First Aid For Fighters: Torn Toenail

by Meredith & Doc Dill

More for the injury journal:

After months of 'breaking in" savate shoes that were a bit small on my right foot (my right is a half size bigger than my left, whatever, I'm not the only one), my big toe turned black. This was unattractive but not too upsetting since I have the nail polish option. It was already starting to grow out, so I didn't pay much attention to it. Then one day when I was sparring, I threw a roundhouse and my partner stuck out his elbow. He wasn't wearing elbowpads and my toenail split in half horizontally. I'd like to mention that I WAS wearing my savate shoes at the time. So currently I'm applying neosporin and trying to keep the remainder of the nail on the toe with bandaids.

Doc Dill says:

Ouch! Busted toenails hurt like a bitch!!

Well, ideally you should trim the broken part to prevent moisture accumulating and developing a fungal nail bed infection. Neosporin to keep it from drying out and cracking and preventing a bacterial infection. Cover it to protect it and wash it twice a day thoroughly trying it. In a couple of months the nail will grow out and you'll have beautiful tootsies once again.

First Aid for Fighters: Stupid Shoulder Injury

by Meredith & Doc Dill

It was time to take the stupid family Christmas picture. I began to trundle down the stairs yelling over my shoulder for my cousins to follow me. I slipped. My left hand instinctively latched on to the railing and didn't let go although the rest of me fell. (This would have been cool had I been falling off a cliff or something cool like that.) After a couple of hours, it became clear that this was not just a minor strain. I couldn't live my arm above my waist without pain in my shoulder. Really I couldn't move it much at all. I iced it and took tons of Advil and when I got home two days later, a P.T. worked on it. It felt much better after that, but it still gets 'tired' when I work out and feels 'delicate' when I do certain things. I.E. after throwing a couple of hard jabs into a focus mitt, I get that 'this minor discomfort is a warning' kind of mild pain. I've been avoiding grappling and throwing hard left hooks.

Doc Dill says:

Well a couple of things could have happened here. Overhead injuries like the kind you describe happen in sports to pole vaulters and gymnasts. In those sports you are trying to lift or hold body weight with one or both arms in extreme flexion. A little too much extreme flexion or a ballistic move like you did (falling with a sudden recovery) and something's gotta give. Three possibilities come to mind: 1) acromioclavicular joint separation (separated shoulder), 2) rotator cuff strain, tear or compressive injury, or 3) torn labrum. Number three is bad and will only get better with surgery if you're lucky. Luckily these are rare. Number two is serious but unless it's a complete tear you can avoid surgery. Number one hurts more than the other two and takes a long time to fully heal but is relatively a minor injury. How do you tell the difference?

Well, 1 will hurt when you touch the end of your collar bone or if you grab the collar bone and try to wiggle it hard. 2 will be painful in the resisted "empty can" position. if a complete tear you will have no pain and be unable to resist at all.* In 3 you will most likely have pain with movement and a feeling of slippage as if you're shoulder wasn't attached right or a painful arc where everytime you move through a motion it hurts only through the same portion of the motion. Whattaya do? Well ICE then strengthen the scapulo-thoracic musculature and retrain scapulo- thoracic rhythm which I'll cover in another article.

* Empty can position fists in front of pockets arm rotated so thumbs point down, flex shoulder so arms are lifted on angles lower than shoulder height, as if emptying pop cans.

First Aid For Fighters: Is it a Cauliflower Ear?

Doc,

I got earholed. Now my ear hurts. I hope it's not cauliflower ear. What can I do about it?

First off, is the pain in your ear canal or the external ear? If it's the external ear you prolly have a hematoma and should get it drained.* I waited too long and had to have a surgical irrigation and drainage. Essentially opening the skin removing the clot, sewing it up and smashing the ear with a hard dressing. the cartilage of your ear gets its nutrition from the skin. if you get a clot under the skin one of two things happens. 1: The cartilage thickens and twists giving you a cauliflower ear. Looks like a pig chewed on it. 2: The cartilage can die, rot and you have your ear removed. Bizarrely enough, this looks worse that the chewed up ear.

If the pain is inside your ear you may have a serious problem, especially if you can't hear very well. You may have an infection or the bones (ossicles) in your hearing mechanism may be dislocated. either way go see an ENT doc. (Ear, Nose, Throat or otorhinolaryngologist).

