Doctor Jiu Jitsu Show

From Mat to Medicine: Dr. Chris Haraszti on Jiu Jitsu, Surgery & Injury Prevention

• Doctor Jiu Jitsu • Season 1 • Episode 5

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In this episode, I sit down with my good friend and fellow orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Chris Haraszti—aka Doc Chris. Not only is he a respected orthopedic specialist at Emory University, but he’s also a third-degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, multiple-time world champion, and a former state wrestling champ. We dig into his unique journey from med school and playing in a band to becoming one of Atlanta’s top docs and a dominant competitor in the jiu jitsu scene.

We talk about what it really takes to progress in jiu jitsu while balancing a full-time surgical career and raising a family. Chris shares the key habits that accelerated his training, including how he earned his black belt in just 4.5 years, and we dive into his top tips for preventing injuries, the philosophy behind neuromuscular training, and the most jaw-dropping injuries he’s treated as both a ringside physician and surgeon.

 

Episode Highlights:

[0:03] Introducing Doc Chris—his impressive background in medicine and jiu jitsu.
[3:23] Discovering jiu jitsu post-residency and getting humbled by a 150-pound instructor.
[6:03] Hooked by UFC 1 and the early days of MMA’s evolution.
[8:22] Earning a black belt in 4.5 years—balancing work, family, and training.
[11:59] The importance of addressing weaknesses and building a strong bottom game.
[14:12] Why competition and cross-training skyrocketed his skills.
[16:28] Marcelo Garcia’s game-changing decision to share techniques online.
[19:02] Treating jiu jitsu injuries on and off the mat—sometimes right there in the gym.
[20:55] Worst injuries he’s seen in MMA and boxing.
[23:39] Injury prevention tips—including the one we laughed hardest about.
[25:57] Proprioception and why it’s essential after injury.
[29:05] His favorite surgery to perform and why it’s so satisfying.
[30:51] Advice for hobbyists juggling careers, family, and jiu jitsu.
[33:27] What’s next for Doc Chris—mentoring, teaching, and staying in the game. 

 

Links & Resources:

Don’t forget to rate, follow, and leave a review! Share this episode with your teammates and training partners who need a little extra motivation or inspiration. Thanks for listening and see you on the mats!

To learn more about Dr. Megan Jimenez, check out her website: doctorjiujitsu.com

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

Hey guys, I'm Dr Megan Jimenez. I'm an orthopedic surgeon in jujitsu brown belt. I'm sitting here with my good friend and partner, Dr Chris harasi. People usually just call him doc Chris, and that's way easier than his last name. He is an orthopedic surgeon that specializes in hip, shoulder and knee. He works for Emory University, and he attended medical school at Emory as well. He did his residency at Tulane, and is an Atlanta top doc for his jujitsu accolades. He's a third degree black belt under Roberto Roberto travin. He's a three time IBJJF master World Champion and three time pan IBJJF world champion. And in 1988 he was a Georgia state wrestling champion. So he's got and I really trimmed that down, but he is just a great guy, and I'm really excited to have him here, because he's an orthopedic surgeon and amazing jiu jitsu practitioner. So thanks for being on. Yeah, thank you for having me. So the first thing I wanted to ask you, Doc Chris, was, what got you into jiu jitsu and what got you into orthopedics? Okay,

Dr. Chris Haraszti:

so as far as orthopedics goes, I come from a family physician, so my dad and grandparents were all physicians, so that was kind of the path for me. And then I took a little bit of a circuitous route. I went to med school, not I majored in international studies, not really wanting to do medicine at that time, and I ended up graduating. And with that degree, I actually just played in the band for three years. What instrument, guitar, nice. So, yeah, my interestingly enough, but the passion that I eventually had for jujitsu, I had for guitar first, and so played in a band called Eden that played all around Atlanta, all deer in college. Do you still play? So not really. You have to choose one or the other. And unfortunately, seems like the jujitsu kind of beats your hands up. I was wondering how you would play. So it's hard to it's hard to play guitar. Now, by the same token, I'm not gonna make any excuses, because if you Google Keith Richards hands, they look worse than mine any place he's still touring the world, so I think it's just just put it down and I play every now and then. So as far as orthopedics, I think that I pretty much always wanted to go into medicine. I just don't think I was sort of mentally ready to go through med school and everything. So after being out of college couple years, I went back to med school, and when I went to med school, I knew I wanted to do surgery. So it was just what type of surgery I was thinking, plastics, orthopedics, neurosurgery, those were probably my top three. I rotated with a neurosurgeon after my first year of med school, and I saw that all the patients went to the ICU, and I thought, you know, this is not really what I want to do. And then plastics, I think I'm just not so artistic, not that that's not really necessary, but I kind of was drawn to orthopedics. You know, played sports all my life, like I said, I was a wrestling state champ, so wrestling was my big sport in high school, and just thought orthopedics would be good. I rotated with some orthopedics in med school, and really liked it, and so decided upon that. I'm super happy. I mean, I love orthopedics,

