A Grain of Salt for Rory Markham's Collapsed Lung

by Kid Nate on Feb 26, 2009 2:35 PM EST in News Comment 14 comments

I100_l_medium_medium We've been reading all day about the ghastly weight-cut induced injury Rory Markham entered his UFC 95 fight with Dan Hardy with. Fightlinker has already concluded that Markham is a dumbass. Here's another take, from Zak Woods:

When fighters make this kind of announcement regarding injuries suffered, but offer no details of the severity or degree, it is our job to say wait a minute, this isn't making a whole lot of sense.

Remember when Jamie Varner was complaining about his 'detached retina'? That isn't the type of injury that you can just waltz into the optometrists office a week after it occurred, at least if it is as severe as Varner was describing.

Look, we saw what happened with Amare Stoudemire when he had a detached retina. Immediate surgery and out for the rest of the regular season. Not quite on par with Varner's injury.

It is important to remember when these fighters describe an injury to take it with a grain of salt. They are not medical professionals nor are they describing the severity of the injury they are classifying. It's akin to saying, I have a broken toe, when the break is a small chip off the end, versus explaining, that I have a fractured third metatarsal which will require screws in order to set the bone to heal. It is in the specifics and description of an injury, not some medical term that is simply thrown out there, that we discover what type of damage has actually been done to a fighter.

Zak goes on to offer some medical details on exactly what a "collapsed lung" or pneumothorax really is and is not. This isn't to say that Rory Markham isn't a tough and brave man, just a much needed reminder to check ourselves before we get too carried away.

0 recs | Comment 14 comments | Share

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Random happy note, apparently Will Ribeiro is now conscious and responding.

A man should never waste an opportunity to keep his mouth shut.

by iiowyn on Feb 26, 2009 2:46 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

that's great news!

"the spirit of your average dumbass with more overblown rhetoric" OR "the self-appointed savior of MMA"

by Kid Nate on Feb 26, 2009 2:49 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

way to fight through it will!

i had no idea about rory’s lung how was hat not reported on i didnt see in on BE, and where can i read about it

by bearcox13 on Feb 26, 2009 3:14 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

there are two links in the post above — one to Fighters Only and one to Fightlinker. The Zak Woods link has more as well.

"the spirit of your average dumbass with more overblown rhetoric" OR "the self-appointed savior of MMA"

by Kid Nate on Feb 26, 2009 3:17 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

thanks nate

by bearcox13 on Feb 26, 2009 3:27 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Why...

for the love of God don’t they run some pre-fight, pre- or post-weigh in “check-ups” on fighters.

Then fighters who are legitimately injured and shouldn’t be fighting won’t and we won’t hear the excuses. Or, the fighter will be cleared and we won’t hear the excuses.

I am the bastard love child of Junie Browning and Diamond Dave Kaplan.

by The_Gaijin on Feb 26, 2009 3:23 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

well...

they do…sort of. It all depends on the state’s Athletic comission and their rules. For instance Ohio requries pre-fight physicals for professional fighters.

Now there is still some variables as to when that is done vs. when the weighing in occurs. For Markham it appears that the pneumothorax occured during the weight cut so it wouldn’t of popped up on a pre-fight physical.

Also there isnt a commission in England so the UFC regulates themselves in the U.K.

watchkalibrun.com

by Zak Woods on Feb 26, 2009 3:29 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Understandable...

I mean, I’m just talking a pre-fight “physcial” in the loosest sense…like turn your head and cough; assess if they have an issues with their extremities; hold a stethescope up to their heart/lungs; examine their ears and eyes. Like 15 minutes tops.

I guess it would all be a timing thing, but even if it was a post weigh-in thing to catch stuff like that ya’know? The sport is still growing and evolving, so I’m sure it’s something they’ll figure out with time.

But I’m just sick of the “I had a torn ACL”, “I had a this, I had a that…” – well the doctor who passed your phyiscal should be before the medical board tribunal for malpractice or incompetence.

I am the bastard love child of Junie Browning and Diamond Dave Kaplan.

by The_Gaijin on Feb 26, 2009 3:38 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I really didn’t get Fightlinker’s stance on this when I read his post, but then again I often don’t agree with their take though I dig the humor in the site’s writing.

Whether or not the severity of the injury has been somewhat misreported, it appears that Markham suffered too much distress as result of his cut. Personally, I don’t have a good understanding of weight cutting, but it’s obviously something that should not be taken lightly. It’s my hope that these athletes are doing it the right way and aren’t doing lasting damage to their bodies. This example gives one pause.

by Cannon Jacques on Feb 26, 2009 5:25 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

There are all sorts of things you can do to cut weight, like we all know,

that cause ridiculous long-term damage to the body. The guys who know how to do it right are basically all wrestlers, since boxers aren’t crossing over the MMA in droves like the collegiate wrestlers are.

I’m not terribly familiar with the physiology of the lung, but I don’t think you can cramp your way into a pneumothorax?? It would have to be a tear in the lining of the pleura, which could be caused by dehydration, I suppose..if it were severe enough.

Some guys wear plastics to increase the amount of sweat they produce, other guys take diuretics, and obviously the old tried-and-true method of sitting in a sauna works pretty well. The difference in these three (fairly common, although varying in degrees of extreme) methods is that the first two are horribly unnatural, and your body can’t really compensate for the loss of fluid, whereas with the sauna it has enough time to redistribute some fluid from the extra-cellular spaces to the areas of need.

Guys who literally starve themselves, and engage in completely unnatural methods for shedding water weight, are at huge risk for damaging themselves in both the short- and long-term. These guys are doing themselves a huge disservice by not hiring professional nutritionists for consultation, and if they are hiring them then shame on the fighters for not following their advice.

There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt.

by misterjonez on Feb 27, 2009 3:07 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs

Markham isn’t a doctor so we shouldn’t listen to him.

Clearly we should be listening to the MMA Blogosphere’s prestigious medical community instead, what with their third hand knowledge of the situation and the support of anecdotes from other sports.

by George Lucas on Feb 26, 2009 6:43 PM EST reply actions 1 recs

I had three collapsed lungs in the span of 2 years.. There is no possible way that he would have gone out and fought if Markham did suffer one.. As long as I sat completely still I could breath ok but he second you move at all you feel completely out of breath and it is a horrible pain to go through.

by TennesseeTopTeam on Feb 27, 2009 1:04 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Collapsed lungs are no joke. The harder you breathe, the worse it gets, and there’s simply no way a guy could fight with a full-on collapsed lung. Now, if he’d somehow had a tiny tear, that had healed itself but there was still air trapped inside the pleural sac, it’s possible that he could fight with that. But not with a full-blown collapsed, punctured lung.

There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt.

by misterjonez on Feb 27, 2009 3:08 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs