Is BJJ Bad for Your Joints? What a Coach Tells Men Over 35
TL;DR: Is BJJ bad for your joints? It puts real load on knees, shoulders, fingers and the neck, and the research shows men over 30 and beginners pick up the most injuries. But load is not the enemy, unprepared joints are. Tap early, strength train twice a week, roll at a controlled pace, and give your connective tissue the nutrients it is built from every day.
Ask any grappler over 40 what hurts.
You will get a list.
Knees. A shoulder. Fingers that won't fully close in the morning.
So is jiu-jitsu bad for your joints, or is something else going on?
What the research says about BJJ and your joints
A 2024 systematic review pulled together seven studies covering 2,847 jiu-jitsu practitioners.
- The knee was the most affected joint, along with the chest and ribs.
- The shoulder came next.
- Men over 30 and beginners carried the most injuries.
- Most injuries happened in training, not in competition.
A study of competition injuries in the Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine found the elbow, mostly from armbars, was the most common site in matches.
Your action: notice that most of the risk sits in your weekly training, which is the part you control.
Is BJJ bad for your knees?
The knee takes twisting load in guard, in leg entanglements and when a pass gets stuffed.
The fix is not to avoid guard. It is to have legs strong enough to handle it. Split squats, step-ups and hamstring work, twice a week.
Your action: when your knee is in a bad spot, let the position go. There is always another round.
Fingers, shoulders and neck
Gi grips load the small finger joints hundreds of times a session. Shoulders get stretched at the end of their range in kimuras and americanas. Necks get cranked in guillotines and stacked guards.
Three habits matter most:
- Tap early. Ego costs more training time than anything else.
- Vary your grips and break grips before they break you.
- Train your upper back and neck, not just your chest.
Your action: next roll, tap one beat earlier than you normally would.
Does BJJ strengthen your joints?
It can. Tendons and ligaments adapt to load when it is gradual and when they have time between sessions.
That is why two or three sessions a week, built up over months, does better than five sessions a week from day one. There is more on this in recovery after BJJ over 40.
Your action: keep your weekly sessions the same for eight weeks before adding another.
Feeding the joints you are loading
Connective tissue is built largely from collagen. Your daily food matters as much as your training.
That is the thinking behind Complete Joint Care, our daily joint formula. This multi-ingredient formula provides nutrients involved in cartilage structure, connective tissue integrity and normal joint function, making it suitable for daily joint support.
Each 5 g serve provides 40 mg of vitamin C, which contributes to normal collagen formation for the normal structure of cartilage and bones. It also provides zinc, which contributes to the maintenance of normal bones.
If you want the ingredient by ingredient detail, read joint supplements for BJJ.
Your action: pick a time of day you never miss, like your first water, and take it then.
If you are on medication, carrying an injury or have a medical condition, speak with your healthcare provider before starting any new supplement.
Grant Jenkins is an ESSA Accredited Exercise Physiologist and high-performance athletic development coach with almost 30 years of coaching behind him, including national academy and professional athletes. He is a co-founder of Propel Health Australia.
References
- Santos SP, Soares HHP, Perez Neto S, Caseiro Filho LC, Girasol CE. Epidemiology of Injuries and Their Implications in Jiu-Jitsu Practitioners: An Integrative Systematic Review. Revista Brasileira de Ortopedia. 2024;59(3). doi:10.1055/s-0044-1785662
- Scoggin JF, Brusovanik G, Izuka BH, et al. Assessment of injuries during Brazilian jiu-jitsu competition. Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine. 2014;2(2).
