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I checked into Athletes Care this week hoping to get the green light to go back to Jiu Jitsu. I was seeing a new Chiropractor, Jim, who was highly recommended by some of my team mates. He has worked with many people from the academy including Professor Britto and Dida..
I was first seen by Neil (Jim's assistant) who took me through the first stages of assessment and when Jim came in and gave him some instructions about what to be looking for - right away I could tell they knew way more than my physiotherapist about the injury and also - this was not going to be like physio.
Physio = soft. Chiro = aggressive (not in a bad way) After Neil had spent about 20 minutes really getting stuck in...pulling my arms, motioning the shoulder and cranking my neck Jim returned and immediately we were talking in detail about jiu jitsu and the injury and what was going on. Jim took over the session and continued pushing and pulling my arm and shoulder and nailing trigger points with his hands...I was getting a real work over. It was that good pain. Like...you know it is doing you good. It's when they hit pressure points with the fingers...it's like a red button. The deal is both my shoulders have been sprained/seperated at some stage (AC Sprains). My right shoulder I am told happened a good while ago and has now healed and my left (which has been the main issue) was likely in April. That's why both are sore. What I am feeling now is alot of nerve damage and all my muscles, my neck and traps, are very stressed having compensated for the injury...over the next few weeks Jim will be resetting my shoulder to where it should be as it's obviously not quite all lined up now since my shoulder has shifted a little in protecting the problem. We didn't speak the entire time about actually going back to training. To be honest with what was being discussed I was half expecting to need to see him a few times before he would let me go back but as the injury is healed and all I am feeling is tissue and nerve damage he said I could go back because it would simply be down to how much pain I could tolerate. "I'd go back and just ice the shit out of the shoulder after class' he said and with that a huge smile broke on my face. I think Jim understands how badly BJJ players miss training when away from the tatami's. So after about 45 of solid work on the shoulder Jim was happy enough to let me go train and come back and see him next week. (That cost $80 by the way for that session. In case you are wondering about how much this therapy is costing.) I was on cloud 9 for the rest of the day and was the first one at the door of the dojo for class. I was so happy to see everybody and enjoyed my first class back with a small group of my team mates, Jorge and Dudu my instructors. (Dudu and I had a great chat about belts and ranks just before class which is an upcoming article on it's own)  The class was mostly drills and then rolling. I chose the smallest people to work with and stayed back after class and rolled for another 20 minutes with one of our Purple belt Peter. First on the mat - last off. Just right. I did feel a bit slow but not bad. I think now I have started running as well it's going to help my overall cardio.Jorge often has some words to say at the end of class and tonight he again mentioned about how there is no magic formula for getting good at Jiu jitsu - you just have to train train train and you will get better. And everybody was saying 'welcome back Scott..' when we shook hands at the end - it was kinda touching. All part of the family atmosphere. Then I hung back at the front desk for ages just getting caught up. I miss that part alot...the academy is a home for me and my team mates are my brothers and sisters. I did ice when I came home but I will be honest. I was in alot of pain the day after. Both shoulders are very sore. It kept me awake last night and I have been piling on the ice today. I have ordered a shoulder support from ebay which I think will help but now the challenge I think will be learning to really be training smart and doing what I can to reduce the pain, whether that is physio, chiro, massage therapy or other. I am looking at long term options now and have even had alot of kind feedback and suggestions from readers of the blog (team mates), including other Physiotherapist referrals, that I am considering. This is all part of Jiu Jitsu being a personal Journey. You can't control your speed of progression sometimes. Everybody is going to go through different stages of healthyness, injuries or just times when training is harder or easier to keep up than other times. And you can only train at the speed and amount that your body can handle. Honour what your body tells you right? Anyways..it's good to be back and just in time. The Toronto Jiu Jitsu Classic is in July and now I have a goal. Get there healthy and hit the Podium. Time for training. See you on the mat.. Scott |
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