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

and you were well into your job when you started Jiu Jitsu, right? So the interesting thing,

Dr. Chris Haraszti:

so wrestling was my big sport. Actually, my favorite sport was soccer, and I loved playing soccer. I played soccer since I was, like, seven years old. I loved playing it, but I didn't have the best aptitude for it, so I played for years. And you know, people who hadn't been playing as long, just naturally better, you know that there they had attributes. They they were real, you know, faster and and, and just sort of better coordination

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

with we just trying to take everybody out, yeah,

Dr. Chris Haraszti:

so I love playing soccer, but wrestling was something I had more of an aptitude for. Just pretty much since I started, I was always it was the opposite of soccer, where people who had been wrestling for, you know, maybe seven or eight years, when I started, I was like, in ninth grade in college, and I was already beating them in maybe a year or so. So it's just the same thing, just, you know, I had aptitude for it. Wrestled all through high school, and then wrestled some for, like, intramural in college. And then the interesting thing about wrestling is that it's not like softball or baseball or soccer, where, you know, you have, like, all these leads you can do as an adult. I mean, I tell my kids pick up tennis or golf because it's easy to play for the rest of your life. You know, you can always play that. But there's not like, you know, much wrestling around. So I didn't even know about Jiu Jitsu. So I did my residency, and after I finished my residency, in 2007 I started practice here in Atlanta, and I've always liked UFC, MMA. I've always been a big fan, you know, I knew about Jiu Jitsu, and saw that there was a jiu jitsu gym near me, so walked in, you. And I was probably weighing 262, 70. I was kind of overweight, but still, I mean, you know, very big and strong and used to wrestling. And so I went in there, and there was this guy there who was maybe 140 pounds, 150 pounds, who was the instructor. I walked in, like, in an odd hour, I guess. And so there wasn't a class, and he was just there. We were talking. I was like, you know, hey, can we, you know, you want to roll. I don't know how it can. It wasn't an aggressive thing, like, I'm going in, you know, you want to roll. It's more like, you know, what is this like? And he volunteered to show me We rolled. And, I mean, I immediately threw him down and jumped on top of them and got triangles.

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

You got the takedown, though, yeah.

Dr. Chris Haraszti:

So, so I take him down, yeah. And as soon as we got on the ground, he probably submitted me three times, yeah. And I'm sure I couldn't have rolled more than two or three minutes without completely dying. So it was probably in three minutes he submitted me three times. I was like, This is amazing,

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

so it's good you went back, because some people have that experience, and they're like, Nope, there's no way. No,

Dr. Chris Haraszti:

I was the opposite. I was like, What is this? This? What's this? This crazy thing he's able to do? So I got into it real heavy, and I got my blue belt in six months, just because I was a wrestler. I got into it mainly because of UFC. I mean, I remember the very first I watched, the very first UFC, I remember me and a bunch of college friends were getting together, and it was just we were at somebody's house. He's like, Hey, there's this thing on. It's like, this, like, where all these different styles are fighting. And at the beginning, in the beginning, I mean people who are older, I mean people who are younger, don't really realize what it was like. You know, martial arts before UFC was Bruce Lee, you know, it was karate, was Chuck Norris. I mean, we kind of just assumed that these guys were the pinnacle, like, just karate was the pinnacle of martial arts. There, there was, there's no clue on how well it actually worked. You just watched movies and, you know, and people trained, and that sort of thing. But there was, there wasn't really any, any proof of it. It wasn't until UFC, I mean, UFC, just opened everybody's eyes as to what was effective and what wasn't. So, yeah, I watched the first one, and I was hooked. And again, watch, I watched it at the time, and watching it at the time, you know, there were eight competitors. And you got these big sumo wrestler. You got some guys who were like karate experts. You got Ken Shamrock, who looks muscle bound, and is this shoot fighter. And then you got hoist grace. He was like 170 pounds. And at the time, it was like, when you're looking who's gonna win hoist would have been. Nobody would have thought it, no, it. It really was such a shock to see