* Why We Not Hit Hard? recommends that you see a trained professional to have your ear drained. Don't let your buddy do it. Don't let your buddy's wife do this, unless she does it for a living. Just working in a hospital doesn't count. Maybe your wrestling coach, but if he's smart, he'll tell you to go to a doctor. Having your ear drained is a simple, quick and terribly painful procedure. But it's better than the alternative which is to walk around with a giant cauliflower ear. Regardless of what the other guys in the gym say, girls don't find it attractive. We've done studies.

CC-licensed photo by daviddeferro. Yes, that's Alessio Sakara.

First Aid For Fighters: Is it a concussion?

Doc, I got rocked in class, but I'm pretty sure I don't have a concussion. How long should I wait before training again? I don't want to take the risk of making things worse by going back too early. Also, I get a headache when I hit the bags too hard (especially crosses and elbows). Is that a warning sign?

Doc Dill responds:

Dude, how do you know you don't have a concussion? You have all the symptoms; headache especially with impact and dulled thinking, or are you always this stupid? Sorry, I have a case of diarrhea and am really crabby.

Anyway, you may actually have a cervical strain or sprain. In English that would be a neck stran or sprain. Both can cause those symptoms. A strain is a muscular injury a sprain is a ligamentous injury. Both cause pain and spasm. High cervical muscular spasm impinges the greaer and lesser occipital nerves and can cause pretty severe headaches. This is easy to determine. Push with your fingers into the hollows in the base of your skull at the back of your head. Slide them around until you are pushing on a very tender area. If that feels like your headaches it is most likely the cause. mash the areas and ice them for relief. Then improve your posture. Your ear should be in line with your shoulder and hip.

Poor posture makes you over use these muscles and contributes to the tension.

In case you missed it earlier, Doc Dill isn't actually a doctor. Take his advice for what it's worth, but consider talking to someone with the appropriate credentials.

First Aid For Fighters: Cramping Hands/Forearms

Doc, My hands and forearms are all tight from making fists (I think my new bag gloves are to blame, but probably the way I wrap my hands as well). Anything I should do differently besides getting new gloves? Exercises to stretch things back to the right spot?

Doc Dill says:

Well, first off let's try and improve your discomfort. So ice, compression and elevation to decrease your swelling and improve blood flow. An NSAID, like ibuprofen, would also be a good idea. Massage and stretching to improve the suppleness of the tissues. To stretch, bend your wrists as far as you can in both directions and hold for 5 to 15 seconds. Repeat several times. Rest and especially no lifting or striking for 1 to 2 weeks.

Now, let's talk about the reason this happened. Most likely a multifactorial cause. Overuse being the most likely culprit. You need to learn to relax your fists except at the moment of impact. You may be wrapping your wrists too tightly or improperly and impairing blood flow. Also if you are working the bags a lot try not hitting the heaviest bag all the time. Work on snap and speed and lay off the pounding especially if you have a tendency to pound the bags a lot. Hitting hard all the time can do a lot of harm to your wrists and elbows and really does not improve your fighting ability. All in all the problem is usually self limiting but if it lasts too long make sure you see a good hand specialist.

In case you missed it earlier, Doc Dill isn't actually a doctor. Take his advice for what it's worth, but consider talking to someone with the appropriate credentials.

Mailbag! Is it bad to get hit in the side of the head?

Dear Doc Dill?

Is it bad to get hit in the side of the head?

A. Hell no! It's great to get hit in the side of the head! Which side is the question. Dumb f***!*

* Believe it or not, that response was sarcastic. Why We Not Hit Hard is hard-pressed to think about when it might be good to get hit in the head, although to be sure, there are worse places to be hit in the head than the side.

Take home lesson: try not to get hit in the head.

What's in a Knock Out? [First Aid for Fighters]

Doc Dill:

I can't find any definitive evidence on what a knockout is and what happens when you do get knocked out. The best I can do is:

1. You get hit in the head, your head goes in one direction, but your brain stays mostly in the same place.

2. The cerebrospinal fluid can't keep a buffer between your brain and your skull, so your brain goes "boink."

3. When your neck muscles kick in and try to stabilize your head and/or your neck goes to the end or the range of motion, the brain goes in the opposite direction, bouncing off the other side of your skull.

3.5 This may be repeated a couple of times until your head comes to rest.

4. ??? A large number of neurons fire simultaneously and overload your senses and/or arteries that supply blood to your brain are cut off and/or something else entirely ???

