BJJ and Arthritis – Part 1 of ?

Well, this is about BJJ and osteoarthritis, if we want to get specific.

To provide some context, let’s start back at (sort of) the beginning:

My right hip has been bothering me for years: it’s always come and gone, or something stupid would happen while training and I would hobble around a bit – the pain would go away, until it took longer and longer to go away, and then it stopped going away. I told myself that it had something to do with my right hip flexor, or it was a muscle strain, literally for years – just that nagging injury that just wouldn’t seem to quit.

I was still fairly active, but there was something that was going on, even when I didn’t realize it: I remember one of my bosses mentioning during a stand up meeting that I always looked like I was walking on a tight rope.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was standing that way so I could keep weight off of my hip – at the time it was just a thing I did.

Then at some point in early 2020 the pain went from annoying but manageable to substantial and started to cause me to limp. If we’re being totally honest, my training started to suffer and so did my performance at competitions: I was afraid of being in more pain, making whatever was going on worse for myself.

I’m not sure honestly what made me decide to see an orthopaedist – I think I wanted some assurance that it wasn’t something wrong with the joint, and really it was the muscle like I told myself it was all these years.

As they say: I took a calculated risk, but boy was I bad at math.

I finally went to an orthopedist, first thing they did was take an x ray of my hip, which was kind of a weird experience in and of itself, but that isn’t really worth going into. Anyway, they then left me in an exam room for me, with the image from the x-ray on a computer screen, so I examine it with the growing anxiety that this definitely was not a muscular thing, that something was quite wrong. The first doctor that came in was actually a physician’s assistant, who gave me a pitying look and opened with,

“So, you weren’t dealt the best hand in life when you were born…”

“…when it comes to your hips.”

They then explained that it was arthritis, and thought my hip was in this state due to a hip impingement – which for anyone who doesn’t feel like googling it, is a malformation of the hip joint: either the ball or the socket are malformed and creates additional friction in the joint, wearing down the cartilage. By this point the second doctor showed up, and when pressed for more information let me know that it was bad, but bad can be subjective based on the patient.

“I mean, I’ve seen people with hips like yours that can’t walk.” Cool. Coolcoolcoolcool…. exactly what everyone wants to hear. They also hypothesized that I was probably still so mobile because of my core strength, so yay jiu jitsu, and strength & conditioning training.

During that appointment they also estimated that I had about 5-10 years before I needed a new hip joint. At the time I let them know that I wanted to try to keep the original joint for as long as possible, and I decided at the time to get a steroid shot in my hip to relieve the pain. I managed to get the shot right before the pandemic shut everything down, so I was lucky in that regard. The shot worked for a few months, but I started to feel pain again about 3-4 months later, which grew progressively worse as time went on.

During this time I decided to go to a different orthopedist, and ended up going to one recommended by my primary physician.

The second orthopedist I went to also took an x-ray of my hip: I was again left in an exam room with an image of my hip. It was less of a shock this time, but it was also evident that my hip had gotten worse. The doctor came in, introduced himself, sat down, looked me in the eye and said “your hip is terrible”.

He then went on to say that I need to have surgery soon. My right leg had become shorter than my left, which has given me an uneven gate and is started to effect my back.

You know, just nonstop fun and excitement over here.

This one believes it could have been any number of things that happened to my hip, including possibly an injury to the cartilage that I didn’t notice when I was younger, possibly from jiu jitsu – which my guess would be that if that’s the case, there’s a 98% chance it’s from jiu jitsu.

One nice thing was the doctor also explained it was going to be a 45 minute procedure, and that I could be up and about as early as the next day. he then went on to show me videos and photos of people who were up and walking as early as 5 to 6 hours after their surgery. So, now I have surgery scheduled for the end of August.

Admittedly, I still had a few days where I sort of had to go through the stages of grief over the whole thing essentially, but I think I’m basically at the point of acceptance, and I’m trying to focus on the things that I should be able to do after this replacement.

Will I compete as much as I did before? I’m truly not sure: I know there’s at least one (older) guy who competes with a hip replacement, but right now I really want to focus on my day to day before thinking about whether or not I can get back into competition.

