WAG Judging a gym by number of injuries

[windydays]

Should you judge a gym by the number of injured athletes it has? What is considered average? When should a red flag be raised?

 

[bookworm]

Should you judge a gym by the number of injured athletes it has? What is considered average? When should a red flag be raised?

I think it's a valid concern...it usually has something to do with training methods or philosophy. Freak or unlucky injuries happen, but in our old gym , when my daughter was the 11th or 12th to have an OCD repair on her elbow, and the coach told me it had nothing to do with her training, I "raised the red flag"in my own head. There have been about 10 girls since her in that gym to have OCD (we are no longer there) because the methods haven't changed....

Other injury types to be wary of are back injuries...especially in the compulsory levels. Again, our old gym had multiple compulsory kids in back braces because of injury ...and their PARENTS THOUGHT THIS WAS NORMAL!!! I noticed this when we first got there and said to myself, watchout...

 

[profmom]

You would need to be at a gym with a large number of athletes to be able to draw conclusions based on numbers alone, and I would look more at clusters of particular types of injuries rather than injuries overall. So Bookworm's examples are the kinds of things that would cause concern.

Someone might have looked at DD's gym a few years ago and seen two girls in one compulsory workout group with their arms in slings -- yikes! But one injury was a freak accident on floor (overrotated FT) and the other was a freak accident on beam (fall on full turn).

 

[lovemygymnast]

We had numerous girls in ankle braces or casts on legs or arms at one time. I remember saying if someone didn't know any better and walked in here, they'd swear this gym has a problem! But out of all of those injuries, there was only 1 or 2 that actually happened in the gym. The rest were injuries in other sports or riding bikes or jumping rope. It was interesting to see. And before you think it had anything to do with gym, they were all different kinds of injuries. And I have to say, some of the younger girls like the attention of braces on their ankles. So, I don't think it's always fair to judge a gym based on injuries unless you know they all took place in the gym or they're all the same type injuries, like the ones above. That would be a gym to run away from!

 

[gasrgoose]

I would say to just focus on the success of the gym, gymnasts and their results. If the gym has too many injuries they won't have successful gymnasts. Injuries are fairly common. In compulsories I'd be concerned about too many injuries resulting from up training skills with coaches who aren't qualified. In optionals I'd be concerned with injuries resulting from athletes who aren't properly conditioned.

 

[raenndrops]

We had numerous girls in ankle braces or casts on legs or arms at one time. I remember saying if someone didn't know any better and walked in here, they'd swear this gym has a problem! But out of all of those injuries, there was only 1 or 2 that actually happened in the gym. The rest were injuries in other sports or riding bikes or jumping rope. It was interesting to see. And before you think it had anything to do with gym, they were all different kinds of injuries. And I have to say, some of the younger girls like the attention of braces on their ankles.

Lol, this sounds like our gym. We had 12/40 in some type of brace, cast, or sling, but only a couple happened in gym. 3 lacrosse injuries, one running down a hill, 2 soccer injuries, one tripping over her brother, one county fair injury, and 1-2 wanting attention.