Continue reading »]]> Toes, and especially your big toe are equally prone to getting injured as your fingers are. It does not matter whether you are striking, grappling or doing both, getting your toe caught on someone’s shin, elbow, Gi or simply a gap in the mat can quickly turn into an annoying little injury. Once the toe’s base joint (AKA MP Joint) is hyperextended in one direction or the other, your best bet at making a quick recovery is to properly tape everything up to avoid constantly reinjuring the same toe. Here are some strategies:

Basic Tape Job for the Big Toe:

As you can see, the above video assumes that you want to prevent extension of the toe (moving it upward), but obviously you can modify the tape job by placing the stabilizing strips of tape on the top of your foot/toe instead of the bottom.

Speaking from experience, I have to say that most standard toe tape jobs typically won’t last through a workout without a few modifications. This is especially valid for barefooted combat sports where even more stress is put on the tape job. That is why some modifications to the standard toe tape job may be in order.

The weakest point of the whole tape job is the anchor point on the base of your foot. Once the tape’s adhesiveness on skin weakens, the tension strips that limit your toe’s range of motion loose their function and your whole tape job becomes worthless. The best (and to my knowledge only) way to prevent this is to secure your anchor with tape loops around your heel. Make sure to put the tape loops well above your heel so they won’t slide down your foot during your workout. Below, you can see the result of one of my own tape jobs (before covering everything up with the last protective layer of tape).

As with all tape jobs, some individual experimenting may be in order before you are perfectly satisfied with your tape job. Feel free to leave improvement ideas and feedback in the comment section.

Continue reading »]]> One summer a few years back, I started complaining to my girlfriend about my excessively itchy scalp. After inspecting it and coming to the conclusion that I had a fungal infection of the skin, she dryly commented: “I guess that’s what happens when you roll around with all those sweaty guys on those nasty mats”. (Clearly, she was referring to the different grappling sports I trained in…) Even though I argued that the “nasty mats” at my club were cleaned on a daily basis, it did not chance anything about the fact that Combat Athletes particularly (but not exclusively) grapplers are at a higher risk of contracting skin disease such as ringworm, strep and staph infections or even herpes.

The skin is our bodies’ primary barrier against the outside world. With this fact in mind, it should not be surprising, that the chance of contracting all sorts of infections rises with increased contact with potentially infected individuals. Of course, the likelihood is highest for direct skin to skin contact. That is why both popular literature as well as medical authorities have been identifying the “gladiator epidemics” herpes gladiatorum and tinea gladiatorum (=ringworm) among others. These quickly spreading infections where discovered in wrestlers in teams on any level (high school, college, olympic…). Unlike major traumatic sports injuries, these skin disease are more of an annoyance than an incapacitating factor that keeps athletes from training. And that’s really where the problems all start. Because also unlike traumatic sports injuries, having a skin disease puts your opponents in competition as well as your training partners on your team in danger of contracting the same thing you have. The resulting policies of banning wrestlers from competition if they display signs of infectious skin disease can be devastating on teams, especially if they have multiple athletes infected.

Some facts:

• Prime locations for skin infections are especially exposed areas of the upper body that are most exposed to contact with others (head, neck, arms).
• Even though herpes makes lots of people think “STD”, most cases of Herpes gladiatorum are actually caused by Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 (HSV1), which is responsible for cold sores as well. Up to one third of athletes in wrestling programs (in the US) have been affected by Herpes gladiatorum.
• Fungus infections (aka Ringworm or Tinea gladiatorum) are actually more common in than Herpes gladiatorum.
• Even though microbes responsible for a host of these skin disease have been isolated on training mats, experts think mats have little to no part in transmission (except plantar warts!). This however should not be an excuse for gym owners to refrain from regularly clean their mats with chlorox or the likes.
• I was mainly talking about wrestlers for two reasons: due to their large numbers and well-organized athletics in schools etc. their health is being more closely monitored than other grappling sports (rugby players are often affected my similar disease as wrestlers are). Gi grapplers may be a little better off as their Gi may offer some protection from skin to skin contact, but the general precautions I will be mentioning below still apply (I have witnessed ringworm outbreaks in gyms that were exclusive to Judo and BJJ).
• It seems obvious, but I’ll say it nonetheless: despite the fact that I did not specifically mention boxing, Muay Thai, no-gi BJJ and all the other combat sports, a significant threat for the above skin infections still exists.