I’m not writing this for sympathy from anyone, but for the same reason that I ever write on this blog: if I’m going through it, there’s at least ONE other person in the world who is going through the same thing. The circumstances may be a little different, but if I can offer the assurance that there’s another person going through this, that they aren’t alone, that you can get through it, then I’ve accomplished what I’ve set out to do.

Also, moral of the story: if something is bothering you for longer than a couple of months, please get it checked out. Unfortunately due to several factors I put off seeing someone for this some time, but if I had gone to a doctor earlier there may have been a chance that I could have done some alternative treatments and extended the life of the joint.

I’ll try to post on instagram about my progress, and maybe I’ll even get my act together and write another blog post about my progress.

That’s all for now: have a great day, and don’t ignore nagging injuries.

BJJ and (Life) Priorities

I would write something about how I’m shocked and appalled that I haven’t posted anything here since March, but admittedly my posting has been pretty sporadic for a while now. I think I mentioned this before, but I switched jobs a while back and the transition, its new responsibilities and workload have just taken a lot of my time, in addition to some larger projects that need my attention (and thankfully have a definitive end). And to be honest, it’s taken a lot of my training time as well, which I’m sure some jiu jitsu person read and then gasped in horror. Sorry, but it’s true.

Which leads me back to the topic of priorities: a few weeks back I had brunch with a teammate, one who also has a job that keeps her pretty busy and mentioned how it’s been a struggle to make it into class on a consistent basis. We then talked about jiu jitsu, and about how attending class has to be one of those things you have to make a priority.

First and foremost, if there’s an important, particularly unique thing that needs to be taken care of in lieu of going to class, take care of that thing: if it’s a big project at work where a lot of people are counting on you, your grandmother’s 100th birthday, whatever it is, do that thing first.

It’s when we let the less important things seem important, that’s when it starts to get tricky. In this case, I would argue it’s less about prioritization and more about a lack of boundary setting – it’s easy to get caught up in the rat race, or a million other things that can keep you off the mat. It’s making sure we understand the difference between those little things that may happen in perpetuity, for those big things that I mentioned previously, and being clear as to the difference between the two.

That’s all for now: have a great day everyone!

Life in the Times of No Jiu Jitsu

So in our little corner of the world (by that meaning Philadelphia County), gyms are still not allowed to open. More western parts of the state have begun to reopen, including allowing jiu jitsu gyms to resume operations, but the original “green phase” (the state organized their phases of restriction in color categories: red, yellow and green) start date for Philadelphia was originally July 6th has been postponed to August 1st.

It’s definitely been trying, if I’m being totally honest: I’m lucky enough to have a job at this point, one that hasn’t been furloughed, one where I can work from home and even one that was lucky enough to receive the small business funding needed to keep our payroll going. On the flip side of that I have also been working anything between 10 to 12 hour days to keep operations going when others on our staff had reduced hours or shifting responsibilities to keep the business going.

That being said, and maybe some of you are in the same position which is pretty much the only reason I’m saying it, to share in commiseration: life without jiu jitsu leaves a lot to be desired. A lot of us use jiu jitsu as a means of stress relief, of active meditation, a means to pull ourselves into the here and now, which gives us an opportunity to approach a problem with a fresh perspective. While some of these things can also be achieved with yoga, meditation, a run, there’s also the sense of community that you miss when you aren’t able to see the people that you roll around on the floor with as you attempt to choke one another.

As awful as it may sound though I still think it’s a necessary measure: we all have had our teammates sweat on us, and while we seem to be at a place where we have some grasp on the virus and what it does, it feels like new information is being released practically every other day so there’s still a LOT we don’t know. We need to work together to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe, even if it means wearing a mask in public and even for the time being not doing jiu jitsu in an area ripe for an outbreak.

I sincerely hope we’ll be able to hold the August 1st start of Philadelphia’s green phase. I can’t totally recall how that is evaluated, but there needs to be a continuing downward trend in cases, with x amount of cases per x amount of people in the area.

Anyway, I hope you and yours are keeping safe, and have a good day everyone.

Getting Acclimated to the New (Tenporary) Normal…

It’s been kind of a wild ride the past couple of weeks- everything has been shut down, people trying to figure out how to keep drilling with themselves or with their partner.

