Does a dislocated collar bone, snapped ligament in my big toe, bone spurs in my elbow joint, slipped discs and wonky knee in my neck count?

Yes, how do you manage your training?

I've had to adjust a lot of movements, certain things I don't do anymore (acrobatic type passes) or movements that relies too much on grips (bummed fingers too) , and on the never ending quest for efficient, compact movement that doesn't allow my partner to put me in a position that will further add damage. I teach the conventional techniques cos I know them but I don't use them due to my movement constraints, if that makes sense.

I think the last time I trained without a nagging injury was 2014.

I talk about this a lot as a wrestling coach, as a athlete in combat sports -- you will never be healthy, most of the time you will hurt in a competitive atmosphere anyhow. I have learned a lot when training while hurt because there is a forced change in your reactions -- You MUST protect whatever is hurt, this to me is a learning experience and is a reason I don't have much sympathy towards people having booboos.

There is a difference of injury and being hurt though, and that line must be respected.

#1 Train only in Gi if your worried about injuries.
#2 Pull Guard.
#3 Choose your training partners wisely. If someone is dangerous then only drill certain things with them and don't spar with them. Avoid heavier guys entirely if you have any rib or other injuries that don't need massive pressure making them worse.

- Spazzy strength normally will just strain or aggravate something but not cause a serious injury.
- Most injuries come from speed and falling weight from fast movements which can be entirely avoided almost while training in the Gi if your smart.
- Almost all other injuries are just caused from people being stupid and not tapping or their training partners not knowing when to relax and use control at the end of a sub or 2 people trying to win a roll at all cost like it was for a 5 dollar medal.

If you wish to still do nogi or wrestle or do takedowns. Injuries are unavoidable and you will get injured and aggravate your existing injuries worse.
It will happen but you can rotate between gi and nogi certain days and pulling guard and doing takedowns the same to give your body better rest and time to heal.

While just training Gi and pulling guard and not trying to "win" any rolls while also choosing your training partners wisely should reduce your chance of injury or existing injuries being made worse by 90%.

You could actually probably call what I just described as being "lazy". I just call it being 'efficient" and low risk. lol

Not necessarily true, depends on your injuries.

I've had bad finger joint problems for years. Typically our gym's schedule is such that I almost never make it to no-gi class. Covid cancelled classes so lately I've been training about half & half gi & no-gi and the finger issues are almost gone. No need for tape even with the gi.

Also I have a problem with dislocating knee (I train with complete ACL tear), and it's in more danger while I'm playing guard than in stand-up wrestling. In fact I know a few cases where a person had to transition from BJJ to actual wrestling because of the knee dislocation problem. Jamming those hooks everywhere has potential to twist the knee more weirdly than playing just wrestling. Last time my knee went bust was from a hook placed behind a thigh from an unfortunately angle and the partner sprawling on it.

Ummm, I thought we all did :)

You have to work your game around the injury, especially if it's permanent. If you knee keeps locking for example, figure out what angle makes it lock and don't get into that position ever. Also, proper warm up and stretching after class helps.

Story of my life.. I just tailor my training to suit my injury (flow rolls, drilling more etc) I've had moderate to serious injuries and I was too stupid to just take the time off.
Seems to have worked. Lol I just have a dead left leg(not completely dead still usable), chronic back, neck, fingers, knees, shoulders and ankle pain. Lol

Problems only arise when you feel you have something to prove. You don't have to prove nothing to anyone. Keep on gripping on...

I'll gladly suffer a week or two if I manage to tap that fucking purple belt who keeps asking me to roll! For real though, " You don't have to prove nothing to anyone. " so true, but not easy to do lol.

I'm a firm believer that you can train around most injuries/disabilities, and even carve out your own niche for yourself depending on the issue. Just look at how Gordo pioneered the offensive half guard since he was constantly working around an injured knee. Look at the evolution of Jean-Jaques Machado's game since he is unable to grab with one hand. Of course there are probably a hundred more examples, but these are the ones that stand out to me.

My personal story: I've grown quite a bit more unathletic over the years, and this has been compounded by myriad of chronic injuries. I used to knee slice pass everybody back in the day, but now since I have advanced arthritis in both of my hips (one is considerably worse off than the other) now I can't do that move very effectively. So, instead, now I do more standing passes and kimura traps. The moral of the story is that I never would have gone this route at all; never having been forced to learn anything new if only the knee cut (and other old-school pressure passes) had continued to work.

