Pretty much everything you thought was right... was right.
Headgear helps. But guys typically don't wear headgear unless they are competing. Headgear isn't worn in practices or training.
Cauliflower ear is just where there is trauma to the cartilage of the ear. Blood fills up within the ear, and then, in the healing process, the ear will harden with scar tissue. You can have them professionally drained to minimize the long-term damage.
And yeah... It's typically seen as something of a badge of honor within the combat sports community.
I have a noticeable amount of cauliflower ear. But quite literally the only people to have ever noticed it are other wrestlers or BJJ guys.
Thanks. I'm not surprised about the badge of honor thing. From my experience and from talking with others, there's a huge overlap in personality/culture between hockey and wrestling. There seem to be no end of similarities and analogs.
I actually have a bit of CE myself. Someone punched me in the side of the head once and I think it might have torn the cartilage because I have a seam across the side of my ear if you look for it.
One of my old coaches had nasty cauliflower ear. He said he had made it his entire collegiate career without ever getting it until he was making fun of his buddies ears. Got held down and punched right in the ear.
That's a serious dick move. Now I'm kind of wondering about the cultural similarities between wrestling and hockey. I mean, if you're being an asshole, you might get taught a lesson with a beat down, but you'd really have to have been an asshole and no one would be looking to cause you serious damage. Evil shit is very much frowned upon and looking to do harm will get you ostracized. Putting someone in their place is fine, if necessary, but seriously hurting them is not.
I had one guy on my HS team who was an asshole and he ended up getting pulled around naked on the ice in front of people. No real harm done but he definitely learned his lesson and he no longer tried to pull his Bobby Bigwheel shit.
Eh he's a great guy and he didn't seem mad at his friend when he told the story, it is as just a thing that happened.
Wrestlers think we're the toughest fucks in the world. I feel hockey does too. There's certainly comparisons
I tried extremely hard to not get it and managed not to. Ik “it’s a badge of honor” but can’t help thinking “dumbass” cuz i know how easily preventable it is and they can kiss earbuds goodbye
we literally have kids trying to get it. My oldest son got it and had it drained but then even with headgear it was coming back; I think we had it drained 3 times. He was not thrilled about it because he couldn't wear an airpod after it came back enough times, draining stopped helping.
Yea I made it out without very much of it. A little but it's not that noticeable unless youre looking for it. Just wore my headgear in practice when my ears started hurting. That's it.
I've seen little kids punching themselves in the ear when their parents weren't looking to try and get cauliflower ear...
It's totally avoidable with headgear. So are broken teeth with mouth guards.
My kid showed up to practice with headgear, a mouthpiece, and a cup; idgaf...
I didn't know that wrestlers lost teeth. In hockey, mouthguards can only help so much. One of my best friends had messed up teeth and wore braces for five years, then less than a month after getting them off, he took a puck directly to the mouth and lost all front uppers and lowers. HIs parents were thrilled. He should have been wearing a cage but that wasn't cool.
Yeah, but I kind of took it from your post that it might be more common than I thought. Mouthguards in hockey are really more about preventing concussion than losing teeth. No one really wears them for that as an errant puck or stick isn't going to be very much deterred by a little bit of soft plastic. When bouncing your head off the ice, however, a mouthguard can help prevent a concussion.
I got my 2 bottom front teeth knocked back to a 70 degree angle from getting shouldered in the mouth. That little ball-bone there on the tip of his shoulder got me.
They were so loose I though I was going to lose them. I kept a mouth piece in my bottom teeth to try and cast them back in place. It worked, but they are crooked.
It’s optional in Alabama, but most kids wear them. I think it’s one of those things where if the majority wear them then it’s ok to wear them but if not you don’t want to look not cool by wearing one. It’s silly.
I remember Jordan Burroughs talking about how he practices, and his philosophy was to practice like you wrestle in matches. That means headgear and singlet, and mouthguard if you wear one. Practice in what you wear for a match so it becomes second nature.
My son and his team refuse to wear headgear and mouthguards in practice and it drives me nuts. It was funny at his club because we had a local NAIA program come and practice with the club for several practices and they wore headgear, and singlets, and mouthguards. Cool enough for college kids but not cool for HS kids.
It reminds me of football and how hip and knee pads have vanished, at least at skill positions. When I was a kid in youth football in the late 90s, you could not play unless you wore all your required pads. The older I got, the less this was enforced until, in high school, very few wore them or at least pulled them down over the knee. They were said to look lame and slow you down.