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

him win well, and how they came in too, right? Like shamrock is coming in with, like a one, like a speedo and choose, and then you got voice coming in with a game.

Dr. Chris Haraszti:

Actually, watch it at that time. It really, it really was a quite a paradigm shift, just that one tournament to see how. And, you know, I mean, the whole thing with the Gracies Hixon was obviously the champ of the family, and they purposely took hoist me like, Well, yeah, Hixson comes in. He looks like a beast. He's, you know, but they took the guy who looks smaller and had him do it. And of course, he beat everybody. Yeah, so cool. And

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

then, so you got your blue belt, and then you, I know, this has always been super impressive to me. You earned your black belt in five years, and actually about four and a half. So I, you know, I've been training for 10 years, and I've switched around schools a lot through my training, and you did it in five, in four and a half, right? So, how did you do that? I mean, you were family kids at the time, right? Young kids, a dog, probably rebuilding a house at the time. Yeah, we

Dr. Chris Haraszti:

bought a house over. So I started in 2007 then in early 2012 I received my black belt. And literally, two months after I received my black belt, I won master three pounds. So you know, it was, I was deserved the black belt. And, of course, I did it under Roberto travin, who I'm sure I'm one of his quickest now, he was a four year black belt, so, yeah, but, but he's the the pinnacle of of instructors and and so, you know, I definitely feel like I earned it. It was a surprise, but I feel like I earned it. So how did I do it? So I think the one thing was the base. So I've always wrestled, and so I came in as a wrestler. And, you know, everybody who does jiu jitsu knows, you know what it's like to go with somebody who's a good wrestler. You know, they don't know Jiu Jitsu, but they're a handful. I mean, I think that the thing that happens with most wrestlers is they come in and immediately they're able to like they can beat a blue belt. They can beat purple belts if they start on top, and they can roll somewhat competitively with even brown and black belts. And so what happens is, you come in as a wrestler and all of a sudden you're beating all the white belts who've never. Done it before. No matter, you know, you can go on bottom, top, whatever. You just know how to grapple. Then when it comes to blue belts, you know, if you start on top, you easily beat them. If you start on bottom, it's more of an even roll. And then purple belts, if you start on top, you can actually beat some and so you get this sort of ego thing where, I think very early on, you kind of think, Okay, well, I'm, I'm this good at Jiu Jitsu, because I can roll with a brown belt and hold my own if I'm on top, you know. And in a competition, you can usually be on top because, you know, you have the takedown. So people like to pull, yeah. Pet peeve of mine is people who always want to start on top but don't have takedowns. Because, in training, fine, you always start on top, but if you don't know takedowns, you're never going to get there. So I think that's not a good thing too. But anyway, as far as wrestlers go, for wrestler gets to about a blue belt and commits to start learning jiu jitsu and playing on bottom, their progression is going to be a lot better. I've seen so many cases where you have guys who are really good wrestlers who do very well up to about purple belt, but they can't really compete with the brown black because you're not always going to be on top, and sometimes you're going to get swept. And even a great wrestler, if they don't know a lot of jiu jitsu are not that good, are not going to be able to stay on top against a black belt, indeed, at least. So I think the different things I did, you know, when I was a wrestler at a good pace, so I got my blue belt really quick. The other thing is, very early on, probably six months in when I started, I could roll with guys. After about six months, I could roll with purple belts. I mean, the gym I went to with Roberto travin, he always separates, like the higher belts and the lower belts. First time I ever went there after I've been training about six months, he put me with the higher belts, I never rolled with the so I was already at that level where I could stay on top and do pretty well, but I would still get beat. I mean, I get beat all the time, and even with that, I pretty much made the decision just to sit for every role, because I knew that my top game sort of came naturally,

