When is your neck or back injury serious enough that you should straight up head for the doctor’s office?  

Jiu-jitsu puts a strain on the back of upto 80% of practitioners according to some incidence reports. Do you have an issue with your back? Are you in pain? Disc herniations are much more common than previously thought. Further, disc herniation may be asymptomatic. They may cause mild to moderate or confusing symptoms but they can also lead to serious, devastating and permanent injury.

One of the first things worth discussing is something called the referred pain. One example of such occurrence would be when you’re having trouble with your neck but it’s sending pain down  and into your arm. Quite often, the further the pain goes down the more serious it’s getting.

One usual pattern could start with neck pain which becomes a pain between the shoulder blades which then evolves into shoulder blade slowly transfering down into the outside of the arm and sometimes even the inside. When it goes all the way into the hand and there is tingling… that is a huge warning sign that you should visit a physician asap.

Particularly if there’s tingling, numbness or you start losing grip strength you need medical assistance.

And on the back. Pain will often start in the lower back and go down to the but but every so often if the pain is just in the lower back, it’s actually coming from the mid back. Lower back pain typically goes toward the butt and extends down the leg. Here it’s crucial again to pay attention, once it gets to the foot .. the further it goes the worse it’s getting.

This is of course not accounting for regular real life issues. One other pinpoint that you might need to visit a medical professional is the constant pain. Constant pain is very worrisome.

In physical therapy finding a position that makes the pain worse and the one that makes it go away is quite beneficial as it provides the necessary intel for the course of action.

With pain down the leg it’s important to pay attention to the drop foot or dragging toe. It’s quite important to be able to walk just on your heels and just on your toes.

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