Issue 145
September 2016
Expert advice to help avoid a KO and injury to your most valuable fighting tool – your brain
Jonathan Gelber M.D. M.S.
Orthopedic surgeon with fellowship training in sports medicine, founder of FightMedicine.net and the Mixed Martial Arts Research Society
Injuries are a fact of life in mixed martial arts. So is getting hit in the head. But taking shots to the dome needn’t mean a fast track to brain injury. One of the best methods to minimize mutilation of your gray matter is to strengthen yourself so that damaged is diminished.
Head striking coach at Jackson-Wink MMA Mike Winkeljohn says one of the most important things fighters can do to prevent knockouts and improve their ability to take a punch is to strengthen their neck muscles.
But there is a fine line between strengthening the neck and putting yourself at risk for injury. He says: “I have noticed the guys that do the best with neck exercises use slow, controlled movements.”
Retired MMA fighter Frank Shamrock agrees with keeping things light when dealing with the neck. “The best neck strengthening exercises are the ones that use only a little resistance.”
When a fighter is hit in the head, significant forces are transmitted through the neck. Years of hard training and fighting can lead to deterioration of the cartilage and the cervical spine (discs in the neck), which can result in narrowing of the joint spaces, pain, and/or nerve impingement.
Ken Shamrock is just one example of many fighters who have had to undergo surgical fusion of the cervical spine after years of pain.
Keeping your neck muscles strong may help prevent the traumatic forces a fighter’s neck sees from wearing away the cartilage between the vertebrae. Ken credits his strong neck muscles with the longevity of his entire athletic career, not just MMA.
“The only reason I was able to play football and become a pro fighter was because I made the areas of my injuries stronger so the muscle protected the site of my injury, including my neck muscles.
“Even after my career, I can’t stop training because the areas of my body I have injured before become weak and then those same areas become more of a problem for me.”
When doing neck exercises, a fighter should be careful of the more traditional exercises that have you putting your weight on the crown of your head. UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture has some advice on this: “As far as your neck is concerned, avoid any and all exercises that put you on the crown of your head and compress the cervical spine.
“Long term, this puts stress on the cervical discs, which may cause them to degenerate, creating nerve and neck issues. Regular stretching can prevent and alleviate some of these issues.”
Strengthening your neck may help with brain injury prevention, but putting too much weight on your neck can lead to long-term damage. As UFC heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic demonstrates, you can use your own body to create resistance to make your neck muscles stronger.
Stay Fit To Fight
Excerpted from The Ultimate Guide to Preventing and Treating MMA Injuries © Jonathan Gelber, 2016. Published by ECW Press, ecwpress.com. Available now for more advice on how to protect yourself at all times.
Exercise 1
Place your hand on the sides of your head, in front, or behind and push for resistance.
Exercise 2
Lie on your side and lift your head sideways up against gravity.
Exercise 3
Push a large, inflatable exercise ball against a wall with the side or back of your head.
Exercise 4
Push your head at an angle against the ball and rotate your head for rotational resistance. This also mimics strike avoidance.
