Why Are There So Many Injuries in BJJ?
Updated: Oct 20
I've been fortunate enough to treat and educate many high-level athletes and world champions, and to teach seminars at academies and camps around the world. Over the years, I've seen the best and the worst of how people train — and how they get hurt.
From working in the field, injuries in Jiu Jitsu almost always trace back to one of three factors. Understanding them is the first step toward staying on the mats longer, healthier, and stronger.
The 3 Real Reasons Jiu Jitsu Practitioners Get Injured
1. Ineffective GPP (General Physical Preparedness)
People jump into Jiu Jitsu without a solid movement, lifting, or recovery regimen already built into their daily lives — and the physical demands of the sport exceed their capacity to handle them.
To minimize your chances of injury, it's imperative to have your recovery, strength, and conditioning in place, along with a solid understanding of how to generate and absorb force through your joints, before engaging in a combat sport that will constantly have you reacting and resisting to outside forces being applied to your body.
2. Thick-Headedness
This shows up most often in practitioners who've been on the mats longer — the ones who try to "train around" or "train through" an injury instead of facilitating proper recovery.
Sitting on your couch with a drink and snacks isn't recovery — that's resting. There's an entire discipline called active recovery that manages soft-tissue quality, joint range of motion, and capacity at end ranges of motion. Instead, we see people jumping straight into saunas and cold plunges, trying to outsource their recovery to massages, PTs, and chiropractors rather than actively taking part in the process themselves.
3. Misleading or Unreliable Information
People will believe any self-proclaimed expert on Instagram "fixing" all their problems with "the best 3 exercises" for whatever injury they have.
Do your own research. Don't buy into content from peddlers whose only real skill is being popular on social media. Look for trusted sources with real in-field experience — or go to an already-established, trusted resource that has spent the past couple of decades doing the research and applying it in the field with beginners and world champions alike, with testimonials to prove it. That's exactly what we've built at ALiGN.
The Uncomfortable Statistic
Statistically — and this is easily researchable — the most common surgery for someone who's had shoulder surgery is another shoulder surgery. They didn't really "fix" anything; they treated the symptoms and turned the patient into a ticking time bomb. A medical model invested in creating a return customer, rather than actually resolving the issue, propagates this cycle. (Here's how we approach fixing shoulder pain at the root.)
Treat the Root Cause, Not the Symptom
Your best way through an injury is actively learning about the specific injury and applying the principles you've learned to improve function and capacity. That's the difference between managing symptoms and actually getting better.
I've built a career around educating people about their condition — the anatomical build and kinesiological movement science lying beneath their symptoms, which is the true root cause of their problem. My goal has always been to spark curiosity and prompt people to assess and treat the underlying root cause of their injury, so they have a long-term solution on their journey back to healthy movement.
"Your best way through an injury is actively learning about it — not outsourcing the fix and hoping it sticks."
How do I train jiu jitsu without getting injured?
Putting the factors above into practice, here's what staying injury-free actually requires:
Build your GPP first — strength, conditioning, and recovery capacity — so your body can meet the demands Jiu Jitsu will place on it.
Understand how to generate and absorb force through your joints before you're reacting to an opponent's resistance in live rolls.
Practice active recovery: manage soft-tissue quality, joint range of motion, and end-range capacity as part of your regular routine, not just when something already hurts.
Don't train around or through pain — address it early, before it becomes a chronic, recurring injury.
Get your information from trusted, experienced sources with a track record in the field, not the most popular account on your feed.
We've been fortunate enough to serve the communities we cherish — Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai, MMA, and beyond — working with athletes across four continents and counting through our seminars and app platform.
Want to train hard and still come home rested? Our sister company, StayTRUE Retreats, runs small-group jiu jitsu retreats in Costa Rica built around one idea: trained, not drained.
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Written by V, Founder of ALiGN Training
V founded ALiGN Training to educate athletes and everyday movers on the why and how behind pain and movement, combining hands-on clinical experience with world-class athletes and a systematic, SMART approach to recovery. Learn more about our story.
This article is for education and isn't a substitute for an individual assessment. If you're in pain, get checked by a qualified professional.
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