Mixed martial arts (MMA) has gone from the fringe to becoming one of the most popular amateur and professional sports in the world. As a result, it has become widely recognized that current and aspiring fighters are far from being brutes, but elite athletes that must undergo training regimes that make those from other sports shudder in fear. But the intensity of training and competition puts fighter bodies at great risk of injury. Consequently, no fighter should be without a physiotherapist in their proverbial corner of the octagon. If you’re located in the Greater Vancouver area and seeking MMA physiotherapy services, enter the arena with Absolute PhysioCare. Read ahead to learn why we’re the right choice for you.
How Our Burnaby/Vancouver Physiotherapy Clinic Will Optimize Your Performance as an Aspiring or Elite Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Fighter
Concussion Treatment for MMA Fighters
The most common serious injury experienced by MMA fighters is the dreaded concussion. Collective studies have attempted to determine the prevalence of concussions in MMA fighters, listing variable ranges between 8.3% to 62.3%. That’s a wide range, but there’s no denying that it’s an ever-present threat.
Most people don’t think of physio clinics when it comes to concussion treatment, but that is a big part of what makes ours stand out as your MMA physiotherapy resource. View more on your concussion therapist right here.
Treatment for Fighting Style Specific Injuries
MMA fighters employ different fighting styles in the octagon. Each fighting style (including when training) comes with a unique set of injury risk. Below is a brief breakdown of each (for most common fighting styles) excluding cauliflower ear, surface cuts, lesions, and abrasions which are not directly related to physiotherapy interventions:
- Boxing: Common injuries include fractures to the hand, wrist, jaw, nose and ribs in addition to sprains and strains in addition to elbow tendonitis and shoulder dislocation (view more).
- Jiu-jitsu: Common injuries include those to the neck and spine along with shoulder, elbow, and knee joints in addition to soft tissue injuries.
- Muay Thai: Common injuries include sprained wrists, bruised and inflamed legs, bruised and inflamed ankles, bruised and inflamed shins, bruised and inflamed ribs, plantar fasciitis, and strained neck muscles.
- Karate: Common injuries include fracture of the base of the first metacarpal bone, break in the neck of the metacarpal, loss of normal alignment of the carpal bones, break of the distal part of the radius bone or any part of the ulna, extensor carpi ulnaris tendon inflammation, perilunate fracture dislocations, traumatic extensor tendon dislocation, olecranon damage, dislocation of the dorsal metacarpophalangeal joint, dislocation of the interphalangeal joints, finger fractures and nerve injuries, primary wrist ligament rupture.
- Judo: Common injuries include those to the anterior cruciate ligament, collateral ligament, meniscal. AC joint and impingement of the rotator cuff in addition to chronic back pain, neck pain and ankle sprain.
- Taekwondo: Common injuries include neck pain. back pain. meniscal injury, collateral ligament injury, ankle sprain. hamstring strain, and quadriceps strain.
- Sambo: Common injuries include those also associated with judo (above).
- Aikido: Common injuries include general head/neck injury, upper extremity injury, and soft tissue injury.
- Grappling and submission wrestling Common injuries include shoulder and elbow sprains, head injuries, and knee injuries most specifically ligamentous ones such as meniscus and MCL tears.
Of course, there are commonalities of injuries across all of the fighting styles listed above (and others). The bottom line is that our full service physiotherapy clinic will provide the requisite interventions (chiropractic, TCM, etc.) to treat them all, and provide a foundation of musculoskeletal health that will mitigate the risk of future injury.
Improved Functioning for Specific Fighting Styles
It’s now time to switch the focus from the negative (injury) to the positive (performance). In developing an understanding of how the body moves with each fighting style, your Absolute PhysioCare specialist will create a program of movements, stretches, and exercises that will optimize your ability to strike, kick, grapple, and defend against the most fierce opponents. Physiotherapy is not just about injury repair and prevention, but turning you into a stronger and more explosive fighter.
Mindset Improvements for Fighter Trauma
The ferocity of intense bouts can result in post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) along with other forms of mental and emotional scarring that are not dissimilar to those experienced by those in motor vehicle accidents. Understanding this, Absolute PhysioCare has become one of the few Burnaby / Vancouver area clinics to maintain a clinical counselor on staff. PTSD treatment in conjunction with counseling based interventions such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) will assist MMA fighters in optimizing their mindset to heal and enhance performance.
Ready to evolve as an MMA fighter? If located in the Greater Vancouver area schedule your first consultation at our Burnaby clinic today.
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(Burnaby, Greater Vancouver Area)