What to do:

• First and foremost, attempting to prevent outbreaks of skin infections is the key. This is best accomplished by not sharing equipment or towels and by sticking to basic hygiene principles (both for your body and your equipment). If there is no way around sharing certain pieces of equipment, investing in a bottle of disinfecting solution and some paper towels to wipe down materials in between uses can go a long ways (make sure to use solutions that evaporate completely so they won’t harm your skin).
• If you notice bumps, blisters, plaques (those look “crusty), reddening, itching or other weird phenomena on your own or a team mates skin, don’t ignore or conceal anything. Go to a doctor to get proper treatment and refrain from direct skin contact with others.
• For practice, it may be acceptable to use athletic tape and additionally clothing to cover up skin infections to protect others. Be diligent about making you’re to keep the athletic tape on, we all know it’s tendency to fall off during intense practices. Covering skin infections is generally not accepted during competitions.

Sources:

Adams B. Dermatologic Disorders of the Athlete. Journal of Sports Medicine 2002; 32:309-321.

King O. Infectious Disease and Boxing. Journal of Clinical Sports Medicine 2009; 28:545-560.

Kohl T, Lisney M. Tinea Gladiatorum: Wrestling’s Emerging Foe. Journal of Sports Medicine 2000; 29:439-447.

Minnesota Department of Health

Credit:

Image taken from Austin Community College Website.

Continue reading »]]> Most often, muscle strain type injuries can be grouped in with all the other hugely annoying but otherwise non-threatening injuries that keep you from training at full capacity. As with all of these annoying injuries, it is key to treat it immediately to minimize its impact on your training. At the same time, it is equally important to recognize potentially more serious injuries that mask themselves as muscle sprains.

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Background:

Muscle injuries are typically classed into three or four classes, depending on the extent of the muscle damage. Grade 1 is the least severe, merely consisting of a few damaged muscle fibers, while a Grade 3/4 injury is a complete rupture of the muscle and supporting tissue. Additionally, acute and chronic injuries are distinguished.

Causes of Muscle Strains:

As you can imagine, a multitude of causes can lead to acute muscle injury, but most commonly they can be traced back to a sudden, forceful extension of muscle fibers that surpasses their tolerance level. Particularly sudden stops of accelerating body parts and unexpected changes in muscle contraction can cause muscle strains (punching an object or pulling an opponent when encountering sudden resistance for example). Another frequent cause are muscle contusions due to heavy impact (getting kicked in the thigh for example).

Of course, you can also develop chronic type muscle pains due to long-lasting overuse. This type of injury should best be assessed and treated my professionals.

Risk Factors:

Individuals whose muscles are not “activity-adapted” are at an elevated risk of straining a muscle. In this case, “activity-adapted” means being in good athletic shape, having warmed up sufficiently prior to exercising and training in a climate controlled environment (cold temperatures are worse for injury risk). As with all contact sports, Combat Athletes are a more prone to strain muscles when compared to non-contact sports.

Recognizing Muscle Injuries:

Depending on the severity of the injury, you may experience these admittedly not very specific symptoms:

• obviously pain, particularly when using the injured muscle.
• swelling and bruising
• potentially impaired muscle function

As you can see, it is easy to confuse any number of injuries for muscle injuries (or vice versa), but in most cases it does not matter. If the injury is bad enough to inhibit motion altogether or you can see deformities, you will have to get professional help anyways, if you suffered only a low grade injury with the above symptoms, treatment is the same regardless of the actual diagnosis.

