Why This BJJ Athlete Turned to PT Before and After Surgery — And What He Learned

Each month, Iron Physical Therapy highlights a special patient to tell their inspiring story. We want to honor the people who go all in - body, mind and spirit. They show us what’s possible - that you can move on from a setback to do amazing things...to challenge your body, to chase your dreams, to address pain in a healthy way to #getbetterbebetter.

Check out Ben’s story below and then click here to read more inspiring patient stories.

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Ben came into Iron with a knee injury that sidelined him not only from training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu but also from life, which was especially difficult around the holiday season. He was no stranger to PT, having been in before for a back injury. However, this round was tougher, as we were trying to make things only as good as they could get prior to surgery.

Despite his prehab being painful and difficult, he never lost faith that we were on the right track and that things were going to get better. Post-surgery, he came in ready as ever to get back—better than he was before! Even though his post-operative challenges were greater than most due to the atrophy he had accumulated pre-op, he did not give up. He promptly leaned into remaining patient, stayed diligent with his rehab, and trusted the process.

Each new PT session, he would bring in a part of his BJJ warm-up or training that he wanted to replicate and get back to, as well as challenges he found in his day-to-day activities that he wanted to tackle. His mindset each day was set on his goals, and through this, he rebuilt his strength and resilience—not only in body but also in mind.

Now, he's back on the mats training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and playing soccer with his kid in the backyard without limitation. Ben is a powerful reminder that perseverance and faith in the journey can lead to an even stronger comeback!

— Dr. Taylor Maginnis, DPT

In Ben’s Own Words…

What’re you most looking forward to getting back to most after PT?

I am most looking forward to getting back on the jiu-jitsu mats with some intensity again. Training is like an anchor in my week, and it helps balance my health and mood, so I’m excited to get back to it soon.

I'm also looking forward to trying to keep up with my son on the soccer field, and playing some tennis with my wife!

You’ve done PT before, even for your back — what made you believe in it enough to come in before surgery this time?

Dr. Maginnis and the rest of the great team at Iron have helped me to recover from other setbacks in the past, so when surgery was recommended by my orthopedic surgeon I wanted to get her opinion before committing to the operation. In addition to supporting the choice for surgery, she said that the more work that I can do before the surgery then the better the outcome…so that’s what we did!

What’s your secret to staying so consistent with your exercises — even on the days it was frustrating or progress felt slow?

There were times where it felt like I was plateauing and not making much progress. But “trust the process” is a lesson that I’ve learned from a lot of my mentors and coaches, so I just tried to believe that any plateaus would lead to future peaks if I stayed focused.

And then I just tried to have fun with the process -- I mean, most days the Caldwell office had good music on the speakers and Champions League on the TV, so it couldn't be too bad!

How has this injury and rehab journey changed the way you’ll approach lifting or how you’ll train in BJJ when you go back?

Quality over quantity has been a very important lesson. So ending a training session strong, with a round or two in the tank, and coming back to it tomorrow is probably more valuable than going overboard today and risking the consequences.

Or as another example, instead of just training jiu-jitsu every session, I will mix in more strength, core and mobility work to add more balance and quality over the long term.

There are a lot of athletes who just “work around” injuries or live with chronic pain they’ve had for years — what would you say to someone who's on that path?

I recommend finding a good team of doctors and practitioners who understand what you want to do, so you can trust their opinions if issues come up. If I have a setback, and the team that I trust thinks we can improve my situation with some work, why wouldn't I at least try that? I'm grateful that when this injury happened, I had great advice from Dr. Maginnis and the Iron team, as well as my surgeon (Dr. Garcia) and my GP (Dr. Oldfield).

Looking back at the whole process — from prehab to post-op — what are you most proud of?

Learning to take it one day at a time is what I'm most proud of. After surgery, I wanted to be back to 100% as quickly as possible, but I think focusing on that wasn't very helpful. What helped the most was thinking about what needed to be done today, doing it, then thinking about the next day, and so on. So I'm proud of learning that patience.

If you had to describe your recovery story in one sentence, what would it be?

This is a tough one. Maybe: "The dictionary is the only place where success comes before work." - Diego Simeone (and probably a lot of other coaches).