Common Capoeira Injuries

Posted by Sorriso on June 5th, 2009 at 12:09am

This is an article posted on soulcapoeira.org by chan. They have a very informative blog which provides insight and information to all those interested in learning more about capoeira.

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.

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

Under conditioning