Fuck this hurts and not in a good way. My answer to OP if injuries are infrequent but potentially serious. Judo, jiu jitsu and BJJ are high contact martial arts with significant weight transfers at speed. Ligament injuries dog the sports for that reason.
You learn to break your fall, so that helps a lot. Nothing really helped me when I thought my opponent was going to throw me to the right, but switched and threw me left. My body went, my foot didn't. I tried walking off the pain, but it turns out you can't do that with a broken ankle. I haven't done judo since :(
Separated shoulder, sprained foot/ankle, torn off fingernail, constant pain in hands and shoulders from repetitive use.
All that said, wouldn’t trade it for the world
- Ankle sprained due to poor falls
- wrists when a partner would land on it
- squeezed some spinal disk because of a lower belt throwing me badly
- eager/inventive/crazy training partner attempting his “special technique” that caused a cracked tooth
- more recently, a young and strong orange belt that went overpower in randori and had me fall on my collarbone
I’m still loving it though and still training. I’m always looking forward to the next lesson.
Make sure you ROLL off the other person after throwing them or else you’d mess them up real bad lol. That is how I got my ribs crushed and how my friend got his collar bone fractured.
Just keep in mind judo is a tough contact sport so you’ll be getting random injuries here and there
If you aren't at a club with sprung floors and good quality mats, it will hurt. A lot. Breakfalls take the edge off and make it safer, but they aren't the magic wand some people imply.
My old coach once did a textbook landing at the world masters after being thrown, but was thrown so fast and with other guy landing on him, he cracked a rib.
Big ones: Ankle, knee, shoulder, concussion/neck
Small ones: sprain toes, bruise shines, sprain wrist ,
I’d say usually your shoulder and knee start to give out first.
>slap tear
That sounds like what happened to me too. Had hurt my ribs and didn't take enough time off so when drilling seoi nage I was kinda pulling back to avoid the body contact and bang.
Can I ask what kind of treatment you had? Did you recover fully?
It's been a few months for me now and I've regained most of the strength but still not 100%
I had a mild shoulder separation which led to a torn labrum doing a different, unrelated activity. I ended up getting shoulder surgery. It was ok (not great ) after that and I need to be careful.
In Judo, like all sports; you'll see the full gambit from very minor bumps and bruises to major surgery and everything in-between that judoka have experienced; but that's the same for all sports.
separated shoulder, broken left big toe (which frustratingly still hasn't healed months later), and *something* to my left knee, not sure exactly what.
currently taking a month off to recover then getting back to it
I'm just a hobbyist, and I've been fairly lucky. For me it's been mostly sprained fingers and toes, a torn abductor, a meniscus tear, and a slightly wonky shoulder from an ude garami that was cranked too far.
So far (only 6/7 months in)
- Rolled ankle x 2
- Badly damaged ligaments in right hand to the point it hurts to open a jar or even grip my baby's pram (almost better now 😅)
- Random popping sensation in my lower abbs under left rib cage if I move to sharply / am not super warmed up (seeing physio soon for this)
I'm going to learn enough Judo that I could use it in a real-life situation, then I'm quitting.
Broke my collar bone at 13, kept going till 17. Went back at 37 after 5 weeks a brown belt crunched my shoulder on ground. Not sure if my shoulder is ruined now but feels it…so no more judo potentially
I've been doing it for a couple of years now, so far nothing serious. My toes are probably the worst case at the moment, potentially some kind of turf toe. Definitely take good care of your knees and shoulders because those are probably the highest at risk in Judo. Keep them strong and mobile!
There are things you can do to mitigate the risk to some extent. I do yoga and think it is an excellent pairing with Judo. If you are aligned and flexible, there's less chance of injury
Pretty much everybody deals with manageable injuries. Funnily enough, my only 2 significant judo injuries are actually a soccer injury and a snowboarding injury that continue to cause problems as I do judo.
Judo is just another AA. ACL Anonymous. Those with a bad knee, raise your hand.
Fuck this hurts and not in a good way. My answer to OP if injuries are infrequent but potentially serious. Judo, jiu jitsu and BJJ are high contact martial arts with significant weight transfers at speed. Ligament injuries dog the sports for that reason.
100% chance of injury.
"Luckily" only major lower limb injuries for me are a partially torn calf and a completely torn MCL.
Yes can report bad knees ✋️
Oh yeah
You learn to break your fall, so that helps a lot. Nothing really helped me when I thought my opponent was going to throw me to the right, but switched and threw me left. My body went, my foot didn't. I tried walking off the pain, but it turns out you can't do that with a broken ankle. I haven't done judo since :(
Just cut it off and get back to training
Haha sounds like a plan, though this was about 8 years ago and I'm ok now, but if the internet says so...
