written by instrutor Bruxa

Symptoms:

• Grade I Groin Strain: Mild discomfort, often no disability. Usually does not limit activity.

• Grade II Groin Strain: Moderate discomfort, can limit ability to perform activities such as running and jumping. May have moderate swelling and bruising associated.

• Grade III Groin Strain: Severe injury that can cause pain with walking. Often patients complain of muscle spasm, swelling, and significant bruising

Difficulty to recover: Average

Time Required: Depends on the severity of the injury

Steps to Recovery:

1. Rest:
Rest is recommended for the early recovery phase, lasting 1 to 5 days depending on the severity of the injury.

2. Ice:
Ice application helps reduce swelling, bleeding, and pain. Ice application should begin as soon as possible after sustaining a muscle pull. Ice applications can be done frequently, but should not be done for more than 15 minutes at a time. ( Boys should be careful to keep the ice pack away from genitals )

3. Anti-Inflammatory Medications:
Anti-inflammatory medications can help reduce swelling and alleviate painful symptoms. These medications do have potential side effects, and you should check with your doctor prior to starting anti-inflammatory medications.

4. Gentle Stretching:
Stretching and strengthening are useful in treatment and prevention of muscle strain injuries. Muscles that are stronger and more flexible are less likely to be injured.

5. Strengthening:
After injuring the muscle, it is important to regain strength before returning to athletic activities. Both the injury itself and the rest period following the injury can reduce the strength of the muscle. Stronger muscles are less likely to sustain a re-injury.

written by Instrutor Bruxa

Warming up properly is one of the key things you can do to prevent injuries. Taking some simple precautions can help reduce the risk of injury and keep you training towards your goals. Most martial arts disciplines recommend sustained stretching for at least 15 minutes before any kicks or punches are thrown.

A) Static stretches are an option to start your warm-up. They will assist you to set your mind and thoughts in what you are about to start, in this case: TRAINING and they will increase blood flow to your muscles.

1. Remember to always move slowly and smoothly. Using quick, jerky movements increases your chances of injury and doesn’t stretch you as effectively.

2. Always try to relax. Tensing up while stretching eliminates the effectiveness of the stretch.

3. Hold the stretched position for at least 30 seconds at a time

4. Increase the number of repetitions as you progress

5. Think about what muscle or muscle group you are trying to stretch and make your stretch muscle-specific

B) Active stretching should be your second step. You can use your capoeira moves or the ginga as a way to perform your active stretches.

Once again:

1. Remember to always move slowly and smoothly. Using quick, jerky movements increases your chances of injury and doesn’t stretch you as effectively.

2. Always try to relax. Tensing up while stretching eliminates the effectiveness of the stretch.

3. Start with low kicks ( knee height ) and low movements and increase your Range of Movement as you increase your repetitions.

Below is one of the stretching sets that we run through at our classes here at Soul Capoeira. We usually hold the stretches for a lot longer and their are specific things that you should focus on when you are doing certain stretches. So come to a class and you will be able to learn it!

These stretches are influenced from: Capoeira, Yoga, Brazilian Jiujitsu and various Martial arts instructors.

Stumble It!

Written by Instrutor Bruxa

Wrist tendonitis is a common condition characterized by irritation and inflammation of the tendons around the wrist joint. It will limit your ability to perform cartwheels, handstands, queda de rins and any weight bearing activities.

What is the treatment for wrist tendonitis?

1. Immobilization

Placing the wrist in a splint or a cast is usually the first treatment step. By resting the tendon, the inflammation should decrease. You can purchase casts or try taping it up with sports tape.

2. Ice the Injury

Applying an ice pack intermittently to the area of inflammation may also be beneficial. Icing wrist tendonitis can help to cool inflammation and also stimulates blood flow to the area of tendonitis.

3. Anti-Inflammatory Medications

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications will help control symptoms of pain, but more importantly they help in the treatment of wrist tendonitis to decrease inflammation and swelling of the soft-tissues. These treatment medications will decease the inflammatory response which is the cause of the pain. Anti-inflammatory medications may present secondary symptoms, so make sure you talk to a doctor prior to starting treatment.

