We are living in the era of the #metoo movement, where everyone is looking for ways to stay safe. Even after repeated discussions about ways to stop the ongoing harassment of havoc, most of the people have failed in providing a suitable solution. Currently, everyone is suggesting good martial arts training as suitable self-defense. However, fitness trainers are adding a mix of martial, arts training sessions as one of the most requested gym workouts in their gym routines. According to martial arts instructors, they are now being invited at gyms and workout stations to help young women not only learn self-defense but also stay fit and healthy. Within the workout routines, stiffness of the muscles is one of the most basic issues that almost everyone has been facing.
Most of us use laptops and have desk jobs which is the reason we slouch a lot and our sitting posture is getting worse with every passing day. With the help of mixed martial arts training, instructors are not only aiming to help you relax your muscles but they are looking forward to creating a new and completely innovative workout routine that you can incorporate into your daily lifestyle. The basic inspiration was to start off with something that is as soothing as yoga but can also help you stretch out a little and can come in handy in self-defense.
In short, mixed martial arts has changed the way we used to experience the basic art of workout. The workout routines that we follow today are more helpful in stretching up the muscles as well as incorporating the healthy lifestyle that we seem to have forgotten due to our busy schedules. As most of the young women are opting for mixed martial arts as their favorite new workout, it is very important to know that without an instructor, practicing MMA can be very dangerous. This might seem like an easy task if you follow the written instructors or watch a YouTube video but this can be quite harmful to someone who is just a beginner.
How Basic Workout Is Different from Mixed Martial Arts?
In most cases, beginners like to work out on their own and once they start enjoying it and become quite comfortable, they opt for a gym membership. This is the complete opposite in the case of mixed martial arts training. For a beginner, training and practicing independently can cause permanent injuries and severe muscular damage. The reason behind this can be the fact, mixed martial arts is a set of collective workout routines that consists of different angles, postures, and maneuvers that require a supervisor from a fully trained individual. Our muscles are located at a specific point and they can only bear a specific weight, anything above or below this can completely damage the muscle. While working out, most people start with normal stretching or just a few warm-up exercises and others just like to follow a few basic and relatively safe workout routines.
How It Happens?
In mixed martial arts, there is a lot of grappling, kicking, boxing, wrestling, and striking are included. This means just stretching your muscles might not help, you might have to do more than that. You need to set an objective and there is one fight that you need to put up with the other contestant. This fight can go very violent and can even harm the other individual if not handled properly by an expert. If you are a mixed martial arts fan, you might have heard of various fights resulting in injuries and permanent damages. These fights have a high impact, high intensity, and have a high risk of danger. For this article, we will help you understand the basic postures that you should maintain while practicing mixed martial arts. Additionally, we will talk about the ways you can minimize the risk and what are some of the most common injuries that you might end up suffering because of bad practice.
Some of the Common Areas for Injury
In direct manhandling, especially in wrestling, boxing, and martial arts, the easiest thing that can help you detect the issue is the blood or bruise. Most critics declare MMA as a much safer option than boxing but still, it is ranked as one of the high-risk sports. There are multiple fairly common injuries that most mixed martial arts students go through. This can range from the basic and very common to severe injuries that can cause permanent damage. These injuries are usually caused because of major or minor accidents but are some are caused just because of malpractice or negligence on the part of students or instructors. This is the main reason it is advised that an instructor must supervise or accompany the students at the time of practice. Some of the most common injuries include:
- Minor bruises and cuts
- Sprains
- Fracture
- Concussion
- Neck injury
- Joint dislocation
- Strain
Some of the Common Injuries That Everyone Has Experienced
Although, some injuries are far too damaging that they cannot be recovered but there are a few that almost everyone has experienced if they practice wrestling, boxing or mixed martial arts. One of the most talking about Injuries in all sorts of sports and martial arts practices are the dislocation of joints. These joints are usually in the knee region or in the ankle region but sometimes the joint might pop out of the hip or shoulder. Before knowing about the exact issue, it is very important to know briefly about the various joints and which joints are relatively easier to fix.
In the human body, there are three different types of joints, the one joint that we can move to 360 degrees is the one we use the most. Starting from the ball and socket joint or completely moveable joint that we see in our hip and shoulder, we can move these joints completely and they do the major heavy lifting. However, if we compare the healing process, it is easy to say they take the longest to heal because of the amount of work they perform. Additionally, we have semi moveable to a two-way moveable joint that we see in our knee and elbow. These joints can only be moved in two directions and they are the ones that get injured and healed quite easily.
The third type of joint is the partially moveable joint that we see in our ankles and wrists, they are made up of a large number of very small bones. There is another type of joint that we can’t move too much and we see these joints in our toes and fingers. These are the joints that suffer the most, even if you are not doing the heavy lifting or participating a sport, you can still end up with these minor injuries. Our toe joints are very notorious for getting hurt by bumping into very unusual places because we don’t really take care of them as we take care of our other joints.
To make it easier we have listed down three main injuries that almost everyone has experienced, these include knee injury, hand injury, and concussion.
Concussions
One of the most frequently reported injury in MMA is a concussion, this might not seem quite serious but according to most paramedics, it is underestimated. A concussion is a very serious injury and sometimes it can be life-threatening. In boxing, racing, and other sports there is a protective gear for the head that helps in reducing the possibility of any injury in the head and neck region. However, in the case of mixed martial arts, there is no such protective gear or helmet which exposes the head and neck region completely. Even if the individual falls or gets hit in the head without any protective gear, there is a high chance of injury, however, due to hair protection, the likelihood can be decreased a little.
