Is Jiu-Jitsu Bad for Your Brain?

Most jiu-jitsu practitioners train without giving much consideration to their brain health. But since head injuries can be so detrimental to your quality of life, it’s worth considering whether jiu-jitsu is bad for your brain.

Jiu-jitsu has a reputation for being safer than other martial arts that focus on striking. However, there is some risk of brain injury while training jiu-jitsu. Mainly, concussions occur in a surprisingly high percentage of jiu-jitsu practitioners, according to recent research.

Brain injuries can have an incredibly negative impact on your well-being, and any wise person will seek to avoid them. This article will teach you about the risk of brain injury in jiu-jitsu and give you some advice on how to reduce your risk.

Are Concussions Common in Jiu-Jitsu?

Although you might not expect concussions to be prevalent in jiu-jitsu, they take place more often than you’d assume. A study published in February 2019 found that more than a quarter of jiu-jitsu practitioners had experienced a concussion while training jiu-jitsu.

That study included a total of 778 participants and studied the prevalence of concussions over the entirety of their training experience. Among those participants, just over 11 percent were female, while the rest were male. Interestingly, males and females showed significantly different rates of concussions during jiu-jitsu training.

While males had a reported concussion rate of 22.9%, the rate for females was nearly double at 43%. Jiu-jitsu-related concussions were also much more likely to occur in those who had a previous history of concussions before training jiu-jitsu. These findings are concerning, and no jiu-jitsu practitioner should take them lightly.

However, research on the harmful effects of jiu-jitsu is somewhat limited as jiu-jitsu is not as often the topic of scientific study as other activities. The study we’ve mentioned also relied on self-reporting, making data somewhat unreliable. As more studies take place, we’ll continue to gain a better understanding of how common concussions are in jiu-jitsu. 

How Do Concussions Occur in Jiu-Jitsu?

Many people are surprised to find that concussions occur in jiu-jitsu. The reason for their astonishment often relates to jiu-jitsu’s lack of focus on striking. However, while jiu-jitsu does not emphasize strikes, accidental blows to the head occur regularly.

During an intense sparring session, it is easy for your partner to accidentally strike your head with one of their limbs. Although those hits are unintentional, they can cause concussions if they produce enough force.

It’s possible that concussions could also occur during takedown exchanges. During those moves, your head may accelerate towards the floor, which produces a significant force when your head impacts the mats. While the padding of a typical mat is meant to absorb such forces, there is no guarantee that it will prevent a concussion.

Concussions take place after a jarring shock to your head. As such, any move that risks such a force could result in a concussion if that force is powerful enough.

How to Avoid Concussions in Jiu-Jitsu

While concussions are more prevalent in jiu-jitsu than you might believe at first, they are not a certainty for all practitioners. Whether you’ll suffer a concussion while training is largely a matter of chance. However, there are some precautions you can take to reduce your risk.

Our best advice for avoiding concussions in jiu-jitsu is to focus on bodily control. Taking a measured approach to your grappling style can reduce the risk of many injuries, concussions included.

If preventing concussions is a priority for you, do your best to avoid moves that involve large dynamic movements such as high-amplitude takedowns. Such moves involve a lot of force and impact that could result in a head injury. Likewise, you should avoid using moves that are well beyond your skill level, as you are more likely to lose control during those moves.

Instead, you should focus on employing basic techniques at a moderate pace. Doing so gives you the greatest control over your body and your sparring sessions. It also helps to have training partners who also value brain safety and are willing to alter their training style with that idea in mind.

Do Chokeholds Affect Brain Health?

A common belief exists in the martial arts community that chokeholds are completely safe. However, while chokeholds are significantly safer than concussive blows to the head, they can be dangerous as well. But as of now, the degree of that danger remains inconclusive.

As is the case with concussions in jiu-jitsu, more ongoing research is currently revealing the true risk factors associated with chokeholds. As this research progresses over the years, we’ll gain a far better understanding of the effect of chokeholds on brain health.

A commonsense approach to the topic of chokeholds and brain health can also be somewhat complicated. On the one hand, it’s entirely reasonable to assume that cutting off the oxygen supply to the brain to the point at which a person cannot maintain consciousness appears as though it would be detrimental to that person’s well-being.

On the other hand, anyone who watches or trains in jiu-jitsu or mixed martial arts has likely seen countless practitioners pass out from a chokehold only to awaken a few moments later with seemingly minimal negative effects. However, those instances give no implication about the long-term effects of repeated chokeholds. Hopefully, continued scientific analysis will lead to a clearer understanding.

Is Jiu-Jitsu Safer for Your Brain than other Martial Arts?

While brain injuries can take place, they are much less common in jiu-jitsu than in other martial arts. The main reason for this is somewhat obvious. Jiu-jitsu focuses on grappling techniques, such as joint locks and chokeholds. In other martial arts, like boxing and kickboxing, landing strikes to the head is the primary goal.

Conclusion

Although you might not expect it to be the case, jiu-jitsu can be bad for your brain. The biggest risk to your brain health is the concussive impact that can happen by accident while you train. However, if you know how to train as safely as possible, you have a decent chance of practicing jiu-jitsu as a hobby without experiencing the harmful effects of a brain injury.