Wrist tendonitis is usually caused by hyperflexion of the wrist during weight bearing exercises. It can also be caused by over use or pushing through exercises when the wrist is not strong enough to deal with them. Safe training and knowing your limits is good training.

Written by Instrutor Bruxa

Difficulty to recover: Low
Time Required: Depends on the severity of the injury

A FEW HINTS:
• A small, unbroken blister [less than 1 in. across] will usually heal on its own.
• Do not try to break the blister. Just leave it alone.
• Leave the blister uncovered unless something rubs against it. If you do cover it:
• Apply a loose bandage. Secure the bandage so the tape does not touch the blister.
• If the blister is in an area where pressure is applied, such as on the bottom of your foot, protect it with a doughnut-shaped moleskin pad or you as for Second Skins from the chemist. If possible, leave the area over the blister open
• Do not remove the flap of skin covering the blister unless it tears or gets dirty or pus forms under it

Common Injuries and Injury Prevention in Capoeira

Written by Instrutor Bruxa

Introduction

We thought it would be a good idea to outline a few common injuries that “Capoeiristas” seem to experience as well as highlight preventative measures to avoid them.

We would like you to use the information below as a tool to increase your knowledge. In saying that, this section should not assist you to make your own diagnosis, but more so to encourage you to seek professional advice.

I guess the most important things to remember are:

- Similarity of the symptoms you are experiencing to the ones we described here, don’t always mean that you have sustained the type of injury you are reading about.
- No written and prescriptive treatment will be as effective as having individualised professional treatment
- If in doubt about the severity of the symptoms you are experiencing, seek advice!

Risk factors

Some of the factors that can increase risk of injury include:
• Poor technique – holding or moving the body incorrectly can put unnecessary strain on joints, muscles and ligaments.
Make sure you keep your body aligned, use joint pivots and do not compensate movements. Seek advice from your martial arts teacher if you think your techniques need improving
• Inexperience – beginners are more likely to get hurt because their bodies are not used to the demands of the sport.
• Overtraining – training too much and too often can lead to a wide range of overuse injuries.

Common injuries

• Skin damage – such as cuts, blisters and bruises.
• Sprains – injury to ligaments
• Strains – injury to muscle or tendon. For example, a muscle may tear from the rapid stop that occurs when you make contact with an opponent or ground.
• Knee injuries – caused by the bent-knee stance typical of most martial arts ( ginga, esquivas etc) and the use of forceful kicks (such as martelo) that can injure the joint if not done properly.
• Dislocations and fractures – particularly of the shoulder, finger, foot and toes.
• Overuse injuries – any part of the body can be injured by overuse and fatigue

What to do if you injure yourself

Suggestions include:
• Stop immediately to help prevent further damage ( even if you do feel better after a few minutes, its probably best if
you rest for the rest of the training session!) .
• Seek prompt treatment of injury. Early management will mean less time away from training.
• Treat all soft tissue injures (ligament sprains, muscle strains, bumps and bruises) with RICE: Rest, Ice, Compression,
Elevation (raise the limb above your heart) and seek advice from a health professional.
Do not resume activity until you have completely recovered from injury

Watch Bruxa’s section for articles written about:

1. Warm Ups

Plus much more!

REFERENCES:
1. Bruxa’s brain
2. http://martialarts.about.com/od/techniquesandtutorials/ht/howtowarmup.htm
3. http://www.monash.edu.au/muarc/VISU/reports/martial.html
4. http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Martial_arts_preventing_injury?OpenDocument
5. http://orthopedics.about.com/od/sprainstraintreatment/Information_About_Treatment_of_Strains_Sprains.htm
6. http://orthopedics.about.com/od/sprainstraintreatment/ht/muscle.htm
7. http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/tc/blisters-home-treatment
8. http://orthopedics.about.com/cs/handwristsurgery/a/wristtendonitis.htm