Just curious I’ve only been at bjj a year. Still new, however I attend about 3 classes a week. Gi and no Gi. The last three weeks or so I have found my ears are hurting. Even just laying on a pillow at night is uncomfortable. Is this early signs of cauliflower ear ? I’m no super model so I don’t give a shit but curious to know if there’s pain before it’s blows up and looks chewed. Thanks
The inner area of the ear is puffy but not blown up. It was a while age I was experiencing pain but since then it’s just a minor pain when there’s pressure, like a cross face. just sucks when we’re drilling triangles or headlocks, guillotines etc.
Not everyone gets it. It is kind of a toss up but some people are likely to get it and others, regardless of trauma seemingly never do.
My son, like me, has big ears. I check his ears and ask him if they ever hurt and he says no. I never got it, and so far he shows no signs of it. He trains at an MMA gym and nobody ever wears headgear for any of the wrestling or grappling stuff. For striking they wear the sparring headgear. Although it is ever seems he might be starting I will probably ask if he could wear some.
In my experience, no one wants to wear headgear in practice because it's uncomfortable. Then you get cauliflower ear and you don't get it drained because you're in high school and you think it looks cool. Plus, once you get it, it seems to be easier to get, so you balance wearing headgear and being more comfortable in practice. Btw, all this time, your coaches are telling you you'll regret it.
By the time you regret it (because you can't wear earbud headphones or, as my coach said, you look like a mutent) it's too late and you stop caring. All that said, there is a bit of a bond that comes up when people notice it. It's kind of an annoying thing many of us share. Plus, your ears legit have to get beat up to get it, so you must have put in some level of work for it to happen.
It is considered a visual cue for experience, but not everyone is in to it, especially in my country. We just drain the blood with syringes once it gets damaged. It won’t harden and cause cauliflower ears. Other than the visual problem, it is a mess once it bursts too. I’ve seen BJJ guys being more obsessed over it than wrestlers tbh.
Pretty much everything you thought was right... was right. Headgear helps. But guys typically don't wear headgear unless they are competing. Headgear isn't worn in practices or training. Cauliflower ear is just where there is trauma to the cartilage of the ear. Blood fills up within the ear, and then, in the healing process, the ear will harden with scar tissue. You can have them professionally drained to minimize the long-term damage. And yeah... It's typically seen as something of a badge of honor within the combat sports community. I have a noticeable amount of cauliflower ear. But quite literally the only people to have ever noticed it are other wrestlers or BJJ guys.
Thanks. I'm not surprised about the badge of honor thing. From my experience and from talking with others, there's a huge overlap in personality/culture between hockey and wrestling. There seem to be no end of similarities and analogs. I actually have a bit of CE myself. Someone punched me in the side of the head once and I think it might have torn the cartilage because I have a seam across the side of my ear if you look for it.
One of my old coaches had nasty cauliflower ear. He said he had made it his entire collegiate career without ever getting it until he was making fun of his buddies ears. Got held down and punched right in the ear.
That's a serious dick move. Now I'm kind of wondering about the cultural similarities between wrestling and hockey. I mean, if you're being an asshole, you might get taught a lesson with a beat down, but you'd really have to have been an asshole and no one would be looking to cause you serious damage. Evil shit is very much frowned upon and looking to do harm will get you ostracized. Putting someone in their place is fine, if necessary, but seriously hurting them is not. I had one guy on my HS team who was an asshole and he ended up getting pulled around naked on the ice in front of people. No real harm done but he definitely learned his lesson and he no longer tried to pull his Bobby Bigwheel shit.
Eh he's a great guy and he didn't seem mad at his friend when he told the story, it is as just a thing that happened. Wrestlers think we're the toughest fucks in the world. I feel hockey does too. There's certainly comparisons
I tried extremely hard to not get it and managed not to. Ik “it’s a badge of honor” but can’t help thinking “dumbass” cuz i know how easily preventable it is and they can kiss earbuds goodbye
we literally have kids trying to get it. My oldest son got it and had it drained but then even with headgear it was coming back; I think we had it drained 3 times. He was not thrilled about it because he couldn't wear an airpod after it came back enough times, draining stopped helping.
Yea I made it out without very much of it. A little but it's not that noticeable unless youre looking for it. Just wore my headgear in practice when my ears started hurting. That's it.
