Judo is a martial art and a full-contact sport, so injuries are bound to happen at one point or another. I am yet to meet a Judoka that’s been entirely injury-free. Bruising is most typical in Judo and I won’t even classify it as an injury as it’s something that’s just part of all contact sports. Here’s a guide to the most common Judo injuries and tips on how to avoid them, from a national and international Judoka.
Most Common Judo Injuries
For Judoka, the most common injuries to occur are in the ankles, knees, and shoulders due to quick sudden movements and changes of direction. Most injury situations happen during Tachi Waza techniques, but they can also occur in Ne Waza. For elite athletes, these injuries typically occur during intensive training camps and competitions. Which is why being properly prepared and taking enough rest is very important. However, Judo is a contact sport at the end of the day, so naturally, injuries happen.
When a Judoka gets injured they have to take time off from both training and competitions, and during this time they’re at an increased risk of repeat injury. This can happen if a Judoka goes back to training too soon or at a fast pace. You can’t be off for a month and go back thinking you can do 5 or 6 randori in a row.
Beginner Judoka are at a greater risk for head and neck injuries, this is because they haven’t gotten used to falling and their techniques aren’t fully developed yet. These injuries can often be missed so they need to be taken seriously. A bump to the head could easily result in a concussion or a more serious head injury.
It’s not uncommon for Judoka to have broken fingers, caused by intense grip fighting. There’s no way to avoid this kind of injury. The best thing you can do for broken fingers is to strap them, and the same for broken toes. I personally wouldn’t go into a cast for a broken toe, so strapping it is! Another common injury Judoka experience is cauliflower ear, caused by repeated blows and rubbing to the ear, causing bleeding between the cartilage and skin to accumulate. The blood must then be removed from the ear using a needle and syringe.
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Common Injuries:
- Broken Fingers and Toes
- Broken nose
- Cauliflower Ear
- Back pain
- Neck pain
- Ankle sprain
- ACL injury
- Collateral ligament injury
- Meniscus injury
- Concussion
- AC-joint injury
- Rotator cuff injury
- Dislocated elbow
- Fractures of the humerus, forearm, ribs, collar bone, or wrist
- Floating rib injury
Personally, I’ve had all possible injuries besides a concussion (that I know of, I could’ve possibly had a concussion without knowing).
Injuries that didn’t require surgical intervention:
• Injured both knees, meniscus, and ligaments (doctors wanted to perform surgery, I said no)
• Both shoulders (doctors wanted to perform surgery, I said no)
• Wrist (usually ligament/sprain)
• Broken fingers and toes
• Cauliflower ear (small one)
• Injured both elbows
• Floating rib injury
• Cut lip (inside)- left without stitching
• Sprained ankles
• Sprained thumbs
Required surgery:
• My nose broke on multiple occasions, twice had big breaks. Finally did functional surgery to repair it
• My ankle required surgery after I tore the ACL and ATFL, also had two stress fractures in the same ankle.
I’ve also had hip injuries. My file at the physio is a couple of pages long, but luckily most of my injuries didn’t require surgical intervention
How to Avoid Judo Injuries
Eat a Nutritious Diet and Take Supplements
Diet and supplements are the most important aspects of training and avoiding injury. If you don’t eat at least three proper, filling and nutritious meals a day, you’re doing something wrong (unless you’re weight-cutting).
If you’re having an early morning session and can’t stomach a big breakfast, have something light. Just take snacks with you for in-between training or after. Good options for snacks are a fruit (banana, tangerine) or a protein bar.
In terms of supplementation, you need to discuss it with your coach. But the best supplements to take are obviously your creatine and BCAA amino acids. I’ve seen some athletes taking pre-workout, it just doesn’t work for me personally. I struggle with heartburn and I can’t consume supplements with such a high amount of caffeine in them. I swear by creatine and BCAA amino acids. Of course, you get your other daily vitamins like a multivitamin. Magnesium is good if you’re struggling with lactic acid build-up or muscle spasms.
The reason supplementation is so important in training and injury prevention, as Judoka, we train a lot… to the point of overtraining. The majority of us train 5 to 6 days a week, with 4 or 5 of those days consisting of two to three sessions of training. We’re not Iron Man, we’re human. So taking rest and having a nutritious diet won’t just cut it, we have to also supplement in order to aid our recovery and prevent injury.
Get Enough Rest
Just because your friend goes to bed at 1 or 2 in the morning doesn’t mean you have to do the same. Remember, the body has a biological clock and you’re in control of that. You need to set-up a regime: bedtime no later than 10:30 PM. Some coaches would even stress that 10:30 PM is too late.
