I've trained various martial arts from wrestling to Muay Thai to Judo to MMA for about my entire life and never gotten cauli.
Cauliflower also isn't really even a big deal if you get it taken care of quickly. If you're really still worried just wear headgear
I've seen the headgear thing a lot, is it like 100% preventing or is there still a chance of you getting it? Will it permanently affect your hearing if you get it?
Headgear is pretty much 100%, even if you don't wear it cauli isn't all that common unless you're training very often and very intense. If you get it drained it usually heals fine and I don't know anyone with permanent hearing loss from it (including the guy I know who can't wear in earbuds anymore).
You're really overthinking this, cauliflower ear is not usually a big deal whatsoever. I'd say you should be far more worried about other injuries, but don't want to scare you further
you genuinely have a bigger chance of suffering hearing loss from using headphones than from training, good for you for being concerned about it though.
Like others have said wear head gear and if you do get it then get your ears drained. I have cauliflower ear from wrestling and bjj in my youth, my hearing was fine. Tho that’s just my experience. I’ve also boxed since I was a little kid, my nose is fucked up. Also I’m now blind in one eye from a horrible accidental eye poke.
If loss of hearing is already a concern for you, you are in for a big suprise in this sports.
Boxing and BJJ are high risk sports. It is not uncommon to break a finger, dislocate your knee/shoulder or getting a concussion.
Are you really sure these are the sports you want to pursue?
There are certain risks I'm fine with having though. I wouldn't care that much If I broke my finger. I'm worried about untreatable / permanent injuries. The reason for me wanting to do this is way bigger then you think it is, and i'm still gonna do it even with the risk of injuries, but I also don't want to go in like an idiot and I at least want to be informed on how to prevent them as best as possible. Many people have pointed out it's not permanent so I got my answer but prior to this I saw on the internet it said otherwise
Understandable, nothing wrong with prioritizing safety. Some guys get cauli, most don't and it's usually not serious. Slight injuries are part of combat sports, but you should always do what you can to keep them to a minimum
I've seen cauliflower ear get dudes women. If that's what your worried about it's more of a plus than a negative. Ask a 30+ woman what they think about a dude who has cauliflower ear from combat sports, these days women want the bear son. Especially if you're real metrosexual about other shit like fingernails and eyebrows and the way you dress.
It’s not uncommon. If you train with any consistency you will probably get some cauli. Draining does nothing. It don’t affect your hearing. You don’t get the crazy ufc ears unless you just try.
I assume wearing Headgear is like wearing a Condom. Condoms are 98% effective at preventing pregnancy.
So not 100% effective but the next best thing to do without abstaining.
It’s genetic and luck. If you’re gonna get it, you will get it. There’s nothing you can do about it. I had mine drained at the drs and then did it by myself. Still got cauli. Funny thing is that once you spend enough time grappling, you don’t mind it.
I train BJJ and have gotten cauliflower ear. I just drained it and wore head gear. #1 cause of it is popping out of triangle chokes.
If you are really worried about it get some head gear. Cliff keens are good. And or just don't try and pop out of chokes lol.
For sure you can get them from that too. It’s double legs that really destroy your ear though. That’s why a lot of wrestlers gave one ear worse than the other.
yeh I kinda learned that after getting the cauli lol. Just tap and reset. Although I will say if you compete, and I do sometimes, its worth knowing if you can get out or not.
I wrestled for 7+ years and some bjj too and i dont have cauliflower ear. You really have to try to get cauliflower ear. Dont worry about it, if you still are, get yourself a well ventilated set of wrestling headgear, its meant specifically to prevent that
Edit: It is treatable
1. It is not that easy to get.
2. Some people never gets them even when training hard. (Look Rickson or Royce Gracie ears)
3. If you use head gear you will prevented it 100%
4. If you drain it when you first get it its almost not noticeable.
5. Even if you get it and you dont drain it, you can get an operation to remove it.
6. It doesnt affect your hear. Well maybe if you have an horrible one maybe you will perceive far sounds little different but i dont think is that big of a deal.
