You don’t have to figure this out alone.

Papers about our sport

There is not much of it. What exists is mostly individual case reports, which is exactly why this registry exists. These are the papers written about grappling and combat sports rather than dissection in general — the ones worth handing to a doctor who has never rolled.

• Vascular injuries of the head and neck in martial arts: a scoping reviewHyler J, Singerman K, De Stefano FA, Kraft SM, Kavookjian H. J Clin Neurosci. 2026;144:111811. The broadest look at the field: 40 cases reported across 31 papers between 1964 and 2024. Brazilian jiu-jitsu accounts for more of them than any other art. doi.org/10.1016/j.jocn.2025.111811
• Cervical artery dissections and ischemic strokes associated with vascular neck compression techniques (sportive chokes)Stellpflug SJ, Dummer MF, Martin CD, Vera JA, LeFevere RC. J Emerg Med. 2022;63:49–57. Ten cases collected after sportive chokes: five carotid dissections, three vertebral dissections, two ischemic strokes without dissection.
• Traumatic carotid artery dissection following a Brazilian jiu-jitsu chokehold: a case reportMartinet P, et al. Cureus. 2025. A single documented case: symptoms about a week after the choke, and complete healing of the vessel on follow-up. Free to read — PMC12495981
• Common carotid artery dissection from sportive chokingBorg D, Crockett M. BJR Case Rep. 2023;9(6):20230048. Symptoms began six hours after an Ezekiel choke. Note this one involved the common carotid at an unusual location, so read it for the timeline rather than as a typical picture. Free to read — PMC10621583

The wider literature

Dissection outside of sport is much better studied. These are the references this site leans on, and the ones a clinician is most likely to recognise.

• Treatment and outcomes of cervical artery dissection in adultsYaghi S, et al. American Heart Association scientific statement. Stroke. 2024;55(3):e91–e106. The current professional guidance. PubMed 38299330
• Cervical artery dissection: a review of the epidemiology, pathophysiology, treatment, and outcomeBlum CA, Yaghi S. Arch Neurosci. 2015;2(4):e26670. The most readable overview of what actually happens in the artery wall, and the source behind much of the plain-language explanation on this site. Free to read — PMC4604565
• Antiplatelet or anticoagulant therapy: a pooled analysis of the CADISS and TREAT-CAD trialsKaufmann JE, et al. JAMA Neurol. 2024;81(6):630–637. The two randomised trials of blood-thinning treatment, analysed together. Free to read — PubMed 38739383
• ESO guideline for the management of extracranial and intracranial artery dissectionDebette S, et al. European Stroke Organisation. Eur Stroke J. 2021;6(3). The European counterpart to the AHA statement, and the source behind this site’s insistence that symptoms which pass are still an emergency. Free to read — PubMed 34746432
• Clinical characteristics of symptomatic vertebral artery dissection: a systematic reviewGottesman RF, et al. Neurologist. 2012;18(5):245–254. Pools 1,972 vertebral dissection patients from 75 studies and tabulates how often each symptom actually appears — useful if your symptoms don’t look like the textbook stroke picture. Free to read — PMC3898434

Reading the research yourself

You do not need a medical degree to read an abstract, and you are allowed to. A few places to start:

• PubMed — the index your doctors search. Try “cervical artery dissection”, “carotid dissection sport”, or “vertebral artery dissection martial arts”. Abstracts are always free.
• PubMed Central — full papers, free and legal, for anything with a PMC number. Several of the papers above are here in full.
• MedlinePlus — plain-language medical background from the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
• American Stroke Association — stroke warning signs, recovery resources, and support programs.

If a paper sits behind a paywall, a public library or a university library card will often get you in, and authors are usually happy to send a copy if you email and ask. Reading the paper your doctor is working from is a reasonable thing to want.

Survivor communities

Hearing from someone two years further along this road is worth a great deal at 2am. Communities of carotid and vertebral dissection survivors exist on most major platforms — searching “carotid artery dissection survivors” or “vertebral artery dissection support” will find them.

If you find one that helped you, tell me and I’ll add it here.

Finding the right specialists

Dissection care usually involves neurology — often a stroke or neurovascular specialist — and sometimes vascular surgery or neuro-interventional radiology. If your first conversation leaves you feeling unheard, especially about what grappling actually does to a neck, it is reasonable and normal to seek a second opinion at a comprehensive stroke center.

Bring your imaging on a disc or a link, a one-paragraph timeline of your injury and symptoms, and your questions written down. Short, concrete, and in their language gets the best conversations.

Ask for copies of your own imaging and reports as you go. They are yours, they make second opinions far easier, and you will want them years from now when someone asks what actually happened.