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

and the bottom game is what I need to work on. So you focused on the parts you were having trouble

Dr. Chris Haraszti:

with. That's the thing. And so that's one of the big keys to progressing in Jiu Jitsu, is focus on your weaknesses. Now, when you're a white belt, they You say, What should I focus on? It's like, okay, everything you know right now, just roll. Just train a lot. But you know, once you've been training a year or two, you need to really start focusing on your weaknesses. And then the other thing is consistency. I mean, honestly, I from the four and a half years I got my black belt, I don't think I I missed a week. I mean, and it's not just, you know, I would train anywhere from three to six times a week, okay, but I never missed a week. I, you know, injuries, whatever. I didn't get injured bad enough where I had to miss, but I just wouldn't miss if I went on vacation, I always went to a gym, yeah, I mean, I would bring my gear with me everywhere I went, consistently for four and a half years. And then the other huge thing is, is YouTube, by the time I was a purple belt, I'm sure I'd watch just about every competition, high level competition footage on YouTube. And you know, you just watch it, see what works, you learn how the right way to move is, and all that sort of thing. And then the the other, the other two big things I think I did is cross training and competition. And so very early on, I pretty much went to every gym I could, you know, I mean, I'm sort of a position where I was the doctor, so I treat a lot of jiu jitsu athletes. So I'm friends with everybody, but, um, but I was, you know, luckily, able to go to other gyms as well. I went to every open mat I could. And so, you know, every time you you cross train, you get exposed to something different. I think competition is huge. I mean, one competition, I think, is equal to, like, 20 training sessions,

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

yeah, maybe more, yeah, maybe more, especially if you lose, right? Losing in a competition for sure,

Dr. Chris Haraszti:

yeah, that's where your weaknesses are exposed. What do I need to work on? You'll find out. You'll find out what you need

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

to work you have the whole tape. You watch that tape, and you're like, oh my god, little things, the whole match. Yeah, you can find things. Even when you win, you'll find little things,

Dr. Chris Haraszti:

yeah. So I competed a lot, and I always competed, you know, pretty much, right, at or above my level competition, my first tournament after I'd been training six months since I was a wrestler, when it came to NoGi, I was competing advanced division, not always winning, but I was competing in it and and then I always competed adult division, even though I was masters, all the way up until I started Black Belt. When I was black belt, I was competed masters, but, um, I competed three, four times a year. Went out to all the tournaments. You know, back then we didn't have regional Atlanta open, right? And all of that sort of thing. It was pretty much pans and worlds, and that's the other thing. As far as promotions, it's hard to it's hard for your instructor to hold you back if you just won, like. You know, brown belt worlds. Yeah, so, you know, I won brown belt. Master, when I got my brown belt, travin was like, you're not getting, you know, because it was quick. And he's like, I'm not to give you your black belt for a while. I mean, he just mentioned that. And, and then I went and won, like, pans, you know, brown belt and everything. And so he, he went in. It's hard to hold it back. And then I think the last thing, another big thing is, is the instructors. And in, when I say instructors, so traveling is my main instructor, and he's, like I said, He's world class, highly respected in the jujitsu world, and an amazing instructor, so I had a very high level instructor. And then on top of that, of course, watching every competition footage, because back then, pretty much the only thing you could watch was competition footage, because it used to be that, before about 2010 2011 most people were of the idea that it was secret. Yeah, keep it. Keep it to your all the gyms, Alliance and Gracie, Baja and Nova. You now they all, they all wouldn't really share techniques, like it was kind of, you didn't want to cross train too much. You didn't share techniques. Everybody had their own, you know, secret techniques. And so the only way to learn techniques was either to buy DVDs

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

or go to the gym. Yeah, go to the

Dr. Chris Haraszti:

gym. So what? What changed that is Marcelo Garcia. So Marcelo Garcia was the he started this Mg in action website. And he was the first person to basically just say, I'm going to throw it out there. He it was, it was revolution. Of course, everybody does it now. Andre galvao and art of Jiu Jitsu. I mean, Gracie, Baja autos, they all have their websites where you can just go and see them, everything they do. What

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

about BJJ fanatics? Yeah, you got jiu jitsu X like, there's a lot of options. But

Dr. Chris Haraszti:

back then, Marcel Garcia was the first one that pretty much just said, I'm going to put it all out there, all my techniques, everything, and you can study me, because I get people were worried, oh, they're going to study me. And what I'm doing, Marcel is like, Listen my stuff. You know it works, whether you know it or not. And he just, he said, I think it's better for jiu jitsu as a

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

whole. I love that, because we would have never met without that opening. Well, we would have through orthopedics. But most people I meet during in jiu jitsu is from traveling and cross training, right? And so I love that he did. I didn't know he did

Dr. Chris Haraszti:

that. Well, he was the first one that I'm aware of that started a website people cross trained to an extent, but, but, but not like online. Online, it was, you would not be able to see a lot of training footage, yeah. And Marcella, basically, his website was like, every day, every training session he did, he would post it interesting. And then, of course, he posted all of his class and all of his techniques, everything

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

he did. What's important for jujitsu, right? It's spreading like wildfire. Thing about Marcelo that's

Dr. Chris Haraszti:

interesting is, even after doing that, of course, he still beat everybody. But, um, you know Marcello, is he? The thing about him is he will say that you know that stuff. He does it works whether you know it's coming or not. I mean, Marcel is interesting. He only does, like, four submissions. You know this guy who's one of the ghosts of of Jiu Jitsu. He does guillotines, Rear Naked chokes of some sort, arm bars and north south choke. That will be 99% of his submissions in any of his training or any of his competition footage. Yeah. Well, it works, because that stuff works and so anyway, that's

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

nice. So fast, very good. Well, moving on to kind of more injury related stuff, since we're both surgeons and both train, a big joke is, I'll slap pans bump fists with my friends, and then they'll say, Oh, you're funny, because you can break me, and then you can fix me. And I always joke that I should, like, carry my business card in my GI. But I know we were talking before this, and you said you've done that before. So what have you done? Where, like, obviously, not on purpose to get business, but, yeah,

Dr. Chris Haraszti:

no. I mean, you know, having been doing jiu jitsu in Atlanta so long and and the type of surgeries I do, or, you know, sports related so, so, yeah, I definitely have treated tons of jiu jitsu athletes. I mean, it's funny, like, when I, I also cover the ibjf competitions here, and, you know, it's nice to see, but I'll be like, looking on the mat, and I mean, probably, like, 20 of the people at any Atlanta Open

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

tournament I've operated, yeah,

Dr. Chris Haraszti:

yeah. I'm pretty much, whenever I go to the gym, I because I I am okay with this, and I tell them, and the guy, the professors, know it's fine, but yeah, I mean, if somebody gets hurt, they'll just call me over, you know? And I, I do that all the time. If someone gets hurt there, you know, I put in shoulders on the

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

mat, well, same whenever I'll be rolling, and then I just hear doc, doc. And it's like an immediate I joke that. One time one of my friends, she broke her ankle, like, dislocated. Broke her ankle, and I was rolling, and I was about to get choked by one of my buddies, Anthony Terrell, and he's, he has me in a bow and arrow. I'm like, about to tap, and she goes, Doc. And I joke she saved me. So I was like, Thanks for breaking my ankle so I didn't have to. But I always carry stuff in my car, like, I remember I went to my car and got splinting material, and I'm making a mess on the mat. That's, that's the stuff I enjoy. Like, people will come over and say, I'm so sorry to bother you. And I'm like, No, this is, this is who I love to train, right? This is the population

Dr. Chris Haraszti:

i That's, I enjoy it. And, yeah, but I've had, I've had a couple of people I've actually been rolling with, like, twice. I've had somebody who cut their head open or their eye because they hit my knee, or I hit him in, you know, by accident, and I took him to my house and sewed him up. Yeah,

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

gotta take care of him when you hurt him exactly. Well, what's the worst injury I've ever seen in fighting orthopedic wise?

Dr. Chris Haraszti:

I mean, knee dislocation. Seen that before. You know, the worst injuries, the worst injuries in MMA, in boxing, are the concussions. I mean, so I've seen some pretty bad knockouts. Um, I've had one athlete that actually had a brain, brain bleed. Uh, luckily. I mean, we we diagnosed it there, while they were on the mat, the the ambulance. Well, we didn't diagnosis, but we knew something was something was bad, but the ambulance was there, so we rushed him to the hospital.

