The World Championship Jiu-Jitsu team doctor shared: athletes' sports injury medication taboos, and experience in regaining weight after losing weight

Competition is fierce among athletes in international sports competitions, and athletes can only recover quickly and return to the game with the careful care of the team doctors off the field. Even once an athlete is injured, they must be cautious in the use of medications for treatment, especially avoiding the use of drugs containing banned ingredients. For the sport of "Jiu-Jitsu" which covers ground techniques, sparring, martial arts performances, and fighting during implementation, what tips must the team doctor master in order to help the players achieve good results on the field while also taking into account the important mission of epidemic prevention?

At the end of 2021, as the global COVID 19 epidemic raged, Dr. Lin Xingqing, deputy secretary-general of the Taiwan Sports Medicine Association, was recruited by the Taiwan Jiu-Jitsu Federation to serve as the team physician for the 2021 Ju-Jitsu International Federation (JJIF) Abu Dhabi Jiu-Jitsu World Championships. The team's tasks include epidemic prevention planning, treatment of musculoskeletal and joint diseases and other internal medicine diseases, sideline protection, and weight loss nutrition for fighting competitions. (Photo courtesy of Taiwan Rehabilitation Medicine Association)

*Tips for dealing with sports injuries among athletes in international competitions during the pandemic*

The "Taiwan Rehabilitation Medicine Association", the "Taiwan Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation Medicine Association", and the "Taiwan Sports Medicine Society" jointly held the 111th Annual Academic Seminar on the 12th, specially inviting well-known athletes and cross-disciplinary sports medicine experts who traveled with the team during the actual epidemic to discuss the changes in the format of sports events in the post-epidemic era, as well as the key points of sports injury treatment during the epidemic. At the same time, the possible sequelae of COVID-19 were revealed, and some patients still developed "Long COVID syndrome" after recovery.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the pace of the world, but athletes have not stopped. What challenges do sports events face under the pandemic, and what do athletes and sports medicine teams need to pay attention to?

At the end of 2021, as the global COVID 19 epidemic raged, Dr. Lin Xingqing, deputy secretary-general of the Taiwan Sports Medicine Association, was recruited by the Taiwan Jiu-Jitsu Federation to serve as the team physician for the 2021 Ju-Jitsu International Federation (JJIF) Abu Dhabi Jiu-Jitsu World Championships. The team's tasks include epidemic prevention planning, treatment of musculoskeletal and joint diseases and other internal medicine diseases, sideline protection, and weight loss nutrition for fighting competitions. This experience of traveling with the team also allowed me to witness the differences between Taiwan’s thinking and implementation of epidemic prevention in sports events in other countries around the world. Taiwan's sports teams are relatively strict in quarantine and infection control, and no one was infected with the new coronavirus this time.

Jiu-Jitsu is different from Judo and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

The Taiwan Jiu-Jitsu Association inherited the "Jiu-Jitsu" project from the International Jiu-Jitsu Federation, which covers ground techniques, sparring, martial arts performances, and the currently promoted combat jiu-jitsu. It is not as well-known as other martial arts disciplines that have been included in the Olympics. Both the resources and the number of practitioners are different from the similar specialty sport "Judo", and it is not the same as "Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu" which only has ground techniques.

Team doctors should be careful not to use banned drugs when accompanying the team for treatment

The difference between treatment by a team doctor and general outpatient treatment is that the selection of drugs must take into account the use of banned drugs, and the treatment goal is not simply health-oriented but must also take into account competitive performance. For example, injectable medications are used to treat leukoderma, but steroid injections are not used to control pain.

Some players in the team also had their ankles taped on the sidelines, but they might become targets of attack during a fight, so the issue of whether to tape them must be discussed. In fighting competitions, weight loss, weighing in and then gaining it back is also a major issue. How to lose weight while minimizing the impact on physical fitness, and quickly restore water and body energy after weighing in, to have an advantage in the weight class. The team doctor also successfully achieved the goal with the assistance of a nutritionist from the remote national training center.