I really love the comparative freedom and creativity that BJJ allows you to develop in this way.

I hate that guy! LOL!!!

My ankle has never really fully healed from a heel hook injury and I just wake up in nagging pain. This is just life now.

The biggest issue with knees from guard for most people I think is not removing/resetting/retreating your foot positioning fast enough. I think a lot of people will hold onto risky positions way longer then they should instead of just resetting or giving up a small battle which may result in you losing position that you do not want to lose...but you just have to give up that position or you are risking tweaking your knee or something else.

Moving your feet with good timing is just as if not more important than your hip movements when it comes to preventing those injuries. But really both should be moving in combination but the feet should be able to create small windows of timing if you don't hold onto something risky longer then you should.

The timing of how you move your feet when playing guard in combination with your hip movements or lack thereof is what's actually going to result in the knee problems I think at least when playing an open guard. I def wouldn't play some rubber guard if I was you but you should be able to do open guard without much issue as long as your able to move your feet around unless the knee is just really unstable.

Basically I can almost avoid my knee being twisted from guard. What is not avoidable is pressure and pushing from the knee. So long as you can hold weight and push weight with the knee you should be able to do open guard still unless people are just diving for heel hooks in the gi at where you train lol

I've been fortunate to never pick up any major injuries as I'm very risk averse (especially now that I never roll with anybody more than 15kg bigger than me), but some of my students have chronic problems. Main example is my student Tracey, who slipped a disc in her back (before starting with me) which had a number of knock-on effects. In the years she's been training with me, we've managed to come up with ways of working around it. https://www.artemisbjj.co[...]ck-injury/

So I agree with Bobby, one of the great things about BJJ is that it's adaptable, you can work around most things.

I need knee reconstruction and shoulder replacement along with 2 herniated disks and that is just what I am dealing with daily not to mention the other aches and pains you get on the consistant grind.. You make pain your friend it isn't that bad

hurt my ankle 6 months ago and it's still giving me grief... that's an annoying one.
Got a pair of bad shoulders (although I think this predates BJJ), a snapping hip that flares up in pain, sciatica and lower back pain from time to time.... those are the recurring ones.

Picked up a fair few incidents in this journey- multiple rib/intercostal injuries, concussions, knee strains, fingers and toes, getting slammed on my neck...

Pain and I are not friends, we're barely acquaintances. If anything hurts, I stop until it doesn't. Served me well so far. But then I have only competed a whole once, so that's easier to do. ;)

Make friends with pain and have a friend for life.

Pain as friend -

Not sure if anyone here has been where I am right now but I'm working on coming back from clavicle surgery and I've got a titanium plate and 7 screws now which I can feel poked up from my clavicle. Really feels weird and worrisome when someone gets a collar grip on that side and starts to dig their knuckles in.

Yes all the time, shoulder separation, dislocated fingers, broken bones in feet, torn MCL, torn ACL, neck disc herniations, the list keeps going. Learning to work around the injury is the key.

Definitely not the exact same thing, but I've been suffering from "frozen shoulder" for over a year now. I used to be a big fan of the half guard, but since I can't effectively use that under hook anymore I've been forced to modify my guard game a decent amount.

Over the years I've dealt with several injuries, most of which were minor. A couple put me out of training for a period of time. The longest forced break was due to injuries sustained to my rib intercostal muscles. Took several months to even think about trying to get back on the mats. Laughing, sneezing, coughing, twisting with any type of effort, sitting up, etc. all caused extruciating pain.

For the most part, I've found a way to train through or around minor to moderate injuries. You can customize your training experience to suit what you're dealing with. This might mean not rolling for a couple days to several weeks, but just working on technical aspects of your game that don't cause problems with your injury. It could mean communicating to your training partners that you have a bum elbow, knee, ankle, etc. and request that they avoid attacking it. Or maybe you put a sleeve or brace on the limb to draw attention and awareness to it for both you AND your partners.

Sometimes it just means taking a break and healing properly, because over the long haul you will be better off. Nagging injuries can detract from your development overall, and sometimes it's better to just do it right the first time.

Worth noting, I've also found that a sauna can help decrease inflammation and reduce recovery time when it comes to general aches or soreness caused by training. Our coach recently purchased a three seater for the gym and it has been a welcome addition.

This topic pretty much sums up all my time in martial arts. I like the saying, “ if I wake up and nothing hurts, then I’m dead”