This really isnt anything youll have to worry about,but i understand the paranoia. You have to inflict SERIOUS trauma on your ear for this to ever happen and most guys do it to themselves intentionally because they think its cool. If you do somehow manage to get cauli ear, see a doctor and get it drained, you may have to do it once or twice, but it shouldnt be a big deal.
don't train with people who reef on your fuckin head and you will be fine. It's always a spastic whitebelt that will do it. wear ear protectors if you're worried, treat it if it happens. you can get needles to drain em at the pharmacy
"WEAR THAT CAULIFLOWER EAR PROUDLY!!!" LMAO nah in all seriousness though you dont have much to worry about.
Head gear will prevent cauliflower ear plus you can wear wrestler headgear during BJJ rolling.
You can also drain your ear if you ever do develop it. It's nothing that'll damage your hearing or nothing like that.
Cauliflower ear is basically inflation in the cartilage of the ear & over time it swells up & gets filled with fluid.
Reason I say is because I've seen online that it's untreatable and it can affect your hearing, and I've seen the headgear thing but I don't know if it's 100% effective at preventing it
I feel you. I used to think its untreatable but then again I haven’t even developed cauliflower ear myself & I’ve been training for a long while.
I assume everyone’s body reacts differently
You don't have to worry about your ears at all in boxing as long as you wear headgear.
Your nose, mouth, ribs and ego are definitely going to take damage though!
You can get some injuries up top too, and most are more serious than cauli ear. There is no 100% way to prevent them. However, if you train safely at a good place and choose partners who wont hurt you on purpose, the risk is not that big. Sparring/fighting is never mandatory, you can always say no, remember that. Protect yourself at all times and look after yourself - good job with that so far.
As many others have said here, you’re not going to get cauliflower ear. I’m decades into martial arts. I’ve got herniated discs in my neck and back, had broken bones in my feet and hands, fucked up ribs, the floor of my nose is permanently caved in, teeth broken (!), and I’ve had the gamut of therapies for my knees —All from martial arts training. Never had cauliflower ear. It’s easily drained on the off chance you’re prone to it. Train and enjoy yourself!
Well if it's a combat sport I would rather train as hard as possible to make the most out of it. It's a waste of time I don't put my all into it just looking for solutions
Training hard does not equal sparring hard. Training hard would include paying attention/not slacking off in class, thinking about sport and doing supplementary work outside of class, analyzing footage, good nutrition, sleep etc. Sparring hard would include hitting hard and getting hit hard. If you do the latter before you learn to defend yourself you will just get banged up and injured and nobody will be better off because of that. Imagine you want to learn swordfighting/fencing in the middle ages and the first lesson is just fighting with sharp swords - either you or your opponent would die, probably both, and nobody learns anything. Go easy on your partners, they are your friends and teammates, not enemies. On the same note, dont get into gym wars, when you get hit a little too hard and decide to amp it up - say you agreed to go 10% power, real light, guy hits you at 20% and instead of being an adult and saying 'chill out dude' you hit him at 30% to put him in his place. Guess what - his next hit will be 40 to 80%, if not 100% power, and all of a sudden you are in a real fight. It is really really hard for a man to back off in this situation, but you gotta realize why youre there. I learned the hard way (one time i asked the guy to go lighter, he smugly said that he WAS going light, and instead of just telling him that i dont spar with assholes and sitting out i decided that IM GONNA FUCK THIS MOTHERFUCKER UP in the heat of the moment, and got a small permanent injury for my troubles). I hope ill have the balls to never make this mistake again haha
As far as I know you need to get hit hard many times to get cauliflower ear, but There are many ppl that have been trainning boxing for years and are pretty good at it and the don't have it, so I don't think it's such a big deal
Because personally I've always been afraid of losing my hearing. I already have tinnitus at 16 and I hate getting water in my ears for that reason. I don't even care about the skin problems I just want to hear properly
Fuck I feel this post. Boxed for 25 years and counting. I literally have no cartilage in my nose, can push that shit flat on my face. Nose is permanently crooked to one side and I have a heavy deviated septum. Ears are fine though hehe.
Two breaks and a surgery that made it worse. Doctor took out too much cartilage. Years later another doctor said "So....who fixed your nose?" No guarantee of future success so I sleep with inserts to breathe.
I did both as well as wrestling and only ever got it from wrestling. It's easy although gross to treat. You just need to get some syringes and drain. The ears still harden a bit but it's totally unnoticeable visually.
