Medical treatment, illness, and injury

                                  

                   The official International Judo Federation (IJF) rules related to the provision of medical treatment and to the proper handling of situations involving illness or injury are relatively long and involved, since the exact nature and cause of an injury may themselves affect the awarding of the match, and since receiving some types of medical treatment, but not others, automatically ends the match. The latter fact makes it necessary for medical attendants at judo matches to have some understanding of this rather complex aspect of the rules of judo. The medical team is not allowed to enter the fighting area without permission from the mat judge, and if a contestant receives medical treatment he automatically forfeits the match. Nosebleeds, for example can not be treated by the medical team, the contestant must fix it himself with materials provided by the medical team, proper procedure is stuffing cotton balls up the nostrils, while applying tape around the head. If a contestant is rendered unconscious without a choking technique, and is unable to wake up, the medical team has to take immediate action and they can't wait for the contestant's consent, he forfeits the match automatically. A contestant can ignore any injuries he has, and keep fighting. This requires that it is not of any discomfort to the opponent, e.g. bleeding over an opponent can cause penalties. If the bleeding is tried to be stopped three times, with no effect, the match is forfeited.