5. You fall down.

That sound about right, or does an actual explanation exist somewhere?'

What's going on?

Thanks,"

by Doc Dill

It's called a concussion. 2 types. coup and contra coup. Coup is a brain injury on the same side of the head as the blow received. contra coup is on the opposite side.

A knockout is simply a "bruise on the brain." You can suffer a concussion even if you never lose consciousness.

You get hit and your brain can get bruised. doesn't matter which side. you will have symptoms. Headache, dizziness, nausea and/or vomiting, difficulty walking,seeing,hearing, memory loss and /or confusion. The longer they last doesn't mean the worse it is. Unconsciousness is bad, especially if it occurs after the initial "knockout." Vomiting is bad. Bleeding from the ears is really bad.

The effects of concussion are cumulative. That is, the more "knockouts" one suffers the more likely permanent symptoms will occur and these are not good. memory loss, psychiatric disease and personality changes are quite common due to brain injury. This is because your brain doesn't heal and restore function like other body parts. Areas of brain lost are permanently gone.

Prevention is key. Get better defense!! If you are rocked or knocked out take time off from getting hit. If you are on medication that prolongs bleeding time, like coumadin or frankly even aspirin or ibuprofen, you are at risk for an inter cranial hemorrhage which is far worse than a concussion. Above all if you lose consciousness vomit, bleed from the ears or have a headache that lasts, you should see a doctor and get a proper workup.

If you are one of those guys who thinks "it's no big deal i get dropped all the time and i am still ok," maybe you should try tennis.

In case you missed it earlier, Doc Dill isn't actually a doctor. Take his advice for what it's worth, but consider talking to someone with the appropriate credentials.

First Aid for Fighters: Don't Blow Your Nose!

Q. I heard a couple guys in the gym talking about why a boxer shouldn't blow their nose during the fight. Sounded like the silliest thing in the world to me, but it seemed like the most obvious thing in the world to them. Especially as we get to the winter, I get runny noses while sparring all the time. Am I going to explode my head if I blow it?

A. If a boxer has a fractured orbit or a select few other facial bones, blowing your nose can force snot, blood, bacteria and air through the fracture (assuming it communicates with the nasal sinuses) under the skin or worse into the cranial cavity. this can be potentially life threatening. Frankly, blowing your nose in general is rather unhealthy as you can force material into your middle ear quite easily.

The condition is called "subcutaneous emphysema" or air under the skin.

In case you missed it earlier, Doc Dill isn't actually a doctor. Take his advice for what it's worth, but consider talking to someone with the appropriate credentials.

First Aid for Fighters: Itchy noses and MRSA scares

Dear Doc Dill,

Every now and then when I get popped in the nose, I notice it itching more than hurting. This happens with certain people more than others. Do I just need to tell them to clean their gloves, or do I need to worry about MRSA?

Karl Malden

Well you actually have asked 2 questions, Karl. The first “My nose itches when hit.” Well that’s easy. It’s probably just a histamine release caused by capillary destruction due to the blow to the nose. Other causes could be an underlying case of Rosacea, also known as adult acne, although it is not acne at all. It’s an immune system disorder characterized by a red rash on the face and nose exacerbated by trauma foods and other irritants. It’s the cause of the giant bulbous nose ala W.C. Fields and your namesake. It is unlikely but could be an allergy to something on your partner’s glove. Like cat urine or leather conditioner.

The second question is “should I fear MRSA?”

Methicillin Resistant Staph Aureus is a variant of stap aureus that was caused by the overuse of antbiotics. Blame all those friends of yours who get an “antibiotic” every time they get a cold. If you work in a hospital or frequent hospitals or nursing homes you are more susceptible. If you have an immune system disorder like AIDS you need to be extremely careful. The rest of us should just use normal everyday hygiene precaution. Wash your hands disinfect your gear and let it dry regularly. Wear clean clothes especially to work out in. If you get cut, clean it and cover it. Change the bandage regularly and if it starts getting red and oozing pus go to a doctor.

MMA rats and wrestlers are much more likely to get Impetigo than MRSA. Those high school kids that got it are likely getting exposed to it somewhere else like visiting gramma in the nursing home and bringing it to school. Children are slobs and carry germs like petrie dishes. In my World they would ALL go away to boarding school until they are 18.