If you have an early morning session at 9 AM, then make sure you go to bed earlier. Take into account how far your training is from where you live, along with the amount of time it takes you to get ready and eat. Prepare your training bag the night before to avoid rushing and forgetting things in the morning.
After your morning session, do your best to get a nap in. Even if it’s a short one, 20 or 30 minutes can make all the difference. Your body regenerates and recovers while you sleep. It doesn’t help sleeping 5 hours at night, skipping a nap, and going to the evening session wondering why you’re feeling tired and performing badly.
When you don’t rest properly, you will with 100% certainty pick up an injury.
Take Time Off
The horror, having to take time off! It can actually be a blessing. Don’t turn it into a habit, though. If you’ve picked up an injury, listen to your doctor and physio. If they advise you to take time off, then take the time off. Don’t go back too soon, you’ll risk making the injury worse or picking up another injury, eventually spiralling in the same circle.
Also, VERY important. If you pick up an injury even at the beginning of your training, stop! I wish I had someone that would tell me this when I started. My coach wasn’t the kind of person to tell you stop and go home, sometimes he was but not always. The main point here, your coach isn’t in your body, only YOU truly know how you’re feeling. Obviously, if your wrist starts hurting during training, first try strapping it. If the pain continues or gets worse, then definitely stop. This is really at your own transgression.
Another thing, if you’re sick, as much as you want to train, don’t! Firstly, you’ll make yourself even more sick and need to take even more time off. Secondly, consider those around you, your teammates and coach. You wouldn’t want to get them sick too.
Warm-up Properly
The most common injuries happen when you haven’t warmed-up properly. For obvious reasons, warm-up needs to be taken seriously. So don’t play, talk or joke during warm-up. Even if your teammates are doing that, don’t be a sheep and follow-suit. You know what you’re there for: to train. So for your own safety AND for the safety of others, make sure you’ve done your warm-up properly.
If for some reason you run late for training, don’t jump right into technical training. Warm-up is done for a REASON.
Firstly, apologize to your coach (make sure you’ve sent a text ahead of time), and ask to do your own individual warm-up. Run around the mat, also side to side, backwards, and do some ukemi and rolls. Make sure you’re warm before you join the training.
It’s Football, Not a War
Now, you may be wondering why I’m putting an emphasis on this, but the answer is simple. The most common injuries occur when you’re messing or playing around.
Time and time again, Judoka forget that they’re Judoka- they’re not Kylian Mbappé or Cristiano Ronaldo. Most Judo clubs play football for warm-up when they’re not doing Judo-specific warm-up. Nothing wrong with that, harmless right? Wrong.
I’ve experienced it for myself. Judoka are very competitive and that competitiveness shows in how we play football. I, myself, had my initial ankle injury during football warm-up. I’ve had teammates who had to go in for stitches after head-butting each other, and teammates that broke toes. So, yes, football warm-up is more dangerous than anything else.
If you notice your teammates are being too rough or taking the game too seriously, pull back and avoid any potential damage.
Long-Term Resistance Training
This includes both flexibility and upper body strength, as well as practicing breakfalls frequently in order to absorb the impact from falling. Training should be broken down into three categories: Flexibility and agility, balance and coordination, and strength and stability. All three need to be incorporated into your training sessions. Here’s an example of how all three categories can be incorporated into your Judo training warm-up and fitness (fitness can be done after warm-up or at the end of the Judo session):
Make sure to include breakfalls as part of your warm-up as well as neck exercises like nodding your neck forward and back, twisting left and right, leaning left and right, and turning your head in a circular motion to the left and right. Another good exercise for the neck is to roll your head on the tatami forwards and then backwards (neck bridge).
Have the Right Mindset During Randori
When you have the right mindset during randori, you can save yourself and your Uke (training partner) from picking up an injury. This can really make all the difference in the world. Firstly, remember to treat randori as just a randori- it’s not a competition where you have to fight full-out. The purpose of randori is to test yourself and try to execute your techniques, getting countered or thrown doesn’t matter. Oftentimes, Judoka tend to forget that randori isn’t shiai and they go full-out- that’s when injuries happen.
The main issue is that many Judoka end up treating randori as shiai, especially the more competitive ones. They want to win at all costs and they’re keeping score. This is the most dangerous moment, as this is when they can lose themselves in the moment and attack with only one purpose in mind: I have to win, I have to throw my opponent. This is the moment injuries happen.
The right mentality is to avoid getting yourself or Uke injured, so having a safe randori. If you find that your Uke is too rough or you feel like they will injure you, communicate with them. Tell them to not go as hard. If they continue in the same way, stop the randori. Better miss one randori than be out of Judo for weeks or months.
Of course, there’s no way to completely avoid getting injured in Judo, but having the right mindset can reduce the chances significantly.