I do really appreciate and admire the ingenuity of the jiu jitsu community: so many people are posting the ways they are looking to improvise and adapt to this new reality. It’s also heartwarming to know that so many people are encouraging others to stay home- which sounds strange, but it’s great to see that there are so many people looking to flatten the curve and protecting one another. Granted, there are some that aren’t so altruistic…. but I’m choosing not to focus on those people.

What are some changes you have made to your life in this new, temporary normal? Are you running more? Have you made a grappling dummy friend? Or multiple (seriously, I saw someone online had made several grappling dummies. Hey, whatever gets you through this).

Let me know- otherwise stay safe and have a good day!

 

Jiu Jitsu in a Time of Quarantine

It’s a strange time to be alive, to be sure. As the number of confirmed cases continue to climb, many jiu jitsu academies have closed their doors in the past few weeks in order to slow the spread of covid-19.

First and foremost everyone, just stay home. While this virus may not be the death of you, it certainly could be for someone who is over the age of 60, or is possibly immunocompromised, either due to genetics, some auto immune disease, or as by product of something else, like chemo patients who are fighting off cancer.

So what to do? Well as I mentioned before, Bernardo Faria has been offering a free video for people to sign up for, and a number of other more popular jiu jitsu practitioners have been offering the same. Additionally, a number of academies have been offering online virtual classes, and have been going through online classes/solo drilling sessions to keep everyone’s skills as sharp as they can be in this time. A quick look on social media will also show you the myriad of creative ways people are trying to drill and keep themselves active if you’re looking for

Also, there are a lot of dogs and cats out there who look like they should be at least one or two striped white belts by the time this is all over.

This is truly a strange time for all of us- I know it’s frustrating to have to stay inside, but it’s helping to slow down the virus and protect those in our community who otherwise vulnerable and cannot afford to get sick.

That’s all for now folks- stay safe and make the most of today!

 

What To Do When Your Academy (Temporarily) Shuts Down

A lot of academies are shutting down for a couple of weeks as covid-19, or the coronavirus makes its way through the states. If you aren’t sure about the benefits of social distancing, there’s a great article with illustrations as to the benefits of social distancing. Will it stop the virus? No. Will it stagger the rate of infections and not overload our healthcare system? Absolutely.

So what to do if your academy is closed? Well believe it or not there are a number of resources still available for you. A number of academies are holding Facebook live sessions with their students (ours included), there are some people out there who are posting solo drills- I know the Ribeiro association is posting some solo drills with Gymnastica Natural, and even Bernardo Faria is offering a free video instructionals on his site.

If you want to take advantage of this offer, just visit bjjfanatics.com and use the code FARIAFREE to pick up a free instructional from him.

Otherwise, make sure you are staying active- if you are able to go outside and stay away from crowds/groups of people, by all means do so. If you can’t for some reason or another, I would suggest checking out those videos, and still attempt to do some bodyweight exercises (if you don’t have a home gym or weights at home) and don’t let the quarantine force you to slow down or hang out on the couch for two weeks. It will make it all the more difficult to get back to jiu jitsu- it’ll be like when you get back from Christmas vacation, but kind of worse in a way, because the weather’s going to be warmer and you won’t be able to hide the flub you acquired during these two weeks. Uncomfortable, but true.

Stay safe, stay healthy, and have a great day everyone!

Pans 2020: Will They or Won’t They?

It’s been a wild couple of weeks, to be sure- the coronavirus COVID-19 has sent a lot of people in a tizzy. It’s understandably a tricky situation: it’s a flu-like virus that most people should be able to recover from. It’s when a relatively healthy person however comes in contact with someone who is immuno-compromised due to age or other circumstances is when things get really dangerous.

Events and conferences are cancelling left and right due to concerns of spreading the virus, and so far the IBJJF stated last week they were not cancelling Pans in Irvine, and then as of last night they stated they were working with the venue and would be making an announcement one way or another by mid-day today.

I had to pull out of Pans this year due to other reasons, but I was still planning on going to the venue for that weekend: I know there have also been some big name competitors who have been posting on social media that they have registered for the tournament. I’m curious to see if they will actually move forward with hosting the event. To add to the whole thing, UC Irvine (the venue itself) has told students that they are suspending all activities where large groups of people could congregate….

