New Research Shines More Light On How Jiu-Jitsu Can Help Treat Veterans’ PTSD
Jiu Jitsu Times Article:
Sometimes the toughest injuries to cope with leave no visible wounds.
I suffer from long-term concussion issues that can sideline my training for weeks at a time and leave me crippled with anxiety and depression. The most difficult part is I appear to be fine — no cast or brace on my leg, no stitches on my forehead, just the pain I hold on to.
Many of our US servicemen and women suffer PTSD when they return stateside and rejoin the civilian world fighting similar invisible demons. Gino Collura, who holds a Ph.D. in NeuroAnthropology and is a BJJ blue belt, believes his research provides evidence to support a positive correlation between active participation in jiu-jitsu classes and relief from the effects of PTSD in soldiers returning to civilian life. During a recent interview, we discussed his research into that subject and its findings.
Dr. Collura started training martial arts at a young age, ultimately getting his brown belt in Judo. He later took up BJJ in 2002 after stumbling into an academy by accident. “I walked into a Frank Calta’s just wanting to get a regular gym membership to lift weights and do some cardio, but in one of the glassed off classrooms there was a jiu-jitsu class going on,” he recalled.
Read More at the link below: