You don’t have to figure this out alone.

Survivor communities

Hearing from someone two years further along this road is worth a great deal at 2am.

• Strokes, Carotid or Vertebral Artery Dissection in Jiu Jitsu SurvivorsA private Facebook group, 262 members, running since 2019 — the closest thing that exists to a room full of people who have had this injury, in this sport. Because it is private you will need to request to join and wait to be let in before you can read anything, and it is quiet: a few posts a month rather than a busy feed. Joining also attaches your Facebook name to a survivors’ group, which is worth knowing before you click. facebook.com/groups/1256571557841387

Wider communities — for dissection and stroke survivors generally, not grapplers specifically — 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.

Papers about our sport

There is not much of it. What exists about the injury 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. The last two are about the sport rather than the injury, and are here because they carry the numbers everything else lacks.

• 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. Worth reading past the summary — in nine of the ten the choke was described as ordinary, only one person was choked unconscious, and the injured ranged from a four-week white belt to a sixteen-year black belt. doi.org/10.1016/j.jemermed.2022.04.015
• Internal carotid artery dissection in Brazilian jiu-jitsuDemartini Z Jr, Rodrigues Freire M, Lages RO, et al. J Cerebrovasc Endovasc Neurosurg. 2017;19(2):111–116. The earliest BJJ-specific case in the literature, and the hardest to read: severe neck pain during a rear naked choke, no care sought, then a major stroke a week later with lasting deficits. The authors say plainly that a quick scan at the time of the pain might have changed the outcome. Free to read — PMC5678212
• Vertebral artery dissection in an active-duty soldier due to a mixed martial arts choke holdPowell T, Fullam T, Hammett J, Nettlow D, Harris J. Fed Pract. 2018;35(7):12–17. The vertebral counterpart, and a much better outcome: vertigo and vomiting after a choke in the last seconds of a match, a cerebellar stroke found on imaging, and a normal neurological exam three months later. Free to read — PMC6368010
• 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 safety of sportive chokes: a cross-sectional survey-based studyStellpflug SJ, Schindler BR, Corry JJ, Menton TR, LeFevere RC. Phys Sportsmed. 2020;48(4):473–479. The closest thing to a denominator anyone has: 4,307 grapplers surveyed, a third of them choked more than 500 times, and two people reporting symptoms that lasted. It is a self-selected online survey and the authors say so — people who stopped training after an injury are less likely to be answering. PubMed 32271638
• Analysis of the fight-ending chokes in the history of the UFCStellpflug SJ, Menton WH, LeFevere RC. Phys Sportsmed. 2022;50(1):60–63. Every fight-ending choke across 5,834 UFC fights, sorted by technique — the rear naked choke alone accounts for almost half. This is professional competition, not training, so read the numbers as a picture of the sport at its sharpest end. doi.org/10.1080/00913847.2020.1866958

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
• Cervical artery dissection and sportsEngelter ST, Traenka C, Grond-Ginsbach C, et al. Front Neurol. 2021;12:663830. The only paper we have found that takes on the question you are actually asking — what sport does to a dissected artery, and what clinicians tell patients about going back. Its own authors are blunt that the evidence barely exists and that their advice is experienced opinion rather than guideline. Read it to know what your doctors are working from. Free to read — PMC8200565

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.

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.