Injury avoidance

I posted a youtube video by a BJJ coach a while back. In it he said the key to gettting your black belt in BJJ is injury management: Keep training and stay injury free, you'll be successful. I think this could be applied to pretty much any martial art.

Got me thinking... how do you avoid injuries in training? Is there anything you do before training? Do you do your own warm up? Do you tape yourself up in any way or wear any extra support or padding?

Post training, what do you do? Stretch more? Do you use any ointments (Tiger Balm etc...)? Do you have a cold shower or a hot bath??

Another interesting point made by the same BJJ coach was that although he trained as often as he could, he didn't spar everytime he trained. He said if he wasn't 100% or injured, he gave sparring a miss. Have you ever adjusted your own training to compensate for injury?

I'm in my 50s and my knees give me trouble at times. I found they need a warm up before class to avoid injury later -- luckily, class is 1/2 hour walk away, so I walk there. I also do exercises specifically to strengthen muscles around knees and keep them correctly positioned when bent (physiotherapist taught me). It seems to help, as my knees have given me much less trouble since I started.

I'll be intersted to here any tips anyone has here.

I'm out of training with a sprained back atm.

Including an injury prevention program that is specific to training activities and past injuries is an important part of reducing injury risks from training. Periodic recovery weeks are also important, but often get neglected. Below are some basic ideas:

http://fightsciencesresearchinstitute.wordpress.com/2011/03/26/stretching-for-strikers/

http://fightsciencesresearchinstitute.wo...ack-or-hurting/

http://fightsciencesresearchinstitute.wo...ion-strageties/

http://fightsciencesresearchinstitute.wordpress.com/2010/07/14/back-brief/

http://fightsciencesresearchinstitute.wo...-robert-miller/