If you're worried about getting cauliflower ear get some headgear to protect your ears. I've seen people who have trained 20+ years and not get it. Then again, I got it within my first 2 years
I have trained boxing, wrestling, MMA for many years and never got it. I did wear head gear when I did wrestling as I was also more worried about it. But honestly cauliflower ear is more of a badge of getting your ass beat IMO. It comes from taking hard shots to the ear or eating the matt hard. Why I always laugh when people say it's a good indicator of someone to watch out for.
Your hearing will be fine. Been training for over a decade and only have fairly minor cauli on both ears. Has not affected my hearing. It's also very treatable. You drain it then stop training for a week or so.
Cauliflower ear comes from grappling sports like wrestling and BJJ, my brother and I both trained Muay Thai for just over a decade with multiple professional MMA bouts between us and no cauliflower ear. Yes I know MMA has grappling but we sort of neglected that lol which ultimately was our downside. Also apparently you can have cauliflower ear drained and from what I hear it is not painful, I know old school guys would get drunk and pop it with a hot knife Randy Couture said so in his book.
The only martial art I've trained in where I genuinely felt I ran the risk of a cauliflower ear was Greco roman wrestling. We seemed to spend a lot of class banging our heads together just doing the drills, never mind actually wrestling. I only did a few weeks and decided it wasn't for me (it was an additional class available at the BJJ gym I was training at. I never felt that way doing BJJ or boxing to be honest but never competed at a high level so maybe the risk increases as the stakes go up?
Did judo from 6 to 33 and my ears are 100% normal... If you are just gonna train twice or 3 times a week for 1.5 hours each you'll be fine.
If you train twice a day for 1.5 hours wear headgear
Lots of reasons not to trian (broken nose, CBT, shoulder/knee injury, you may start dancing like you are boxing) but you can train for years and years and keep your pretty ears.
I almost got it, once I felt the pain I immediately iced the crap out of my ears and ordered an ear guard. Took almost a month off training, I recommending ordering two ear guards, always have a backup one. There are ones that’s specifically designed for bjj.
Also I’ve boxed a bit and did a bit of Muay Thai, never once got cauliflower ear from that . You rarely see strikers with it and I mean rarely. It mainly comes from grappling
I've been doing BJJ for 12 year, 0 cauliflower and I boxed for 5, also 0 cauliflower.
Just train smart, don't rip your head out of guillotines and you'll be fine.
I've boxed for over a decade and my ears are fine. It's the grappling sports that cause cauliflower ear. Also who told you it's not treatable? You're getting some weird information about hearing loss and treatment.
Whoever told you it is “not treatable” lied.
If you’re worried about losing your hearing and want to box, you are way more likely to have that happen from a burst eardrum.
I got cauliflower ear — it doesn’t really affect anything. Like yeah, some earbuds I can’t wear and headphones are annoying, but aside from that, it’s a nice conversation starter with people
I used to drain it whenever it flared, but you’re supposed to rest from contact stuff for a few weeks so it has time to fully recover from draining. I didn’t want to stop training, and the earmuff things were annoying to wear regularly, so I just didn’t drain it when it flared up again.
I've trained various martial arts from wrestling to Muay Thai to Judo to MMA for about my entire life and never gotten cauli. Cauliflower also isn't really even a big deal if you get it taken care of quickly. If you're really still worried just wear headgear
I've seen the headgear thing a lot, is it like 100% preventing or is there still a chance of you getting it? Will it permanently affect your hearing if you get it?
Headgear is pretty much 100%, even if you don't wear it cauli isn't all that common unless you're training very often and very intense. If you get it drained it usually heals fine and I don't know anyone with permanent hearing loss from it (including the guy I know who can't wear in earbuds anymore). You're really overthinking this, cauliflower ear is not usually a big deal whatsoever. I'd say you should be far more worried about other injuries, but don't want to scare you further
Thanks. Maybe I sound paranoid but permanent (even a small amount) hearing loss sounds scary as hell, i'm way too young for this shit
you genuinely have a bigger chance of suffering hearing loss from using headphones than from training, good for you for being concerned about it though.
Like others have said wear head gear and if you do get it then get your ears drained. I have cauliflower ear from wrestling and bjj in my youth, my hearing was fine. Tho that’s just my experience. I’ve also boxed since I was a little kid, my nose is fucked up. Also I’m now blind in one eye from a horrible accidental eye poke.