DD

In case you missed it earlier, Doc Dill isn't actually a doctor. Take his advice for what it's worth, but consider talking to someone with the appropriate credentials.

First Aid for Fighters: Deep Thigh Bruising

by Meredith & Doc Dill

This one's pretty simple. I was sparring with a guy who was bigger and more experienced and got nailed in the left leg with three Thai kicks in rapid succession. My leg was killing me for days after, but no bruise showed. It happened to be the same leg with my injured ankle which was not quite healed. And it also happened to occur one day before a three day Savate seminar I was attending. I wrapped it up during the seminar and tried to avoid getting kicked there. And the next time I went with the guy who had kicked me I moved the entire time. My left leg is now a little shy, which I'm not sure is a bad thing.

Doc Dill responds:

Thigh bruises are potentially very serious. There are two areas of the body, the bicep and the quadriceps that have a tendency to turn accumulated blood, called a hemotoma, into bone. This is called myositis ossificans. This happens a lot to football players who cut down their thigh pads so they can run more freely.

Martial arts practitioners are particularly susceptible for reasons other than the obvious constant impact. In martial arts in particular there is a bit of quackery healing going on. All of the Ancient Asian Secrets applied by well meaning but ignorant “healers” should be avoided. Use only well known and preferably licensed practitioners. I do know a few trusted non-licensed “healers” but always use caution when seeking treatment. Both the biceps and quadriceps should NEVER be massaged after a deep bruise. This furthers the chances of developing a bony growth in the muscle.

This bone is both painful and debilitating. Surgical removal is the usual way of dealing with it although there are Physical Therapists in New York State that do iontophoresis with acetic acid to dissolve the heterotopic bone. I have seen radiographs before and after and the results are encouraging.

Basically lots of ice, gentle range of motion without pain, compression with ace wraps and protection from impact for several weeks is the way to deal with a deep thigh or bicep bruise. Good luck in your training.

Dr D

In case you missed it earlier, Doc Dill isn't actually a doctor. Take his advice for what it's worth, but consider talking to someone with the appropriate credentials.

First Aid for Fighters: Not So Stupid Ankle Injury

by Meredith & Doc Dill

Thumbs and shoulder being healed, it was time for leg and feet injuries. I hurt my ankle during a footwork drill. This was before I wore shoes to class regularly and my foot just rolled to the side and my leg stayed upright. I fell down instantly because I knew it was bad. I started swelling up right away and I had to take the rest of the class off and ice it. I iced it all night and it hurt so very very bad. I limped to work the next day with an ankle brace and iced it every hour for twenty minutes and wrapped it in between. It hurt. At first I didn't tell anyone about it aside from those in the class where I had hurt it, and wore a brace and shoes to classes and iced it afterwards. The icing got easier in the weeks that followed and as it felt better I iced it less. General consensus was that it was fractured. I took six weeks off from grappling class, wore shoes to every class, with an ankle brace (which I still sometimes do) and if live grappling ever occured in regular classes during that time, I took care to warn my partners off of ankle locks.

Dr Dill says:

Ankle injuries are very common in most sports. Sounds to me like you handled the “First Aid” part pretty well. Rest Ice Compression and Elevation or RICE is the mantra given to most musculoskeletal injuries. Now here’s the troubling part, many ankle “sprains” on further examination, namely radiographs, or x-rays in the parlance, are shown to be ankle fractures. So much so that emergency medicine, especially “sports” medicine, say to assume all ankle sprains are fractures unless proven otherwise. Most sprains feel much better for walking around in 3 to 5 days. Longer than that and I would suspect a break. By the way there is no difference between a “fractured” bone and a “broken” one.

Anyway recovery and rehab is about the same for sprains as non-displaced fractures. Initial healing takes about 2 weeks then gentle stretching or range of motion begins. Strengthening and kinesthetic rehab starts next and progresses for 4-8 weeks.

The retraining of joint position sense (kinesthetic training) is the key to preventing serial or recurrent sprains. This can be done in literally dozens of ways. Make sure to walk on different slopes and surfaces. Pay attention to your foot, don’t wear an ipod. Do heel and toe raises. Also raise up on the inside and then the outside border of your foot. Get to the point that you can walk around on the borders of your feet. BUT Pay ATTENTION to avoid respraining your ankle.

