hurts. No swelling or bruising.

Anyway... whats the best way to treat it now? heat? moist heat? dry heat?

Thanks

Rich

Notify your physician, at least for a diagnosis. Mabey a lil pulled tendon. Doesn't sound to bad. Ice at night. Heat in morning. Rubberband exersices to rehabilatate. Wen doubt SEE YOUR PHYSICIAN, thats what they get paid ridiculous amounts of money for. good luck.

[mea140]

I had the same thing happen to me because my opponent slipped and my arm straightened. I just didn't roll for a week and took it easy. But honestly, how do you have all those injuries lol, I've been doing it for 6 months and I haven't been injured once excluding this one.

Ya no kidding, are you stretching properly. That is quite a bit for such a little amount of time. You can never stretch to much. Stretch after practice as well to "cool down", stretch while you watch T. V., stretch before sex, strech when you wake up, before breakfast, lunch, and dinner, stretch. FLEXABILITY PREVENTS INJURY

[NYBJJ]

Ya no kidding, are you stretching properly. That is quite a bit for such a little amount of time. You can never stretch to much. Stretch after practice as well to "cool down", stretch while you watch T. V., stretch before sex, strech when you wake up, before breakfast, lunch, and dinner, stretch. FLEXABILITY PREVENTS INJURY

I can say I'm guilty of not stretching AFTER each session. We stretch for 15 minutes at the begining of each seesion... afterwards I change and run home to shower. So that is definately one area I can easily change. I will admit the stretching prior has loosened me up considerably from when I started.. however before this, I was a couch potato.

Also OmaPlata mentioned "thats what white belts do they dont know when to hold off" after the ribs healed I decided to slow down and not try as hard.. and that in its self has helped me improve considerably. Slowing down, and not pushing as hard.

Also, Strength, although it plays a considerable part in BJJ... it's definately not something to rely on.. as this is why I think I broke my rib, him pulling and me resisting so much. I needed to think my options through before resorting to all out power.

Since I originally posted this, the pain has lightened up considerably... before I would say it was 4/10, now maybe 2/10. I will take it easy and not put any unecessary stress on it. heat and cold for a few days and see where it goes. I'm not gonna rush to a Dr. just yet.

Thanks for the input all... much appreciated.

Rich

[shamster]

Try icing it a bit...it'll keep the swelling down.
At the tournament I was in last March, this seemed to be common, due to people tapping too late when getting caught in an armbar. Most of those people were later seen with ice wrapped around their elbows.

[gregimotis]

Well since I started BJJ 4 months ago, I have had tons of bruises, one fractured rib, 3 brusied ribs, a banged up knee and feet, and now...

I wasn't expecting him to pull so hard, but like a dummy I tried to spin out of it, as soon as I felt the pressure I felt a crunching feeling..


Thanks

Rich

It's typical for new players to get lots of minor bruises and strains. As you train, you and your body learn how to avoid much of it. That said, if you are cracking ribs and popping elbows trying to escape then you really need to take it down a couple notches and tap out way more often.
Over time you'll learn when you can use muscle and stubborness effectively, but right now all your doing is hurting your body and slowing the learning process.

As to your elbow, ice and rest are all you've got right now. Do not go back into the gym and try to 'train through' the injury or it simply won't heal (there are probably things you can work on which don't stress that joint). I've seen popped elbows get better in a couple days, and I've seen them take six months. If you've got insurance, go see a doctor - at least they can find out how bad it is, although I doubt they can do much about it short of surgery.

Good luck.

[Rush]

I don't want to beat a dead horse here, especially since it's my first post. I do feel that this is a common injury for anyone that does BJJ, aikido or similar styles so I'll throw my 2 cents in to help out anyone that gets this injury.

last night I was the recipient of a really good armbar. I'm not in any serious pain, but when I straighten my arm, It feels uncomfortable. The guy I was rolling with really laid into it, I wasn't expecting him to pull so hard, but like a dummy I tried to spin out of it, as soon as I felt the pressure I felt a crunching feeling.. it's hard to describe. If I apply pressure to the inside of the elbow (where the forearm muscle meets the elbow) its tender, and hurts. No swelling or bruising.

This is a carbon copy description of what happened to me recently. The injury you are describing is most likely a sprained medial collateral ligament, or sometimes known as golfer's elbow.

Take it from me, if you have an injury to your ligament, you need to rest and let it heal. It took about a month for mine to start feeling good and like a fool I tested it out. My partner misunderstood what I wanted him to do and my elbow ended up popping four times in about a second. Now I'm almost back to square one. I think I am going to take 2 months off of training and let this thing heal.

Do not be amazed if these types of injuries take 6 months to fully recover. Ligaments take longer than other tissue because there is less blood flow to those tissues.

Once your elbow is feeling better (i.e. the MCL is no longer tender to the touch and you have full mobility without pain) then I would start strengthening it with weights and rubber band exercises.

[Hardball]

Well since I started BJJ 4 months ago, I have had tons of bruises, one fractured rib, 3 brusied ribs, a banged up knee and feet, and now...

last night I was the recipient of a really good armbar. I'm not in any serious pain, but when I straighten my arm, It feels uncomfortable. The guy I was rolling with really laid into it, I wasn't expecting him to pull so hard, but like a dummy I tried to spin out of it, as soon as I felt the pressure I felt a crunching feeling.. it's hard to describe. If I apply pressure to the inside of the elbow (where the forearm muscle meets the elbow) its tender, and hurts. No swelling or bruising.

Anyway... whats the best way to treat it now? heat? moist heat? dry heat?

Thanks

Rich

Have you ever heard of Tap Or Snap? Man, 4 months of training means you are a White Belt. Something is wrong with your instruction and your school if you are getting all of those injuries at white belt. What belt level do you roll with?

[cakegirl]

As it's recent, I'd go with ice over heat.

What I've done when I've had elbow hyperextension injuries is tape it up so that I can't straighten it all the way. Get some strapping tape, and wrap it a couple of times around your bicep, maybe 3 inches above the elbow crease, making a ring round your arm, and a couple of times around your forearms 3 inches below the elbow crease making a ring round your lower arm.

Now hold your arm out palm up, and keep the elbow slightly bent (which I suspect you're doing anyway because of the injury LOL!).

Now you need to make an X, using the middle of your elbow crease as the middle of the X, and going from one tape ring to the other. Do a couple of layers.

Now wrap another level of tape around the rings to anchor off the X.

What this will do is prevent you from straightening your arm. If I've hurt myself this way, I always apply this tape, and it stops me from forgetting and straightening out my arm, even at home.

Unless it's a serious injury, the ice and rest should have you feeling better in a few days, but I'd be inclined to keep it taped like that each time you train for a couple of weeks, just to make sure you don't reinjure yourself.

Also, as a side note, if you have that many injuries in only 4 months of training, I spect you're spazzing out too much. Try to relax and breathe when you roll, and use the techniques you learn in class, even if trying them slows your game down and you don't get to finish the actual techniques.

[jdyment]

Thanks everyone. My elbow popped before I could tap yesterday. Icing and 4 advil every 4-5 hours helps. I damaged my other elbow's medial ligament 5 months ago and it never healed because I was training through it at my Crossfit. I just got a cortizone shot which has helped a lot with the inflammation. My advice is to let it heal before rolling again or it will never heal and you risk scaring the small tears and ultimately tearing the whole ligament. Since rest isn't in my vocabulary, I'm going to run, bike and do things that don't stress it. Even things like push ups seem to be OK. Pull ups, full extension exercises are on the "no fly" list.