So, I guess we’ll see either way by the end of the day.

Well, either way stay safe everyone- wash your hands, don’t train if you’re sick and have a great day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Difference in Focus: Newer Students vs Seasoned BJJ Students

It’s something I’ve noticed when teaching classes, but also when I taught a seminar. Granted, I’ve said before that my moves were not very flashy: I went over guard breaking, a decidedly not sexy move.

The newer belts wanted to see something dramatic and flashy, something they had never seen before…. and they were pretty unimpressed with my guard breaking instructions (but, they were all also successfully executing said guard breaks during the rolling sessions at the end of the seminar, so I don’t really feel that bad about it).

The higher belts though seemed generally impressed, and almost a little jazzed about something that would be considered mundane, but there were certain nuances or particular phrases that I used to convey the information to everyone. It was an interesting juxtaposition, I would say.

This is a personal theory, but I think when we are newer to the sport we want to see all the cool stuff, the wildly different- possibly because we’ve been drilling all the fundamentals and we want to see something big and spectacularly different than the things we’ve been drilling the past bajillion times over the months and years. You can’t see the nuances, so they don’t really excite you. Totally understandable.

For the higher rank though, the person that has been around the block and then some when it comes to the sport, there’s a respect for those little things. Sure, the big fancy stuff is cool and you’ll try it, but now you know and understand the finer points, and if someone can provide you with some insight to small tweaks in your game, different nuances in your existing technique, then that’s exciting! It’s a way to streamline your technique, or something different without having the reinvent the wheel and relearn a whole bunch of muscle memory.

Neither viewpoint are wrong: it’s all very much in line with the progression in jiu jitsu and really boils down to what you are focusing on in your journey. The newer student craves the big and the bold because they its something they can sink their teeth into, the more advanced student focuses on the tweaks and nuances to improve upon the solid foundation they have already created for themselves and their jiu jitsu game.

It’s just an interesting observations I wanted to share with you all 🙂

Have a great day everyone!

Teammates and (Emotional) Closeness in BJJ

My teammates and I were recently wondering about this in outside of class: what leads to the emotional closeness that you experience with teammates?

I know I mentioned previously that having a friend is heavily preferred in jiu jitsu, but there’s still the question: what variables are in play to create the environment that promotes friendship among teammates?

First and foremost I would like to think it’s the mutual respect and trust among teammates in what would be considered precarious positions- you’re either making your teammate airborne, or putting their body into a position that could really hurt them. The teammate is in an emotional and physically vulnerable position, and through jiu jitsu, there’s a display of trust and respect by not taking advantage of that vulnerability.

Through jiu jitsu we are literally up in someone’s face, totally invading one another’s personal space- which let’s be real, that’s not something we usually tolerate unless we like and trust someone- and we come out ok from it. Being that close to someone, being in a vulnerable position, and not only that, sometimes failing and looking silly in those vulnerable positions inevitably leads to an emotional closeness that can seem a little strange to people outside of the sport.

During this discussion I also mentioned that while we all come from different experiences and really walks of life, we’re all connected by one common characteristic: grit. We’re all willing to work hard at a sport that takes forever to improve in, we’re willing to do the work, put our noses to the grindstone and continue on our jiu jitsu journey. All of these factors, and others (I’m sure) lead to a closeness that may not always seem to make sense, but has the potential to give us friendships that last a lifetime.

Just some thoughts I wanted to share- have a great day everyone!

Galentine’s Day Event This Past Weekend!

Yes, I know technically the 13th is actually Galentine’s Day, but we decided to commandeer the following weekend to invite some ladies around the city to stop by our academy, learn a little BJJ/self defense, and enjoy some snacks and drinks afterwards!

We showed them a little self defense stuff, including a simple hip throw, as well as a taste of some other basics moves to give them a feel for the sport.

We also happened to get some nice slow mo footage of me demonstrating on a teammate:

It was a fantastic team effort, with ladies on our team from blue belt all the way up helping out. All in all I would say it was a pretty great day 🙂

Just wanted to share with you all- have a great day everyone!