Ankle supports are good if you use good ones. Like the Aircast, or Sweedo lace up ankle brace. The elastic ones are useless, except to keep compression on if they have a tendency to swell. If you are having trouble go see a physical therapist for advice and or a treatment program. They are truly the experts at rehabbing injuries. Take good care of those feet. They are the foundation of your body. Ignore them and the rest crumbles.

Dr D

In case you missed it earlier, Doc Dill isn't actually a doctor. Take his advice for what it's worth, but consider talking to someone with the appropriate credentials.

First Aid For Fighters: Stupid Shoulder Injuries

by Meredith & Doc Dill

After my thumbs recovered, my next injury of note was obtained during a kickboxing drill. The drill was on sweeps off a punch - catch the punch while sweeping the leg. Sounded easy enough. I just remember that when it was my turn, I was holding my partners arm with my right hand while sweeping them (to ease their landing). I felt like someone stabbed me in the shoulder. I worked through the rest of the class, but couldn't stretch it out or loosen it up. I even went to yoga directly after with only mild benefits. My shoulder hurt for days. I had gouges on my back from people trying to rub it out. I continually alternated heat and ice on it for a long while and eventually it got better. But it was incredibly inconvenient for quite a while.

Doc Dill says,

Yikes! You injured one of the most complex parts of the body, the shoulder. It could be anything but since I’m answering and you’re not here I’ll assume a few things.

First off, it could be a rotator cuff injury. Can you raise it from your pocket to shoulder height with your thumb down, like emptying a can? No? Then it is a rotator cuff injury and off to the doc for you. Complete tears never get better without surgery. Luckily, they are not that common.

You can raise it but it hurts? Read on.

Is it tender around the top of the shoulder? Feel like a “knot” in a muscle there?

If so, you probably have a localized muscle spasm of the levator scapula muscle. In layman’s terms “a big knot in the shoulder muscles just under your traps.” That muscle runs from the top of your shoulder blade to several of your neck vertebrae. A spasm in it can cause shoulder pain a headache and even upper arm and wrist pain and occasionally low back pain. It can spasm for a lot of reasons but in my opinion that usually doesn’t matter that much. What do you do? Ice, Ice baby. After icing you can do deep tissue massage to "mash that sucker out.” It hurts but feels oh so good at the same time. If that’s all it is it’ll feel better soon. Just keep icing and kneading.

Can you train? Sure, just don’t be stupid about it. If it hurts to raise it overhead DON'T.

Just a quick note on icing - Why are all the docs giving you less-than-perfect advice when they tell you to ice it for 24 hours then use heat? Because you are not a little old lady suffering from lumbago, that’s why! Use ice. It stops pain better than heat. It reduces swelling better than heat, it lowers local metabolism and it increases blood flow better than heat. Plus a gin and tonic tastes great with ice and shitty hot!

Adidas!

In case you missed it earlier, Doc Dill isn't actually a doctor. Take his advice for what it's worth, but consider talking to someone with the appropriate credentials.

First Aid For Fighters: Stupid Thumb Injuries

by Meredith & Dr. Dill

This will be the first of a series of entries under First Aid For Fighters where I diary all of the injuries I've had in the course of my martial arts training and Doc. Dill will follow up with care recommendations and dispel any myths about the injury or care thereof.

The first injury we'll cover was sustained during grappling (you'll notice this eventually becomes a pattern). Through some quirk I was in knee-on-belly, working from the mount when I got swept and landed on my thumb. There was a crunching noise, some pain immediately swelling. Of course, I iced it and ended up having to tape it up during class.

After doing the exact same thing to the other thumb a week later, I learned to keep my thumbs in while grappling. I also developed a preference for long-range hooks (swing for all you Savateurs) that I'm still trying to break myself of.

Doc Dill says:

Well first off I’m not a doctor. I am a healthcare professional and have much experience dealing with athletic injuries.

Now, finger injuries can be bad and take a long time to heal. Break a pinky and see what I mean. The appendage that makes us different from the other apes, the thumb, is particularly at risk because of how it sticks out all alone. Brave little digit!

First off if, it happens to you while training, stop doing what you’re doing. Give it a few moments for the shock of the injury to settle down. Now gently try and move it by itself and with help of the other hand. Any noise that is new? Like grinding? Like a cement truck rotating? Look at it. Any bones sticking out? Compare it to the other one. Look similar or is it twisted around and winking at you like a hooker behind a light pole? If you answered yes to any of these, you either broke it or damaged some cartilage. Training done - now it's time to see a doc and have surgery and try not to get fat.