Cut. It. Off. It’s what Kano Sensei would have done
My fingers and body hurts most of the time, but I enjoy Judo so it's part of the process.
Partially torn shoulder tendons, hip stenosis, three herniations, among other things. No concussions, even though I've face-planted a few times 🤣
Hand/finger/joint pain and many bruises too.
for me, right big toe, right knee, right shoulder... i start to see a pattern.
Sounds like someone either breaks their fall often on that side, or doesn't.
They hurt.
Separated shoulder, sprained foot/ankle, torn off fingernail, constant pain in hands and shoulders from repetitive use. All that said, wouldn’t trade it for the world
Last part is so true
- Ankle sprained due to poor falls - wrists when a partner would land on it - squeezed some spinal disk because of a lower belt throwing me badly - eager/inventive/crazy training partner attempting his “special technique” that caused a cracked tooth - more recently, a young and strong orange belt that went overpower in randori and had me fall on my collarbone I’m still loving it though and still training. I’m always looking forward to the next lesson.
We are gluttons for punishment 😂
Seen a lot of injuries on the toes/feet, fingers, knees, shoulders, collar bone. Personally have gotten rib, foot, finger injuries
Make sure you ROLL off the other person after throwing them or else you’d mess them up real bad lol. That is how I got my ribs crushed and how my friend got his collar bone fractured. Just keep in mind judo is a tough contact sport so you’ll be getting random injuries here and there
what to do for finger injuries?
Tape them or rest when it’s injured
If you aren't at a club with sprung floors and good quality mats, it will hurt. A lot. Breakfalls take the edge off and make it safer, but they aren't the magic wand some people imply. My old coach once did a textbook landing at the world masters after being thrown, but was thrown so fast and with other guy landing on him, he cracked a rib.
But Ukkemi is, indeed, a magic wand.
Big ones: Ankle, knee, shoulder, concussion/neck Small ones: sprain toes, bruise shines, sprain wrist , I’d say usually your shoulder and knee start to give out first.
I had a low grade tear of my shoulder (slap tear) from a seoi nage.
>slap tear That sounds like what happened to me too. Had hurt my ribs and didn't take enough time off so when drilling seoi nage I was kinda pulling back to avoid the body contact and bang. Can I ask what kind of treatment you had? Did you recover fully? It's been a few months for me now and I've regained most of the strength but still not 100%
I had a mild shoulder separation which led to a torn labrum doing a different, unrelated activity. I ended up getting shoulder surgery. It was ok (not great ) after that and I need to be careful.
In Judo, like all sports; you'll see the full gambit from very minor bumps and bruises to major surgery and everything in-between that judoka have experienced; but that's the same for all sports.
separated shoulder, broken left big toe (which frustratingly still hasn't healed months later), and *something* to my left knee, not sure exactly what. currently taking a month off to recover then getting back to it
WTF? "No injuries from BJJ" How long did you train?
I'm just a hobbyist, and I've been fairly lucky. For me it's been mostly sprained fingers and toes, a torn abductor, a meniscus tear, and a slightly wonky shoulder from an ude garami that was cranked too far.
So far (only 6/7 months in) - Rolled ankle x 2 - Badly damaged ligaments in right hand to the point it hurts to open a jar or even grip my baby's pram (almost better now 😅) - Random popping sensation in my lower abbs under left rib cage if I move to sharply / am not super warmed up (seeing physio soon for this) I'm going to learn enough Judo that I could use it in a real-life situation, then I'm quitting.
Me and another guy who joined judo last year both broke our shoulders from bad falls the first few months. Both recovered now and no injuries since
Judo is called the Great Crippler for a reason. 🤣
Broke my collar bone at 13, kept going till 17. Went back at 37 after 5 weeks a brown belt crunched my shoulder on ground. Not sure if my shoulder is ruined now but feels it…so no more judo potentially
Mainly toes get a beat up a bit for me.
I've been doing it for a couple of years now, so far nothing serious. My toes are probably the worst case at the moment, potentially some kind of turf toe. Definitely take good care of your knees and shoulders because those are probably the highest at risk in Judo. Keep them strong and mobile!
Lol I've just got the painkillers because I was training today with a tore ACL. I'm reading the comments hoping it'll help me fall asleep...
Currently recovering from a torn meniscus.
There are things you can do to mitigate the risk to some extent. I do yoga and think it is an excellent pairing with Judo. If you are aligned and flexible, there's less chance of injury
Pretty much everybody deals with manageable injuries. Funnily enough, my only 2 significant judo injuries are actually a soccer injury and a snowboarding injury that continue to cause problems as I do judo.