If you train in the martial arts long enough, you are going to get busted up a few times while training. Most likely the martial arts injuries are going to be minor and will include jammed fingers and toes, cuts and bruises, and your occasional black eye or broken nose. The longer you train you may end up with a few broken bones or a messed up knee, but for the most part the injuries won’t keep you from training for long, and they shouldn’t deter you from training. Should you find yourself running into the little nagging injuries there are a few things you can do to reduce your down time.
Most mixed martial arts injuries can be reduced or avoided through proper training, conscientious partners, and taking good care of yourself. If you train serious and smart, you can avoid a lot of unnecessary injuries. Having training partners who are knowledgeable is important, because they will know your limits and when to stop so no one winds up hurt. The final and most important part of martial arts is to take good care ofyourself. There is no point in trying to play the tough guy because you will wind up getting hurt more frequently and will cut your MMA career short. As a fighter and a martial artist you need to think of training in terms of a marathon not a sprint.
For the most part you are going to just have to suck it up when it comes to those little cuts and bruises. You train martial arts so these things are expected and you should have some level of pain tolerance otherwise you should reconsider what you’re doing. Make sure to clean your cuts and scratches after you get done training so you don’t wind up getting a staph infection. This can keep you out of training for quite some time and even put you in the hospital.
Broken toes are another common injury in the martial arts caused by not kicking with proper foot position or kicking at the wrong target. Sorry, but you will have to suck it up with this one as well and about the only thing you can do is ice and tape your toes. Eventually they will get tougher and you will learn to kick better so you won’t incur this injury so much during training.
If you get bruises or black eyes, the best thing you can do is use plenty of ice. It is important to ice your bruised eye immediately after getting hit because it really reduces the swelling that will show up the next day. If you don’t have any ice bags then take some small paper cups, fill them with water, and freeze them. They are really useful when icing affected areas, such as arms and legs. Just tear the paper cup away as the ice melts. Bumps and bruises are just a part of MMA so you need to get use to them and keep the ice handy.
The best advice you can follow when training go with the RICE principle. It is Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. If you have a serious injury such as a concussion then make sure that you visit your physician and don’t continue to train. The most important thing is to stay in the game, so take care of yourself, stock up on the Tiger Balm, and keep training hard.