In most cases when there is a head injury, an individual bleeds which simply helps in the diagnosis, and everyone can easily detect the injury. However, in the case of concussion, there is no visible bruise or bleeding and diagnosis can only be done by an expert physician. If there is a clot or any internal bleed, there are chances that it can travel to the heart or block the blood supply in the brain. All these things collectively make a concussion one of the major and most fatal injuries that an individual might have to go through.
Prevention:
Prevention of Concussion is quite difficult because of multiple reasons. The first reason is that even with all the protective gear that you put on, there is still a high chance that you might face some accident. In mixed martial arts training, everything is quite rehearsed and there is always an instructor to help you practice everything in a safer environment. However, there is a chance of accident and unplanned injury in every situation.
Additionally, how much an individual can bear and how the head was hit is different in every situation making it quite challenging to even detect the issue. Apart from wearing the headgear, one thing that can really help is practicing the maneuvers as much as possible. Although, the experts get injuries to the level of diversity is different. One thing that you might have learned from your instructor is face and head protection. Even in the boxing matches, you might have seen how players use both hands to protect their face and head to avoid any possible injury. In case you have faced a concussion or you have been diagnosed with a concussion, make sure you let yourself heal fully before you start your training again. The premature recovery phase is quite vulnerable and in case you end up ignoring it, there is a high chance of permanent damage.
Hand Injuries
No matter what sport you play or what kind of workout you follow, you cannot avoid a hand injury. In most cases, you can face a swelling, cut, or bruise but if you have been doing some heavy lifting you might even end up ripping your muscles or popping out a joint. If you are a mixed martial arts fan and like to watch the fights, you might be familiar with how much the fighters suffer. In most cases, fighters face ligament tearing, broken bones, tendons stretch, muscle strain, and a lot more. When we talk about ligament tears, there is no need for so much attention as far as you are taking care of it and you are following the doctors’ advice. Injuries including the ligament tears, heal usually on their own and doctors just recommend some rest and hot or cold press depending on the situation. In case there is some serious injury, you might even need medical attention right away especially if you have a broken bone or you have detached your ligament completely. If it is just swelling or dislocation, you might not have to be worried and it will heal on its own simply.
Prevention
Even if you know the injury can heal, you are still worried and the whole situation is quite stressful. To avoid any possible injury, it is very important to minimize the risk by taking care of the precautions. You can start by wearing a protective glove or if you don’t have gloves you can get a thick bandage or a cloth and wrap it around your hand so your fingers don’t move beyond their comfortable limit. However, it is advised that you should wear gloves because sometimes players end up committing mistakes when the hand is just tied and they are not wearing any protective gloves.
Knee Injuries
If we rate the injuries that we face, we can simply rate the knee injury as our oldest childhood partner. We all have few scars around our knees, we have scarped, ripped open, fractured, pooped right out, or in some cases have bruised our knee in one way or other. From smallest injuries where we feel from the stairs to failing during riding a bicycle or in some cases motorbikes. For mixed martial arts players, knee injuries are quite common. As there is a lot of grappling and kicking involved in MMA so, a knee injury cannot be avoided. With forced infliction, kicking and twisting athletes usually end up with stretched ligaments, and sometimes the linked muscles can also get ripped in the process. Two of the most common ligament strain causing knee injuries include Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) and Posterior Cruciate Ligament (PCL). The best thing about a knee injury is that it can be cured easily and can also be prevented, which is the main reason you see most of the athletes is getting hot and press in their knee region.
Prevention
If you want to prevent a knee injury, you should wear a cover that is usually available at sports-based shops. These knee covers help in providing a cushion that prevents scrapping or any small cuts and bruises. Additionally, all doctors advise that you must let your knee injury heal before you start practicing again. If you have an inflammation of the soft tissue, you can easily treat that with a cold compress. All you have to do is get some ice and roll it in a cloth or a bandage. In case you don’t have ice, you can also use frozen vegetables as an alternative for cold compression. The pro tip is to let the injury heal properly and get a scan so you know everything is back to normal before you go back and practice again.
How to Spot the Injury?
It is quite common to have an injury while practicing mixed martial arts and before a person is trained to kick, he is trained to bear that kick without getting injured. You might have to face a few sore muscles where are there and additionally you might even face muscle strain in your limbs. In most cases, your instructor will recommend you to just get a bath or soak yourself in hot water to relax the muscles. In the worst-case scenario, you can add Epsom salt in your hot water bath to relax in case you have a small injury or bruise you can take care of yourself by just putting a plaster or a Band-Aid, however if you have something more than just a minor bruise or cut, you need medical attention right away. The question remains, how you can diagnose any possible issue especially an injury. Here is a step-by-step guide for beginners that can help anyone get a post-practice diagnosis without any help.
- Start by detecting any discomfort especially in the head region.
- In case of discomfort go straight to the doctor and don’t wait for it to get worse. In most cases, people wait for it to get worse, and once the blood clots, things might get worse. Early diagnosis can help you heal better.
- You might experience blurred vision, loss of consciousness or forget details. In case you feel anything like that you need to seek help regarding the concussion.
- Spot any bleeding or burning sensation, if you don’t feel blood anywhere, you can easily spot a discomfort.
- Check all the joint and make sure there is no a broken bone or popped joint.
- Check your face in the mirror, in case you have busted your lip or there is a cut near your eyelid don’t ignore it and take it very seriously.
- Try to stretch a little before you start practicing again so you can spot any discomfort.
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