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BJJ Injury Survey Results – Key Insights
2 year(s) ago • 1385 views • 16 replies
BBBlue beltVerified
2 year(s) ago
Hey everyone,
I'm excited to share the results of my master's thesis on injuries in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ)! Conducted in February and March, our survey gathered valuable data from 871 participants across various countries. Here are some key insights:
Demographics:
Most respondents were from The Netherlands (41%) and the USA (21%), with the majority holding white (35%) or blue (36%) belt ranks.
Training and Competition Frequency:
On average, participants trained 7 hours per week and competed in 4 BJJ matches annually.
Injury Incidence:
We recorded 1711 training injuries and 202 competition injuries, with an injury rate of approximately 5.5 per 1000 training hours and 55.89 per 1000 matches.
Common Injuries:
Knee injuries were the most prevalent (25%), followed by shoulder (12%), elbow (7%), ankle (7%), and neck (7%) injuries.
Injury Causes:
79% of training injuries occurred during free sparring, with submissions being a significant factor.
Our goal is to use these insights to improve injury prevention and training recommendations for the BJJ community. You can read the full results in the document below:
https://drive.google.com/[...]sp=sharing
Feel free to share this document with anyone who might find it useful!
Best regards,
Boris Brajovic
Master of Science in Medicine
Amsterdam UMC Public and Occupational Health (VUmc)
University of Amsterdam
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @boris_jiu_jitsu
I'm excited to share the results of my master's thesis on injuries in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ)! Conducted in February and March, our survey gathered valuable data from 871 participants across various countries. Here are some key insights:
Demographics:
Most respondents were from The Netherlands (41%) and the USA (21%), with the majority holding white (35%) or blue (36%) belt ranks.
Training and Competition Frequency:
On average, participants trained 7 hours per week and competed in 4 BJJ matches annually.
Injury Incidence:
We recorded 1711 training injuries and 202 competition injuries, with an injury rate of approximately 5.5 per 1000 training hours and 55.89 per 1000 matches.
Common Injuries:
Knee injuries were the most prevalent (25%), followed by shoulder (12%), elbow (7%), ankle (7%), and neck (7%) injuries.
Injury Causes:
79% of training injuries occurred during free sparring, with submissions being a significant factor.
Our goal is to use these insights to improve injury prevention and training recommendations for the BJJ community. You can read the full results in the document below:
https://drive.google.com/[...]sp=sharing
Feel free to share this document with anyone who might find it useful!
Best regards,
Boris Brajovic
Master of Science in Medicine
Amsterdam UMC Public and Occupational Health (VUmc)
University of Amsterdam
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @boris_jiu_jitsu
APBlack beltVerified
2 year(s) ago
This is awesome. I think this will do well to inform coaches and new comers alike, because the vast majority of your sample is newer practitioners. If we can figure out how to get white and blue belts to move smartly, we can better manage injury prevention! That's no surprise, though. What this really does is confirm what many of us know - lack of knowledge and confidence in technique often leads to injury. Thank you for sharing!
RBrown beltVerified
2 year(s) ago
Really nice survey! Thanks for sharing with our community. Would be nice to see a survey with practioners with 10 years+ traning, I am pretty sure majority has developed body disfunctions due training BJJ.
BSBlack belt 4th degreeVerified
2 year(s) ago
Would be nice to see a survey with practioners with 10 years+ traning
This was my first thought as well. I suspect that the injury type percentages would stay relatively constant (the knee is a poorly “designed” joint for the type of movements required by bjj), but the injury causes percentages might swing a bit.
JCPurple beltVerified
2 year(s) ago
Excellent data. The number of respondents at each belt seems about right. White and blue are the belts with the highest numbers, so it's reasonable that they would respond the most.
I wonder if you got more injuries from white and blue belts because they are fairly new and can still remember them. I know I've had several injuries, but I've forgotten most of them with time. I'm also wondering if you asked how the injuries occurred. Was there a specific submission that led to consistent injury?
I wonder if you got more injuries from white and blue belts because they are fairly new and can still remember them. I know I've had several injuries, but I've forgotten most of them with time. I'm also wondering if you asked how the injuries occurred. Was there a specific submission that led to consistent injury?
BBBlue beltVerified
2 year(s) ago
Hey guys,
Thank you for your awesome replies.
I don't know how the injuries defer between less and more experienced practitioners. I will look if I can find something interesting there.
I only asked for injuries in the last 12 months to make sure that I won't have a problem with recall bias.
Most injuries happened during submission attempts, but other causes like takedowns and guard play came pretty close.
