While wrestling is not the worst sport for injuries, like in all sports, injuries do happen. Usually, the cause is improper technique and poor attention to warm up, stretching or strength training.
This post is divided into two parts: prevention and treatment. It is not medical advice, but guidance from experience, so please see proper medical advice should you be injured and coach advice for details on prevention.
Prevention
As the saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure. Prevention of wrestling injuries comes down to proper training and execution. A wrestler has to be diligent in practicing proper technique of offense and defense. A poorly executed offensive or defensive action can lead to an injury in a blink of an eye. There was an extensive study of wrestling injuries. It found that most wrestling injuries occurred in matches, in wrestlers who have been wrestling a few years, in middle weights and usually the injury was to the elbows, shoulders, or hips.
This has explanations: most people are in mid weights, it is where the heaviest cutting occurs leaving little fatty muscle padding in those areas. It is also the weights where muscle and speed are the greatest as heavy wrestlers are usually strong but not fast and the lower weights are fast but not strong, which means the forces experienced are much higher in those mid weights.
The first is proper technique. Improper technique can result in bad injuries and the higher the weight and the faster the speed the worst the injury. This means learning the moves correctly and practicing them correctly. Being lazy in the room and doing things wrong doesn’t just lead to losses, but is dangerous.
The second rule of prevention is strength. It is actually surprising how few wrestlers spend time lifting weights and conditioning. Muscle prevents a lot of injury by creating the padding and the added reinforcement for ligaments. Ligaments are also strengthened with calisthenics and proper weight training. One should cater their wrestling to their body and wrestling style but in general one in wrestling would prefer density and speed to bulk which eats up oxygen and weighs more but provides less strength. For this, it is better to have more reps at lower weights than going for a max.
The third step to prevent injuries, especially during a match it is imperative to first never wrestle with cold muscles. Cold muscles and ligaments don’t stretch and are prone to tears and injury. This is why wrestling practices increase in intensity from running to drilling to live.
Fourth is it is important to stretch, dynamic stretching preferably as those warm up the muscles while also increasing flexibility and strength. Without stretching, it is also easy to go past the limit of the muscle and ligament and create tears and injury.
Last but not least, good nutrition. Drinking soda eating fat processed foods that are high in sugar deprives the body of getting the nutrients needed to rebuild the muscles after tough workouts. The lack of nutrition means the muscles and ligaments don’t have energy and often don’t have the density to prevent tears and injury. This is why professional athletes eat healthy, don’t drink or smoke. The most important actions are often those that occur off the mat in the 22 hours of the day that one is not wrestling.
Treatment
First, it is important to understand the difference between an injury and being hurt. Being hurt is a result of impact and temporary signals from nerves telling you that you are in danger of being hurt. It is like the smoke alarm, it means there is smoke but it could be just a burnt dinner. If you can walk it off, if you the pain subsides within a 15-30 seconds, you are hurt not injured. If you are injured, you will actually not feel pain, you will go into shock. The body reacts very differently to actual injury as injury happens where there are no pain receptors and the body immediately releases adrenaline followed by a crash which is exhibited by feeling faint and cold. The pain can be there but not necessarily.
So if you are injured, don’t wrestle, seek a doctor and get proper help.
However, if you have a minor injury like a sprain or a pulled muscle or a bruise, the standard procedure is simple: first cold then heat. You want cold because cold constricts blood vessels. Less blood means less internal bleeding which creates swelling which damages tissue. You want the cold do be there 15-20 minutes every two hours or so. You can also take anti-inflamatory medicine at proper doses, and with proper hydration to prevent liver and kidney damage. Anti-inflamatory medicine do the same thing as ice, reduce blood flow and reduce inflamation to prevent tissue damage. You can also rest and elevate the arm/leg to get less blood flow.
After the initial period of a day or two you now want the opposite, you want blood flow because blood brings in nutrients that rebuild the muscle. Think of the trucks of cement and lumber at a construction site, you want more of that cement and lumber to fix the tissue.
One problem I have seen is novice wrestlers have things hurt that have never hurt before because the injuries are specific to wrestling are different than those in other sports. This they often think are more serious than they are, so it takes some explaining on the coach’s part and trust on the wrestler’s side that the injury is not sever and it is something that they can wrestle and the body will fix.
The body and brain are an amazing system. The body has a lot of receptors and ways to create power and the brain monitors that system for any issues. When new issues occur it has not seen before, it does not know how to react so it decides better safe than sorry. Over time, a wrestler learns what is right and what isn’t, what it feels to be hurt and to be injured. They especially learn the discipline it requires doing the moves right, doing their daily strength and conditioning and not being lazy with stretches that prevent injuries. They also learn the most important part: how to overcome being hurt to finish the match.
Henry-Wrestling 