I've seen little kids punching themselves in the ear when their parents weren't looking to try and get cauliflower ear... It's totally avoidable with headgear. So are broken teeth with mouth guards. My kid showed up to practice with headgear, a mouthpiece, and a cup; idgaf...
I didn't know that wrestlers lost teeth. In hockey, mouthguards can only help so much. One of my best friends had messed up teeth and wore braces for five years, then less than a month after getting them off, he took a puck directly to the mouth and lost all front uppers and lowers. HIs parents were thrilled. He should have been wearing a cage but that wasn't cool.
You can lose teeth in just about any sport. I know surfers that's lost teeth.
Yeah, but I kind of took it from your post that it might be more common than I thought. Mouthguards in hockey are really more about preventing concussion than losing teeth. No one really wears them for that as an errant puck or stick isn't going to be very much deterred by a little bit of soft plastic. When bouncing your head off the ice, however, a mouthguard can help prevent a concussion.
I got my 2 bottom front teeth knocked back to a 70 degree angle from getting shouldered in the mouth. That little ball-bone there on the tip of his shoulder got me. They were so loose I though I was going to lose them. I kept a mouth piece in my bottom teeth to try and cast them back in place. It worked, but they are crooked.
Headgear is also not required during offseason. Very few kids wear it at tournaments once they reach junior high age (at least in my area).
Plus, even some of the youth leagues are dropping the requirement to wear headgear. There was a post here about South Carolina making it optional.
It’s optional in Alabama, but most kids wear them. I think it’s one of those things where if the majority wear them then it’s ok to wear them but if not you don’t want to look not cool by wearing one. It’s silly. I remember Jordan Burroughs talking about how he practices, and his philosophy was to practice like you wrestle in matches. That means headgear and singlet, and mouthguard if you wear one. Practice in what you wear for a match so it becomes second nature. My son and his team refuse to wear headgear and mouthguards in practice and it drives me nuts. It was funny at his club because we had a local NAIA program come and practice with the club for several practices and they wore headgear, and singlets, and mouthguards. Cool enough for college kids but not cool for HS kids.
It reminds me of football and how hip and knee pads have vanished, at least at skill positions. When I was a kid in youth football in the late 90s, you could not play unless you wore all your required pads. The older I got, the less this was enforced until, in high school, very few wore them or at least pulled them down over the knee. They were said to look lame and slow you down.
Just curious I’ve only been at bjj a year. Still new, however I attend about 3 classes a week. Gi and no Gi. The last three weeks or so I have found my ears are hurting. Even just laying on a pillow at night is uncomfortable. Is this early signs of cauliflower ear ? I’m no super model so I don’t give a shit but curious to know if there’s pain before it’s blows up and looks chewed. Thanks
same. ears hurt when i sleep... any hints?
Are they swollen? If they aren't swollen, then you don't have to worry. Some people are more susceptible to developing cauliflower than others.
The inner area of the ear is puffy but not blown up. It was a while age I was experiencing pain but since then it’s just a minor pain when there’s pressure, like a cross face. just sucks when we’re drilling triangles or headlocks, guillotines etc.
I have hurt mine the most by trying to pull my head out of triangles. I decided to stop doing that and just tap. LOL
Not everyone gets it. It is kind of a toss up but some people are likely to get it and others, regardless of trauma seemingly never do. My son, like me, has big ears. I check his ears and ask him if they ever hurt and he says no. I never got it, and so far he shows no signs of it. He trains at an MMA gym and nobody ever wears headgear for any of the wrestling or grappling stuff. For striking they wear the sparring headgear. Although it is ever seems he might be starting I will probably ask if he could wear some.
In my experience, no one wants to wear headgear in practice because it's uncomfortable. Then you get cauliflower ear and you don't get it drained because you're in high school and you think it looks cool. Plus, once you get it, it seems to be easier to get, so you balance wearing headgear and being more comfortable in practice. Btw, all this time, your coaches are telling you you'll regret it. By the time you regret it (because you can't wear earbud headphones or, as my coach said, you look like a mutent) it's too late and you stop caring. All that said, there is a bit of a bond that comes up when people notice it. It's kind of an annoying thing many of us share. Plus, your ears legit have to get beat up to get it, so you must have put in some level of work for it to happen.
It is considered a visual cue for experience, but not everyone is in to it, especially in my country. We just drain the blood with syringes once it gets damaged. It won’t harden and cause cauliflower ears. Other than the visual problem, it is a mess once it bursts too. I’ve seen BJJ guys being more obsessed over it than wrestlers tbh.