Jiu-Jitsu gets more and more popular with each passing year. Ever since Royce Gracie won UFC 1 using the fighting style, people have been lining up outside gyms to learn it. The ground based, grappling martial art might look violent to the untrained eye, but is Jiu-Jitsu Dangerous?
How Dangerous is Jiu-Jitsu?
Just like any sport, Jiu-Jitsu can be dangerous and has the potential to cause injury. However, it’s worth noting that incidences of injury in the martial art are relatively low when compared to the likes of Judo, Taekwondo, wrestling and MMA. A 2019 study found that out of 5022 matches, there were just 46 injuries. Meaning less than 1% of matches result in any form of injury.
The words Jiu-Jitsu actually translate to “the gentle art” so the results of the study shouldn’t be a surprise. Because it’s a grappling based martial art that predominantly takes place on the ground, it means that there are less high impact falls like in Judo, and less high impact strikes like Taekwondo.
Jiu-Jitsu is one of the few martial arts in the world where practitioners can give 100% effort in training scenarios with little risk of serious injury. The same cannot be said for striking sports like Boxing or Muay Thai.
Study Results
The 2019 study mentioned above had the following conclusion:
Comparison of the BJJ injury data with injury data reported for judo, taekwondo, wrestling, and mixed martial arts showed that BJJ competitors were at substantially lower risk of injury compared with these other sports. With orthopaedic injuries being most common and the elbow being the area most vulnerable to injury in BJJ, it is important that participants, referees, and physicians be properly educated about the unique mechanisms of injury that can occur, particularly to the elbow.
Is Jiu-Jitsu hard on your body?
Martial arts training can take it’s toll on your body over time. However, when it comes to Jiu-Jitsu, the effects are not as severe.
Jiu-Jitsu is not as hard on the body because most of the time practitioners are on the ground. In this position, fighters are less susceptible to big impact falls like in wrestling or Judo. Practitioners are also less susceptible to absorbing heavy strikes to the body or head like in Boxing or Taekwondo.
Conclusion
So, is Jiu-Jitsu dangerous? Every sport has some degree of danger and risk of injury however when it comes to Jiu-Jitsu, the risk is much lower. It’s also a martial art that’s not so hard on the body, making it perfect for beginners that don’t want to get punched in the face in training but still want to learn self defense.