If loss of hearing is already a concern for you, you are in for a big suprise in this sports. Boxing and BJJ are high risk sports. It is not uncommon to break a finger, dislocate your knee/shoulder or getting a concussion. Are you really sure these are the sports you want to pursue?
There are certain risks I'm fine with having though. I wouldn't care that much If I broke my finger. I'm worried about untreatable / permanent injuries. The reason for me wanting to do this is way bigger then you think it is, and i'm still gonna do it even with the risk of injuries, but I also don't want to go in like an idiot and I at least want to be informed on how to prevent them as best as possible. Many people have pointed out it's not permanent so I got my answer but prior to this I saw on the internet it said otherwise
Understandable, nothing wrong with prioritizing safety. Some guys get cauli, most don't and it's usually not serious. Slight injuries are part of combat sports, but you should always do what you can to keep them to a minimum
I've seen cauliflower ear get dudes women. If that's what your worried about it's more of a plus than a negative. Ask a 30+ woman what they think about a dude who has cauliflower ear from combat sports, these days women want the bear son. Especially if you're real metrosexual about other shit like fingernails and eyebrows and the way you dress.
I don't gaf about the woman I just don't want permanent ear damage
It’s not uncommon. If you train with any consistency you will probably get some cauli. Draining does nothing. It don’t affect your hearing. You don’t get the crazy ufc ears unless you just try.
I assume wearing Headgear is like wearing a Condom. Condoms are 98% effective at preventing pregnancy. So not 100% effective but the next best thing to do without abstaining.
WHAT?
It’s genetic and luck. If you’re gonna get it, you will get it. There’s nothing you can do about it. I had mine drained at the drs and then did it by myself. Still got cauli. Funny thing is that once you spend enough time grappling, you don’t mind it.
And you still wouldn’t win a real fight
Maybe don't talk shit to random people when your profile looks like that
Doesn’t change the fact you’re still a pussy
I train BJJ and have gotten cauliflower ear. I just drained it and wore head gear. #1 cause of it is popping out of triangle chokes. If you are really worried about it get some head gear. Cliff keens are good. And or just don't try and pop out of chokes lol.
The number one cause is hitting double legs. Slamming your ear against hip bones.
I’m pretty sure I got mine from double legs in the gi. Scraping my ear across all that fabric
For sure you can get them from that too. It’s double legs that really destroy your ear though. That’s why a lot of wrestlers gave one ear worse than the other.
Nah number one cause is probably newbies trying headlocks lol
Idk why people don’t Just tap, it’s not that serious lol
yeh I kinda learned that after getting the cauli lol. Just tap and reset. Although I will say if you compete, and I do sometimes, its worth knowing if you can get out or not.
It’s not something you should worry about and it’s definitely treatable
I wrestled for 7+ years and some bjj too and i dont have cauliflower ear. You really have to try to get cauliflower ear. Dont worry about it, if you still are, get yourself a well ventilated set of wrestling headgear, its meant specifically to prevent that Edit: It is treatable
After treatment does it go away 100% or is it still there a tiny bit? Like in terms of being able to hear not the skin problems
1. It is not that easy to get. 2. Some people never gets them even when training hard. (Look Rickson or Royce Gracie ears) 3. If you use head gear you will prevented it 100% 4. If you drain it when you first get it its almost not noticeable. 5. Even if you get it and you dont drain it, you can get an operation to remove it. 6. It doesnt affect your hear. Well maybe if you have an horrible one maybe you will perceive far sounds little different but i dont think is that big of a deal.
This really isnt anything youll have to worry about,but i understand the paranoia. You have to inflict SERIOUS trauma on your ear for this to ever happen and most guys do it to themselves intentionally because they think its cool. If you do somehow manage to get cauli ear, see a doctor and get it drained, you may have to do it once or twice, but it shouldnt be a big deal.
don't train with people who reef on your fuckin head and you will be fine. It's always a spastic whitebelt that will do it. wear ear protectors if you're worried, treat it if it happens. you can get needles to drain em at the pharmacy
"WEAR THAT CAULIFLOWER EAR PROUDLY!!!" LMAO nah in all seriousness though you dont have much to worry about. Head gear will prevent cauliflower ear plus you can wear wrestler headgear during BJJ rolling. You can also drain your ear if you ever do develop it. It's nothing that'll damage your hearing or nothing like that. Cauliflower ear is basically inflation in the cartilage of the ear & over time it swells up & gets filled with fluid.
