Lately there seems to be a significant amount of injuries in our gym due to overuse/overtraining. This is mostly levels 8 and up. Do you think it is just par for the course or could there be some incorrect training in either/or technique and conditioning? We are a very large, competitive gym, and they do train hard and move gymnasts up quickly.
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I've noticed that some gyms seem to have more injuries than others. We just came from a "big box" gym that had so many injuries that there was a separate group set aside just for injured gymnasts and they all conditioned together.
On the other hand, there are just more injuries at the upper levels. Mine has had two years of persistent injuries, mostly growth plate problems. But I have noticed some interesting things. We know of one gym where our friend's daughter goes where it seems like at least a quarter of them have had hamstring pulls or elbow problems. Makes one wonder.
On the other hand, there are just more injuries at the upper levels. Mine has had two years of persistent injuries, mostly growth plate problems. But I have noticed some interesting things. We know of one gym where our friend's daughter goes where it seems like at least a quarter of them have had hamstring pulls or elbow problems. Makes one wonder.
Do you have example of types of injuries and numbers of each? And ages of athletes? Were any of them fast-tracked and are newer to optionals?
No, I wouldn't say any of them are newer to optionals. I would say there is an array of stress fractures in the spine, quite a bit of tendonitis in elbows and shoulders, and some other types of elbow injuries as well. Most of these girls are around age 12 - 15
Part of the problem here is that for most gyms, you are dealing with a relatively small number of optional gymnasts and there's no good nationally comparative sample against which one could measure injury rates for different kinds of injuries. To establish statistical significance behind an injury rate, you'd need more evidence than you're likely able to get, and sometimes a cluster of injuries is just damn bad luck. I think the best you can do is pay attention to see if one particular type of injury is greatly prevalent in your population and then if it is reasonably attributable to something in the training. I'm thinking for instance of a gym that has a high rate of back injuries and has a practice of having the girls stick 25 back walkovers at every beam rotation, or a program with a very high rate of ankle injuries where most of the optional vaulting rotations are done to hard surfaces. One also has to pay attention to the developmental phases of the gymnasts -- unfortunately a lot of optional gymnasts are also in a period of rapid physical growth, which makes them more subject to injuries. If, say, a kid is in a gym where there's a small range of ages and a median age of about 12-13 for training L9, I'd expect a correlation that was not necessarily causal.
If I were concerned, I think I'd ask some of the experienced coaches around here about specific training techniques and reps. DS had to modify his PH training to accommodate his wrists, for instance.
If I were concerned, I think I'd ask some of the experienced coaches around here about specific training techniques and reps. DS had to modify his PH training to accommodate his wrists, for instance.
- Jan 4, 2008
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It really does depend. Yes, it is often a training issue if there are a large number of injured gymnasts. But not always, sometimes it is a coincidence. Is this a pattern that has been going on for a long time, or is it just at the moment.
Factors that increase the chance of injury include
- higher level
- higher training hours (kids who train over 20 hours experience a jump in injury rates)
- longer training sessions (after 3 1/2 hours injuries increase)
- age. Injuries tend to peak in the years the kids are going through puberty.
- Whether or not the gym has the kids do injury prevention type work in their training
- A large number of repetitions on hard surfaces. Instead of doing many of the drills and reps on softer surfaces (ie air tracks, tumble tracks)
Factors that increase the chance of injury include
- higher level
- higher training hours (kids who train over 20 hours experience a jump in injury rates)
- longer training sessions (after 3 1/2 hours injuries increase)
- age. Injuries tend to peak in the years the kids are going through puberty.
- Whether or not the gym has the kids do injury prevention type work in their training
- A large number of repetitions on hard surfaces. Instead of doing many of the drills and reps on softer surfaces (ie air tracks, tumble tracks)
I'm watching this thread very closely because it's a concern of mine too. All of our optionals have something....back, ankle, knee, wrist, etc. They come and go and then come back again. DD is the only one who has never had an injury but she's also the only one who hasn't gone through puberty. I know that our coach warns parents that puberty can open them up more to injury. I worry so much about DD getting hurt because I see what her teammates have gone through and I don't want to see her go through that. But part of me also wonders if it is inevitable.
Injuries are spreading like the plague around here at the moment... There are only 3 girls in our group who don't have some sort of injury... DD has been complaining of wrist pain and elbow pain lately, along with her OSD, so she's just broken... Week off. Will see after that.
It's a real concern of mine too. 