No to all of these? Still could be broken, still could have cartilage damage but probably just a sprain. So ice it right now! Then compress it with some kind of wrap or massage. Rest for a short while, like overnight. Start moving it like you normally would do. Too much rest and inactivity is bad. If you want/need to train, tape it up. There are a myriad of books that show you how I suggest “Modern Principles of Athletic Training” by Klafs and Arnheim. Keep icing the bejebus out of it. I mean all the time. Like every hour. Until it’s numb. But don’t let it turn white or you may freeze it. Explaining how you got a frostbite injury because of wrestling is embarrassing, so use your head.

Gently stretch it so it works like the other one. It’ll take somewhere up to 6 weeks to feel like it was never hurt but you should be able to use it long before then. And yeah, learn how to keep them thumbs in.

Oh, one more thing. Never, ever, let anyone “pull” your finger, unless you are just trying to fart! That’s just stupid and an easy way to worsen a relatively minor injury. Everybody thinks that’s a magic solution, but it’s not so don’t let the shmuck you’re training with get all Marcus Welby and suddenly go from broke down MMA fighter to ER doc simply because “it worked when I was 12 and playing little league.” Cuz it didn’t and it won’t. Adidas!

In case you missed it above, Doc Dill isn't actually a doctor. Take his advice for what it's worth, but consider talking to someone with the appropriate credentials.

Flickr photo by thejesse.

First Aid for Fighters: Fainting

Recently a student passed out after a particularly difficult class. After class, everyone was lined up for promotions when suddenly she keeled over like a Douglas fir. Suddenly it was chaos. People were panicking, picking up her legs, pouring water over her, yelling into her face from inches away, yelling to call 911. You’d a thunk terrorists were at the door. She woke up and after a bit she was fine.

Well what should you do?

First off, prevention is the key. Water breaks and lots of them should be mandatory.

Secondly, you should eat some food an hour or two before class. You can’t fire up the ole engine without some fuel.

Third, after a really hard class, the instructor should have everyone sit down for a short time and discuss the class. This allows for everyone’s heart rates to decrease without pooling blood in your legs.

Think of your body as a water tower. Blood is pumped all over and while you are moving and the need is high, your heart beats fast and gets blood into all of the nooks and crannies. If you stop suddenly, and line up at attention, your heart rate slows, but your need for oxygenated blood is still high. Blood pools in your legs because you are no longer moving, your muscles in your calves are no longer helping to push blood towards your noggin’ and just like a well done carotid restraint, your brain no longer gets enough blood to keep the lights on. So TIMBERRRRRR, you go down. With luck you miss hitting anything sharp and hard on the way down and before you know it, you have no idea how you got down here and why some chick is inches from your face yelling at you asking if you are ok.

Now if someone does keel over, Make sure they aren’t seizing. That’s pretty obvious. Big jerking motions of their whole body, teeth gnashing, sometimes scary sounds. Think gran mal seizure. If that is happening protect them from hitting anything and call 911 pronto. Luckily that is a rarity. If they are lying there looking pale, elevate their legs. Help that blood get where it’s needed, their head!! DO NOT give them water while groggy or unconscious. You wanna drown them? Wait until they wake up and ask them if they feel ok. Keep your face outta theirs, unless of course you want to get puked on. If you know how, take their pulse and make sure it’s regular. If they are dry, and hot get them some water, and ice their neck, armpits or abdomen. They may be suffering from heat exhaustion and if they aren’t better quickly they need to go to the hospital for IV fluids. If not it may progress to heat stroke which can be fatal.

Most of the time it’ll be simple fainting or a syncopal episode (technical term). But sometimes it can be serious. So once someone faints, watch them closely, make sure they drinks some fluids and keep it down, have a little food and keep it down and continue to improve. If they upchuck, stay unconscious or pass out again while sitting there, seize or start convulsing, you have a medical emergency and need to call 911 quickly.

Above all if you are a panicker get the hell outta there and find someone more competent then you.

Also let’s use a little science, not pseudoscience, and drink some water during your workouts.

First Aid for fighters is an occasional feature that will look at common conditions and situations that you may find yourself in. Please note that in case of injury, or suspected injury you should seek competent medical attention, i.e. not something you read on the internet. For entertainment purposes only.