The submission that led to the highest loss in training hours was the armbar. Followed by straight leg locks and inside heel hooks.
I hope this helps. If you have more questions please let me know😊
Thank you for your awesome replies.
I don't know how the injuries defer between less and more experienced practitioners. I will look if I can find something interesting there.
I only asked for injuries in the last 12 months to make sure that I won't have a problem with recall bias.
Most injuries happened during submission attempts, but other causes like takedowns and guard play came pretty close.
The submission that led to the highest loss in training hours was the armbar. Followed by straight leg locks and inside heel hooks.
I hope this helps. If you have more questions please let me know😊
RBlack belt 1st degreeVerified
2 year(s) ago
Love studies like this, and I will always take part in them whenever the opportunity presents itself. If you do more please post here or hit me up. I'd be happy to participate.
PDBlack belt 3rd degreeVerified
2 year(s) ago
Thanks for sharing I love projects like this
RGBlack belt 1st degreeVerified
2 year(s) ago
Thanks for sharing the data. Good stuff! Coincidentally I just injured my knee (Just a mild sprain i think) last week, I escaped all knee injuries for over 12 years...i guess it was bound to happen sooner or later!
RPurple beltVerified
2 year(s) ago
Just so you know I shared this because it is great.
AKPurple beltVerified
2 year(s) ago
Respectfully I think this is a subject where averages aren't particularly useful. Heel hooks are uniquely dangerous, it's just that most people aren't competing in rulesets that allow them. The same people that deny their danger will finish the sentence telling you how many ACL tears they have and that they are waiting for surgery.
Takedowns are the second most dangerous and most BJJ matches don't have one, so again underrepresented.
Examples of common injuries: https://www.instagram.com[...]BoZTdzaA==
What I'm getting at is that you largely get to determine your own appetite for risk in BJJ, which is quite different to sports like Judo, Wrestling or Sambo where the inevitable situations are inherently more dangerous than what follows a guard pull.
Takedowns are the second most dangerous and most BJJ matches don't have one, so again underrepresented.
Examples of common injuries: https://www.instagram.com[...]BoZTdzaA==
What I'm getting at is that you largely get to determine your own appetite for risk in BJJ, which is quite different to sports like Judo, Wrestling or Sambo where the inevitable situations are inherently more dangerous than what follows a guard pull.
Edited 2 year(s) ago
ABlack beltVerified
1 year(s) ago
Great project, Really nice survey with very useful insights! Congrats.
SPBlue beltVerified
1 year(s) ago
Interesting!!
I was wondering, do you have any insights on the recovery schedule?
How was BJJ practice included after the injury? Were there common characteristics?
I was wondering, do you have any insights on the recovery schedule?
How was BJJ practice included after the injury? Were there common characteristics?
CGBlack belt 4th degreeVerified
1 year(s) ago
Around 1800 injuries are also logged in Beltchecker, you can see the stats of injury types here: https://www.beltchecker.c[...]p=injuries
BMBlack belt 1st degreeVerified
1 year(s) ago
Around 1800 injuries are also logged in Beltchecker, you can see the stats of injury types here: https://www.beltchecker.c[...]p=injuries
Oh yeah, totally forgot about this [warms up 8 out of 10 uninjured fingers and turns on keyboard in preparation for epic injury updates].
Edited 1 year(s) ago
BBBlue beltVerified
1 year(s) ago
I was wondering, do you have any insights on the recovery schedule? How was BJJ practice included after the injury? Were there common characteristics?
Hey Sarah,
Good question, but unfortunately we don’t have data on this topic.
I would geuss that for the less severe injuries people would take 4-5 days of rest and start sparring right away. With the more severe injuries people probably took a more structured approach where they would first start doing general strength training, followed by technique training, then positional sparring and finally free sparring. But again these are just my thoughts.
Good question, but unfortunately we don’t have data on this topic.
I would geuss that for the less severe injuries people would take 4-5 days of rest and start sparring right away. With the more severe injuries people probably took a more structured approach where they would first start doing general strength training, followed by technique training, then positional sparring and finally free sparring. But again these are just my thoughts.
BBBlue beltVerified
1 year(s) ago
Around 1800 injuries are also logged in Beltchecker, you can see the stats of injury types here:
This is awesome data!
Interesting to see that in this dataset the knee and shoulder injuries are by far the most common injuries as well. Really supporting the evidence that these two joints are most at risk during BJJ.
Interesting to see that in this dataset the knee and shoulder injuries are by far the most common injuries as well. Really supporting the evidence that these two joints are most at risk during BJJ.