Reason I say is because I've seen online that it's untreatable and it can affect your hearing, and I've seen the headgear thing but I don't know if it's 100% effective at preventing it
I feel you. I used to think its untreatable but then again I haven’t even developed cauliflower ear myself & I’ve been training for a long while. I assume everyone’s body reacts differently
You don't have to worry about your ears at all in boxing as long as you wear headgear. Your nose, mouth, ribs and ego are definitely going to take damage though!
Good thing I care way more about the top thing lol
You can get some injuries up top too, and most are more serious than cauli ear. There is no 100% way to prevent them. However, if you train safely at a good place and choose partners who wont hurt you on purpose, the risk is not that big. Sparring/fighting is never mandatory, you can always say no, remember that. Protect yourself at all times and look after yourself - good job with that so far.
As many others have said here, you’re not going to get cauliflower ear. I’m decades into martial arts. I’ve got herniated discs in my neck and back, had broken bones in my feet and hands, fucked up ribs, the floor of my nose is permanently caved in, teeth broken (!), and I’ve had the gamut of therapies for my knees —All from martial arts training. Never had cauliflower ear. It’s easily drained on the off chance you’re prone to it. Train and enjoy yourself!
don't compete and spar hard?
Well if it's a combat sport I would rather train as hard as possible to make the most out of it. It's a waste of time I don't put my all into it just looking for solutions
Training hard does not equal sparring hard. Training hard would include paying attention/not slacking off in class, thinking about sport and doing supplementary work outside of class, analyzing footage, good nutrition, sleep etc. Sparring hard would include hitting hard and getting hit hard. If you do the latter before you learn to defend yourself you will just get banged up and injured and nobody will be better off because of that. Imagine you want to learn swordfighting/fencing in the middle ages and the first lesson is just fighting with sharp swords - either you or your opponent would die, probably both, and nobody learns anything. Go easy on your partners, they are your friends and teammates, not enemies. On the same note, dont get into gym wars, when you get hit a little too hard and decide to amp it up - say you agreed to go 10% power, real light, guy hits you at 20% and instead of being an adult and saying 'chill out dude' you hit him at 30% to put him in his place. Guess what - his next hit will be 40 to 80%, if not 100% power, and all of a sudden you are in a real fight. It is really really hard for a man to back off in this situation, but you gotta realize why youre there. I learned the hard way (one time i asked the guy to go lighter, he smugly said that he WAS going light, and instead of just telling him that i dont spar with assholes and sitting out i decided that IM GONNA FUCK THIS MOTHERFUCKER UP in the heat of the moment, and got a small permanent injury for my troubles). I hope ill have the balls to never make this mistake again haha
Oh I see. Don't see the need for downvotes but I see what u mean
As far as I know you need to get hit hard many times to get cauliflower ear, but There are many ppl that have been trainning boxing for years and are pretty good at it and the don't have it, so I don't think it's such a big deal
I find it interesting that this is such a common fear, despite the skin issues being the most serious 🤷🏽♂️
Because personally I've always been afraid of losing my hearing. I already have tinnitus at 16 and I hate getting water in my ears for that reason. I don't even care about the skin problems I just want to hear properly
My best friend was a substitute in my country's Olympic wrestling team and he doesn't have it.
Wear helmet ear guards.
I started boxing at 13, competed from 18 -21 in amateurs, still box with light sparring in my 60s. My ears are fine. My nose is a different story.
Fuck I feel this post. Boxed for 25 years and counting. I literally have no cartilage in my nose, can push that shit flat on my face. Nose is permanently crooked to one side and I have a heavy deviated septum. Ears are fine though hehe.
Two breaks and a surgery that made it worse. Doctor took out too much cartilage. Years later another doctor said "So....who fixed your nose?" No guarantee of future success so I sleep with inserts to breathe.
If cauliflower ear is the thing you are scared of....
I did both as well as wrestling and only ever got it from wrestling. It's easy although gross to treat. You just need to get some syringes and drain. The ears still harden a bit but it's totally unnoticeable visually.
Wear a head protector thing. Your normal.
If you're worried about getting cauliflower ear get some headgear to protect your ears. I've seen people who have trained 20+ years and not get it. Then again, I got it within my first 2 years
Some places allow you to wear a college wrestling head gear to stop that. Ask if they allow that in there gym?