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

And that's a good call, because it's tough sometimes when you see a concussion or whether you send them or not, right? So you know, we're both ringside physicians, and you are one of my mentors. You and Dr Andrea, who is also in Atlanta, and so the two of you kind of mentored me since I came out a couple of years ago. So anytime I'm at a fight and I'm like, Oh God, this is wild, I'll just give you a call, because you've been here 15 years, right? So those concussions are really scary, and we're usually better off sending them than not. I will tell you the

Dr. Chris Haraszti:

high level promotions like UFC, I mean, we'll send 80% of the fighters to the hospital after I'm not saying they all need it, but we're super careful about it. Yeah, you know, if in doubt, then we will usually refer to get a CT scan. And then I think that probably the worst injury for me, because I don't treat this is Derek Brunson when he broke his jaw, so he was, he was fighting yellow Romero, and your Romero elbowed him in the jaw and basically broke his jaw in half. And you see the teeth come up, yeah? I mean, his teeth were separated and but it's not

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

just losing a tooth, like the whole, the whole

Dr. Chris Haraszti:

thing is it for me, that was the, that was the worst injury I've seen, because I don't treat right now, if somebody's an oral surgeon, they probably look like, oh, I mean, it's a mildly displaced jaw, yeah, they're just gonna why they're not even

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

working. They're like, wiring it and sending them to the ear. Same thing

Dr. Chris Haraszti:

like I watched, I was watching when Anderson Silva kicked Chris Weidman, and when Chris why I didn't watch when Chris want but I was actually watching that five when Anderson, Silva kid, Chris Wideman, of

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

course, everybody's like, Oh my gosh, look at his I was at the bar, and everybody's losing their mind. I was like, it's got erotic guys, they'll be walking tomorrow.

Dr. Chris Haraszti:

Like, that's an easy surgery. So, so that doesn't really bother me to see his leg go like this, you know. But, um, but

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

it's good for the show, huh? Oh, yeah. So, yeah, all right, great. What tips do you have for injury prevention? I know you, we were, you have some stuff on your Instagram, which I'm going to link to after you have your top 10 things that you can do. The first one we were kind of laughing about. So if you want to talk about that one, and maybe give us two or three that are your favorite things to teach people to prevent injury. So

Dr. Chris Haraszti:

I think, honestly, the number one way to or the best thing you can do to prevent injury is get better at Jiu

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

Jitsu. That's what we were laughing about, like, just, just be good. Yeah, don't suck. I

Dr. Chris Haraszti:

mean, I'm not saying that that white belts necessarily have a higher injury incidence than competitive black belts. Competitive black coats probably have a higher injury incidence, but it's because of the intensity of what they're doing. It's still better for at any level to get better at jiu jitsu and have your body understand which way you're moving you know and feel comfortable with the moves, and learn more and more how the other person is is uh, is going to move as well.

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

I talk to people bigger guys, right when they come to grapple with me, 125 pounds versus, like my boyfriend, who's over 200 Yeah, I'm like, Don't smash and use all your force, because I can't really do much to that when you have tech, when you're pretty good, but if you just become technical and lighten up your weight, you will learn so much from small females, small people, because we have to really have technique to get around the big guys, right? So that was what I took from get better at Jiu Jitsu, like get more technical, study more and don't focus on your strength in training, yeah.

Dr. Chris Haraszti:

And that that's, that's it now, for sure. And going along with that is there's a philosophy of called neuromuscular training. You. And basically it's, it's about your body being better coordinated, your nervous system and your muscles being better coordinated. For instance, with an ankle sprain, what typically happens if someone is already sprained their ankle, they're more likely to sprain it again. Why? Because of proprioception. So you know, in in a normal ankle, you get to a certain point, and your nerves pick up right away, that that you're stretching it too much, and your your muscles fire automatically, automatically, and it comes right back where it's supposed to be. But once somebody sprained their ankle, that proprioception, the nerves going to it, are damaged. So it's part of the problem with, you know, recurrent sprained ankles is, well, you may have torn some ligaments, okay, but a lot of times you just stretch some ligaments, but you're more likely to strain it, because your body, your doesn't really know where the ankle is in space as well. And that's why it's like physical therapy and training, balance board, things like that help with

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

I mean, the connection is gone. That connection is gone so your your muscles don't fire automatically anymore once you've had that sprain, right? So I, I talk about proprioception a lot, like on my Instagram, and I the importance of it, especially after I tore my ACL, just how important that single leg stuff is. But for people that don't know what it is, can you kind of explain what proprioception is?