3 out of 12 of dd's teammates missed states because of injuries and they are only level 3's. One was minor with just bad timing being a couple of days before states. The other 2 were foot injuries that they are still recovering from. I wouldn't be surprised if one of them ends up quitting because it's just been a lingering problem that isn't getting better. Looking around the gym, the number of injured gymnasts seems much higher than I'd expect. A lot of the injuries are bad luck (falls, outside the gym injuries, etc), but other's seem to be more from overuse. I do know that they recently switched to wearing sneakers during vault practice to help minimize some of the impact. They have several PT's that have been working evenings at the gym as a kind of side business and they have made some recommendations too. It's unnerving though when you see so many with different body parts wrapped or in boots.
3 out of 12 of dd's teammates missed states because of injuries and they are only level 3's. One was minor with just bad timing being a couple of days before states. The other 2 were foot injuries that they are still recovering from. I wouldn't be surprised if one of them ends up quitting because it's just been a lingering problem that isn't getting better. Looking around the gym, the number of injured gymnasts seems much higher than I'd expect. A lot of the injuries are bad luck (falls, outside the gym injuries, etc), but other's seem to be more from overuse. I do know that they recently switched to wearing sneakers during vault practice to help minimize some of the impact. They have several PT's that have been working evenings at the gym as a kind of side business and they have made some recommendations too. It's unnerving though when you see so many with different body parts wrapped or in boots.We have seen a lot of this happening in our gym as well. One of the main coaches (former Soviet Union Elite coach) and coach for over 30 years said that the sport has become so competitive that they are pushing girls for harder skills faster and from earlier levels. He said that what our girls are doing now at L8 are the skills that were competed some years ago at Nationals and he attributes many of the injuries to that.
That strikes me as a little bit of a cop out even though the point about harder skills is true. We also know more about injuries and how to prevent them, and the training equipment, if it's state of the art, is much more forgiving. My kids' gym has changed many things about the way they train in the last five years or so in response to evidence about overuse injuries. Another thing in the mix is that injuries are handled differently now due to widespread use of more sophisticated imaging technology. Was chatting with DD's coach about this a few weeks ago, and he says that some things we see now on MRIs may not in fact be happening more frequently, but they sure as heck are getting diagnosed more aggressively.
Just one anecdote/suggestion: if you have coaches who were gymnasts back in the day, ask 'em if they ever broke a finger, and if so, what happened. If they're over 30, I would guess the answer's not going to be, "oh, I was put in an air cast and taken off all event work for six weeks, and then I had three weeks of physical therapy before I was formally cleared to return to weight bearing work." (Not, for the record, saying anything about either approach, but the difference is quite striking!)
Based on our past experience, I do think that training/conditioning methods have a lot to do with injuries. It's not even always related to overuse, but having to do with not doing the right training for the skills being competed/trained. Not being strong enough to work on certain skills causes them to compensate and potentially use the wrong muscle for the movement. These are hard things to discern and address, but I have seen it happen multiple times.
Poor equipment also has an impact -- particularly floor. Using multiple surfaces to train is very important as well (tramp, tumble trak, rod floor, etc). But if the main floor is old or needs new springs, the gymnasts will feel it...ankles, knees, achilles, back, etc. depending on the gymnast and their technique.
Poor equipment also has an impact -- particularly floor. Using multiple surfaces to train is very important as well (tramp, tumble trak, rod floor, etc). But if the main floor is old or needs new springs, the gymnasts will feel it...ankles, knees, achilles, back, etc. depending on the gymnast and their technique.
How often should the floor be replaced?All of our gymnasts complain about our floor. Which has been at the gym for at least 7 years and was gotten used from another gym that got a new one. My DD loves the competition floors because of the spring.
and if your coach trained in China or Russia, I imagine the difference is even more striking!
I can't really answer that...I'm sure it depends on use rather than a time-frame, but I'll defer to one of the coaches here to explain how to tell when it needs updating. My guess is -- if your gymnasts are complaining about it and it was bought used, it needs to be replaced.
Talking to a PT who works with a lot of the competitive teams in our area, he said there are always going to be ankle sprains/breaks and wrist issues in gymnastics. He said when he starts to see multiple kids on a team with the same injury, he looks at the training and there usually is something that needs to be modified.
And lo and behold, Hybrid Perspective just put up a long post that explains way better what I was fumbling to express about correlation among growth, the acquisition of optional skills, and injury:
http://www.hybridperspective.com/2015/05/15/tracking-growth-and-development-to-reduce-injury-risk/
http://www.hybridperspective.com/2015/05/15/tracking-growth-and-development-to-reduce-injury-risk/
D
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Impossible to speculate, but most level 9 and 10's have something bugging them. It's a hard sport.... That being said, it is also common for kids to embellish injuries to get out of an assignment, scary trick, or just join the rest of the injured.... Yep....
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