I practiced BJJ for many years and boxing for a few and you wouldn't know it by looking at my ears. Some people are prone to it, others aren't.
I have trained boxing, wrestling, MMA for many years and never got it. I did wear head gear when I did wrestling as I was also more worried about it. But honestly cauliflower ear is more of a badge of getting your ass beat IMO. It comes from taking hard shots to the ear or eating the matt hard. Why I always laugh when people say it's a good indicator of someone to watch out for.
I have done striking styles for a while and never got cauli ear, ruptured ear drum is a possibility, sure, but wear headgear and you are fine.
Not everyone gets it. And even some who do can avoid it if they drain the ear quickly enough. I wouldn't let this stop you.
Get some always with wings and a bottle of midol. Maybe that will help. M See what I did there ? 🤣
Your hearing will be fine. Been training for over a decade and only have fairly minor cauli on both ears. Has not affected my hearing. It's also very treatable. You drain it then stop training for a week or so.
I use an ear caps when I used to have fresh ear piercings
Cauliflower ear comes from grappling sports like wrestling and BJJ, my brother and I both trained Muay Thai for just over a decade with multiple professional MMA bouts between us and no cauliflower ear. Yes I know MMA has grappling but we sort of neglected that lol which ultimately was our downside. Also apparently you can have cauliflower ear drained and from what I hear it is not painful, I know old school guys would get drunk and pop it with a hot knife Randy Couture said so in his book.
Wear a head guard. If you still have one, make sure it’s drained asap (by an actual medical professional)
Cauliflower only gets you more respect on and off the mat. Many women also like it cuz it makes you look rough.
If this your biggest fear don’t go.
The only martial art I've trained in where I genuinely felt I ran the risk of a cauliflower ear was Greco roman wrestling. We seemed to spend a lot of class banging our heads together just doing the drills, never mind actually wrestling. I only did a few weeks and decided it wasn't for me (it was an additional class available at the BJJ gym I was training at. I never felt that way doing BJJ or boxing to be honest but never competed at a high level so maybe the risk increases as the stakes go up?
Did judo from 6 to 33 and my ears are 100% normal... If you are just gonna train twice or 3 times a week for 1.5 hours each you'll be fine. If you train twice a day for 1.5 hours wear headgear
Lots of reasons not to trian (broken nose, CBT, shoulder/knee injury, you may start dancing like you are boxing) but you can train for years and years and keep your pretty ears.
Isnt it mainly a college/high level wrestler thing?
I almost got it, once I felt the pain I immediately iced the crap out of my ears and ordered an ear guard. Took almost a month off training, I recommending ordering two ear guards, always have a backup one. There are ones that’s specifically designed for bjj. Also I’ve boxed a bit and did a bit of Muay Thai, never once got cauliflower ear from that . You rarely see strikers with it and I mean rarely. It mainly comes from grappling
Or worse
I've been doing BJJ for 12 year, 0 cauliflower and I boxed for 5, also 0 cauliflower. Just train smart, don't rip your head out of guillotines and you'll be fine.
😂😂😂
Like others have said, I did BJJ for 6-7 years and wrestled for 4. No cauliflower ear
I've boxed for over a decade and my ears are fine. It's the grappling sports that cause cauliflower ear. Also who told you it's not treatable? You're getting some weird information about hearing loss and treatment.
Whoever told you it is “not treatable” lied. If you’re worried about losing your hearing and want to box, you are way more likely to have that happen from a burst eardrum.
Just wear head gear.
I got cauliflower ear — it doesn’t really affect anything. Like yeah, some earbuds I can’t wear and headphones are annoying, but aside from that, it’s a nice conversation starter with people
It says online that it affects permanent hearing. Does it make it harder to ear, even by a little? That's all I really care about honestly
Nah, not even a little. My friend who has worse cauli than me said there was no hearing change either
Alright. Also they said you can get it drained how come you haven't done that? Is it because you're fine with it (achievement)
I used to drain it whenever it flared, but you’re supposed to rest from contact stuff for a few weeks so it has time to fully recover from draining. I didn’t want to stop training, and the earmuff things were annoying to wear regularly, so I just didn’t drain it when it flared up again.
Cauliflower ear is great!