Dr. Chris Haraszti:

Proprioception, it's not a conscious thing, but it's, it's, it's the ability of your body to know where it is in space. Basically, it's, it's the feeling that the joints have around them, so that they know where exactly everything is and and where it comes into play again, is at the extremes of range of motion before something actually pops. You can have a you can have a pain in your tendon, but that means or in your ligament, that means it's already stretched a little too far. Your body's actually going to be better off at recognizing that it's getting close just because of of where it is, yeah, and then it reacts. So proprioception is basically just the feeling of your joints, but it's more about your joints knowing where they

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

are, yeah, it's an automatic response that you have to train, because when you're in the moment, like playing soccer, whatever the sport is, you can't be like, okay, ankle fought like peroneus breath like you can't just tell your muscles, yeah,

Dr. Chris Haraszti:

training, it's about training, and that's where you know. The more that you do Jiu Jitsu and you drill, for instance, the better that your body knows where things are.

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

And going back to ankle sprains, that's super common injury that we see, regardless of even out of sport, and people will often immobilize their ankle and just like, sit on the couch. And yes, you could do that for day, two days whatever, get the swelling down, but I straight into PT, right? Because you need to start working on that proprioception and not let that thing stiffen up. Yeah. All right? So we, we talked about some that our favorite prevention, which

Dr. Chris Haraszti:

is just, yeah, there's, there's some other, you know, injury prevention tips, which, you know, I have on on, I have, like, a 10 List, yeah, you know, I mean, it can be as simple as things like, be aware of your surroundings. I mean, if you're training next to an open window, right, don't keep going. You know, one of the most old school, intense gyms I've ever been to is unity jujitsu in New York. Went and trained up there. Their old place. You know, more. Santana is there. The meow brothers were there. That place was That was awesome. So old school is, like, this tiny room. There's, like, no air conditioning, so it gets super hot. There's like, a shower there. And people will actually, in the middle of their training, they'll run, jump in the shower with their geek, because the shower is, like, right next, yeah, it's tiny room. And then they'll come out and keep training, but in the same D, yeah, but, but, you know, the thing is, is they actually had, they had mats going all the way up to Windows. It's the second floor, and there's two windows, and they have mats going all the way up. So, I mean, they probably just don't let White belts train near the window. Happening Now, brothers, I'm sure they stay away from it, right, right? You know, that's, it's like, be aware of your surroundings. Is there, you know, is there water on the mats? Is Is there a lot of sweat? Yes, don't slip. Yeah, that. So, I mean, it could be as simple as that,

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

yeah, yeah. Cool. And the one of the last questions I had for you was, what's your favorite surgery to

Dr. Chris Haraszti:

perform? I would say is rotator cuff repair, simply because, I mean, people, I like doing it. It's a fun surgery to do, and people do really well. I mean, it depends on, you know, how old they are and how bad their rotator cuff is torn, or how long it's been there. But for most rotator cuff tears, I think people do very

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

well. It's, it's elegant too. Like, there's, we're doing it now with cameras, right? And we can go in through these couple little pokes and fix somebody's rotator cuff, and you can add different things. There's, there's so many things on the market, which the research, you know, that's probably another, another topic for another day. But you could add patches, you can you could do a lot to try and augment it if needed. And it every rotator cuff is different, you know, every tear pattern. But in Jiu Jitsu, I haven't seen many rotator cuff it's not really a common injury in Jiu Jitsu. I don't think,

Dr. Chris Haraszti:

I mean, I. Have seen quite a few. The people who get rotator cuff tears usually are the older jiu jitsu athletes. I don't see it as much in 20 and 30,

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

right? The more competitive people, yeah, like knees, shoulder dislocations,

Dr. Chris Haraszti:

but once you get in the sort of the Masters 40 and over, I see, I see a bit of rotator cuff tears. Yeah, it's, it happens.

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

Okay? The last thing I wanted to talk to you about was, what kind of advice would you give to hobbyists and competitors that have full time jobs? You know, we work about 40 to 60 hours as orthopedic surgeons. We cover games on the weekends. We're ringside doctors. You also have kids, you have a lot going on. What would you give? What kind of advice? Because I hear a lot of people, they'll say, I'm so disappointed I haven't been in in three weeks like life just took over. So I always like to ask people that are doing it, that are have a lot going on. So what kind of advice do you give

Dr. Chris Haraszti:

to these people? So I think number one is priority. You know, if you make you got to make it a priority in your life. All right? So my priorities for the last 15 years, pretty much have been family, work, Jiu Jitsu, but not necessarily going to this concert or, you know, it's about priorities. I mean, you know, if I get off at five o'clock or six o'clock, I have a gym that I can go. I mean, for me, part of it was also kind of going to different gyms, like some would start at 630 when someone starts 730 things like that. But for the most part, it's, it's about, you know, planning the day so that you have the time to do it. And then, you know, it doesn't matter if I'm tired, you know. And first off, I learned very early on that I could feel like crap, and I go, and I feel great after so

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

just a community, just with your friends there, yeah? Or get and get buddies to, like, friends that'll text you and say, Hey, you're coming tonight, yeah? Because then you're like, Ah, okay, yeah,

Dr. Chris Haraszti:

yeah. I think, I think priority is, is just a big one, and pretty much, I mean, I just, would, you know, if I didn't train for two days, I would be very much on top of my mind, when's my next training session going to be, you know? And I would make it work, you know. And then priorities also, I mean, you have to, everyone has their own thing with their wife and kids and all that kind of stuff. And I think I pretty much sometimes just had to put my foot down and be like, Okay, well, I'm going to go to jujitsu or

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

have a nice conversation before, before saying, hey, look, if I don't want this for me, makes me very happy. You know, if I don't do this, I

Dr. Chris Haraszti:

it's, you know, you have to, you have to take care of yourself in order to be helpful to the people in your life. And that's just a really important concept. I mean, you really have to take care of yourself, mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, before you can help the others in your life and be an asset.

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

Well, I always preach that, like through through medical training and everything, but that's really not, not for you, right? Medical training, you've got to put yourself pretty far down the pole, unfortunately. But once I came out of all my training, my first year out, I was still putting everyone else first, and it was I was miserable. I was really stressed. I wasn't sleeping. And then when I put myself first, I know it sounds terrible. You know when people say, How are your patients not first? Because if I'm not first and I'm not happy and sound of mine and have my sleep, how can I treat them in the best way? So putting, like, putting yourself first, I think, is important, not all the time, but yeah, yeah. All right. And what's next for you, on and off the mats?

Dr. Chris Haraszti:

I mean, you know, right now, it's pretty much just continue. I mean, I'm, I'm not really competing anymore, so I'm teaching and in training with people and trying to help, you know, the rest of my team developing the next set of competitors exactly get ready for their competitions and that sort of thing. As far as orthopedics goes, I mean, just everything is going great with that, enjoying it. Yeah, yeah. I just keep working, taking care of patients. And then, you know, for the ringside physician stuff, I'm sort of already established with that. So really, that's kind of keep trying to be as excellent as possible with it. That's awesome. My best.

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

Yeah, very good. And where can people find you? So

Dr. Chris Haraszti:

I'm on Emory orthopedics. So if you just look up my name on Emory orthopedics, you can get an appointment or come in.

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

Yeah, great. And then your Instagram,

Dr. Chris Haraszti:

Instagram is BJJ ortho.

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

Well, I'll link out to it

Dr. Chris Haraszti:

on Facebook, on dot Chris, awesome, and on Instagram, I think I'm BJJ ortho, yeah,

Dr. Megan Jimenez:

and people can go through my stuff, and we'll post about those 10 prevention injury, or 10 ways to prevent injury. Awesome. Well, thanks so much for being here. This was awesome, awesome. Thank you.

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