by JeffI was recently sent an email from a reader who found himself in a situation similar to my own.

Jeff,

Last week during training (MMA) I ruptured one of my long-head bicep tendons and tore my labrum. It was open mat and during a scramble with my opponent my arm ended up in a bad position and that's when the injury occurred. This is devastating for me. I just came back from a two-month training trip to Fairtex in Thailand to work on stand up and was continuing my prep for a fight (MMA) in June. Training couldn't have been going any better.

Unfortunately, surgery is a must and is scheduled for next week (the time to the procedure is a small window due to the tendon starting to tighten back up). I'll be out of action for 4-6 months. I live and breathe this shit. To not be able to train is a HUGE dagger to the heart and the depression is already setting in. I know you suffered a similar shoulder injury. How did you deal with your recovery mentally? Did you do anything to speed up the recovery process? Any advice would be very much appreciated.

-Kyle

Kyle,

That injury -- any debilitating injury -- is the most frustrating thing in the world for a fighter. When the inflammation goes down and the pain subsides it will feel ok. 90% of the range will be all right and you might gain some confidence in it, then you'll reach too far to get a shirt out of your closet, pull too hard to turn your steering wheel or scratch you crotch will too much fervor and all the sudden you're rolling on the floor in pain.

When I first injured my shoulder I wasn't sure exactly what was wrong and I didn't have insurance. So I took a couple weeks off until it felt decent and went back to the gym. I babied the arm best I could, then threw a punch with too much snap. That was all it took to put me on the floor and keep me out of the gym for a month.

I repeated that cycle for almost a year, missing my opportunity for it to heal naturally -- something my surgeon said it might have done had I taken a full 5 months off right at the onset of the tear.

I can't say much more about how to deal with it. Fighting is a huge part of my life. I dream of it. Being told I couldn't see a set of gloves for half a year killed me. And I'd be lying if I said I didn't sneak in a punch here and there. Just realize that every time you cheat or delay the healing process is double that you'll have to really wait to be healthy --assuming you don't destroy your chance of healing completely. If you don't do what has to be done now, if you push it off and try and work around it, you may never heal right.

This hasn't gone on the site yet, but my surgery didn't work. The labrum could not be fixed and now it can never be fully fixed.

Because I didn't do what had to be done when I first was injured I will NEVER have a shoulder that is 100% healthy. Don't make that mistake.

You have the rest of your life to fight (disregarding natural aging) and injury is a part of it -- a big part of it. All you can do is what is best and that will give you the best chance of continuing to fight. Disregard this and you could end your career in a matter of months.

Watch videos, drill moves in your head, go to classes and watch people roll. It will just make the itch worse but at least your mind will still be in the right mode. Get to a doctor and do EXACTLY what he says. Don't fuck around on this, no matter how much it sucks. Some people have to take a year off from a bad joint injury. If that's the case, THAT IS THE CASE. Skirting the matter might give momentary satisfaction but when you've ruined an entire career because you were stubborn that sort of fucks the whole point of it.

Side note: Make sure you do what you can to keep up your cardio and more importantly, flexibility. Shoulder aside, obviously. But just because you might have to sit on your ass for half a year doesn't mean you have to lose the ability to kick someone in the head. And take it from me-- someone who was depressed about the whole thing and tried to ignore fighting during rehab, including stretching. I'm back, two months into training and my kicks barely reach rib height right now. It's pathetic.

Take care man. Good luck and may you heal soon.

Posted by Jeff at 12:58 AM

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