Treatment:

If you experience the above symptoms after suffering an injury, it is key to start treatment immediately. Your first priority should be to prevent as much bruising and swelling as possible by once again (big surprise!) using (R.)I.C.E. This is your best shot at minimizing recovery time. Once that time window has closed, no amount of ice, NSAIDs or other measure can substitute for that initial treatment. To make sure your acute muscle injury does not turn into one of those permanently nagging little pains that lots of athletes have and which prevent them from training at full capacity, your next step is pretty simple. Be smart and allow your muscles to fully recover by giving them the appropriate amount of rest. Muscle injuries take a minimum of three weeks, but depending on their severity can take up to thirteen weeks to properly heal.

Bottom Line:

Generally, minor muscle injuries can be easily treated with our basic tools, ice, rest and common sense. At the same time it is important to recognize more severe muscle injuries and to consult professionals (ideally a combination of sports physician/orthopedic surgeon and physical therapist).

Sources:

Scharf H.-P. Orthopädie und Unfallchirurgie (Orthopedics and Trauma Surgery). Munich, Germany, 2009.

Mayoclinic.com

Medline

Continue reading »]]> Even though I was not fully convinced of the benefit of carbohydrate loading for Combat Athletes, I previously promised a quick guideline of how it is done right. Without further ado:

Preparation:

Before starting the actual loading process, it is suggested to thoroughly deplete existing carbohydrate stores. To do so, decrease your carb intake to about 50% (of your daily caloric intake)* a week before the competition. At the same time, you should continue your regular training habits for the next couple of days.

Loading Phase:

You should start the carb loading phase about 3 to 4 times before your event. Now you increase your carb intake to 70% of your daily calories. This roughly translates into 4.5 grams of carbs per pound for smaller athletes and 3.5 grams of carbs per pound for larger athletes. At the same time, you should slowly reduce your exercise workload and completely rest the day (or two days) before the competition.

You can use this sample meal plan (borrowed from the Mayo Clinic) as a blueprint for your carb loading endeavors. The meal plan is laid out for the “average” 170 pound athlete.

Comment:

Even though I personally don’t think Combat Athletes will profit from this, I would be really interested in hearing your experiences with carbohydrate loading. When you do, please mention what type of event you carb loaded for (what combat sport? tournament or single fight? etc.).

*Of course this means that you increase your calories from fat at protein at the same time.

Continue reading »]]>  

Carbohydrate loading is a well studied and much discussed dietary method many athletes use to gain a competitive edge over their competition. While many athletes focus on the “how” of carbohydrate loading to make sure they do it right (and even here a lot of errors are still made) few question whether or not carbohydrate loading is even applicable to Combat Sports. So lets look at the details here.

Purpose:

As I have elaborated on before, Carbohydrates are your body’s main source of energy. We store the carbohydrates that we eat as glycogen in our muscles and liver. The goal of carbohydrate loading is to pack all or your body’s available glycogen stores with maximal amounts of energy. Obviously, full energy stores are intended to allow you to go longer and delay onset of fatigue.

Who Benefits:

Researchers seem to agree that carbohydrate loading is really only beneficial for endurance athletes participating in events more than ninety minutes in length. Measurements have shown that glycogen stores were not depleted for activities requiring less endurance. That means, in theory carbohydrate loading does not seem beneficial for the type of Combat Sports events I know off.

Side note: Research has shown that carbohydrate loading works much better for men. The results for women are inconclusive at best.

What speaks against carb-loading:

First off, if you have any metabolic disorders, such as diabetes, you should refrain from carb-loading or consult a physician first. More importantly though, all the extra carbs will cause extra water retention which results in an increase in weight. In weight-class dominated Combat Sports where even a single pound can make a huge difference, I would spend a few extra moments considering whether or not to start carb-loading before competition.

Bottom line:

Even though theory speaks against carb-loading, I know many of you out there have probably tried it out or even made it part of your pre-competition routine. What are your experiences with carb loading? For those who are interested in trying it nonetheless, check back next week as I will be posting a guide to proper carb-loading.

Sources:

Hawley JA et al. Carbohydrate-loading and exercise performance. An update. Journal of Sports Medicine 1997; 24:73-81.

Mayoclinic.com: Carbohydrate-loading diet.

American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons: Sports Nutrition.