Knee Injury

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gymnellie

First let me say that I am taking dd to the dr in the morning! Ok, here is the short version. About 2 months ago she sprained her knee doing a fhs vault, she hyperextended it. She took about a week off. We stil went to gym, but she didn't do anything except bars. On Wednesday of this past week, when we got in the car, she said "Mom, when I was doing my flyaways, my knee felt funny." I said maybe you just landed weird. Well she limped on it from Wed. till Saturday evening. She didn't do anything except bars at gym on Sat. Then Saturday evening she was jumping on the tramp in the backyard and said it didn't hurt and she thought she could tumble at gym. Well tonight at gym, she did a dive roll and it looked wrong and I could tell that her knee hurt. but she continued. They then did punch fronts. She immediately started crying upon landing, but she landed on her butt. She said that the punch really hurt her knee, and she didn't think she could land it on her feet so she went to her butt. I am going to insist on a MRI, so that we can see what is going on. She is supposed to compete this Sunday, but that may not be happening! Does anyone have any ideas on what could be wrong with it? I keep thinking that it is probably just sprained again and I'm going to feel really bad if it is worse than that.
 
First I am not a Doctor, but I have gone through knee hyperextension injuries with my DD. Always Rest it, Ice it, Wrap it and Elevate it. (R.I.C.E.) This always helps big time, keep her off it until you can have it assesed properly. When I say ice, I mean at least twice a day for at least 20 minutes.

It can take some time for knee injuries to resolve completely. But, I do feel for her, timing of injuries is rarely perfect, you cannot feel guilty as injuries do just happen. You can do your best by encouraging her to follow through on any treatment precribed.

Good luck, let us know how the Dr visit goes.
 
Well, I couldn't get her into see her dr today because unbeknown to me, he doesn't work on Tuesdays. So I told his nurse that I need a referral to an ortho. The dr has to give the referral and the nurse said getting her in before friday was going to be impossible. So I did a little research online and I believe it could be Jumper's Knee. I bought a brace for Jumper's Knee and dd said that it helps alot. She has gym again tomorrow and she said that she wants to try to tumble. If it hurts she is to not do it. She really wants to compete this weekend since it is the 1st meet of the season. I don't know if I should let her or not. What's yall's opinion?
 
Is there a private sports therapy clinic in your town? They would be able to asses the injury enough to tell you if she can compete on it, they can also tape her knee if it is a patella problem. This is the route we went, it is as expensive as the gymnastics itself, but worth every penny.

The knee support will help whatever it is, but really get your DD to ice that knee as much as humanly possible, that will reduce the internal swelling and reduce pain. You can do a lot in three days to help, but some things are aggravating, maybe she can have her dismounts spotted into thick resi mats, tumble only on the tumble track and avoid the springboard and vault until the meet. She won't lose her skills in four days!!!

It would be better to know what the problem is before she competes, ligamants can be nasty, jumpers knee not as bad.

Good luck.

By the way we have been dealing with jumpers knee, achilles tendonitis and scoliosis for 18 months now, I do feel for you, my DD is just beginning to tumble and vault again after a six month break, it is very tough to lose skills and have to begin again.
 
We have been down the road with Jumper's knee x 2(same knee) which is actually a micro fracture of the patellar growth plate. If she is between 9 and 12 she would be ripe for such an injury. It usually starts as a tendinitis type pain which then progresses as the quads pull on her knee. I do have a medical background, but wouldn't want to say to you for sure that is what is wrong.

We went to see an ortho who specialized in knees. He was able to diagnosis it with x-rays and a quick exam----grabbed her knee as she was laying on the table and she flew off! At that time she was already limping and had swelling. She was told NO running, jumping anything for 2 weeks. She did need PT for about 7 weeks because her quads in that leg had gotten "mushy"(from not contracting like they should) and to get full painless range of motion back in the knee. 2nd time around she also needed PT to get the range of motion back, but also one of the quad muscles would not relax and the therapist had to manually massage/release it, ultrasound etc. over 2 wks before she could do anything. She did end up with a brace for a month or so and then tossed it once the knee was better.

As hard as it may be, I would hold her out this week until she has seen a medical professional to get a diagnosis. As a comeback, my daughter was only allowed some dance and leaps on beam, bars, but no flyaways and then the therapist gradually increased what she could do. She started back on floor just doing dance---tumbled on the tumble trak. Vault was the last thing added and even then she only did a few vaults at every other practice for a few weeks. They do recover pretty quickly from this if diagnosed early and I know its hard, but limit what is done in the gym, PE class etc. Also giving Motrin is recommended for a few weeks to help with inflamation/pain.
 
I agree with GLM, until you have it checked I would leary on letting her work on it. Knee injuries are extremely hard to diagnosis, and there can be damage to ligaments or cartilage that you are not aware of. Working out on an injured knee can do more damage.

I'm sure you figured out tonight if it was even possible for her to do anything during practice tonight.
 
The dr. office didn't call me back today, so I am calling them first thing in the morning. She couldn't do much of anything on it tonight. Her coach seems to think that she will be ok by sunday, but I'm not so sure. He really wants her to compete but I'm thinking that I'm not going to let her. I'm hoping that someone cancelled at the dr.'s office and they can get her in. Even if it means no competition this weekend, she needs to be seen.
 
Dr.'s office called this morning and they couldn't get her an appointment until the 15th in Nashville. I don't live in Nashville and it is about an hour away. So I called a different ortho in the area that I live in and they can see her tomorrow! Yeah! So we will find out tomorrow what is wrong with her knee. I will update as soon as we get back to let everyone know what is going on. Thanks everyone for your advice and your concern. Chalk Bucket is a great place.
 
I just wanted to say good luck at the doctors! I hope everything is alright with your daughter's knee. Injuries can be really frustrating so I hope it's nothing serious.
 
Ok, went to the dr. this morning. they did an xray and the dr said that it didn't show anything, but he feels there is something wrong with her knee because it is stil a little bit swollen and is tender to the touch. So......we do an MRI on the 17th, which means that she misses two meets! He said absolutely no gymnastics! She is very disappointed.
 
Oh man..I'm sorry to hear that she's out for two meets and that she has to get an MRI. Hopefully it won't be anything serious, and a week or so of doing nothing will help it heal! I can only imagine how disappointed she is because I've been there myself, and my advice is to go to the meets and watch the girls compete--be there to support the team. Continue to ice and what not, and be sure to try to keep a positive mind! At least this is happening now and not a few years from now when she goes to graduate.
 
Poor girl, I do feel for her. But, I do agree with Hammy, take her to the meet let her support her team and enjoy the atmosphere of the meet. I did that with my DD and she actually had a blast, sat with her team, wore her warm up and clebrated the wins, commiserated the losses and had no nerves to deal with.

Lovely that you can get an MRI so quickly, here in Quebec we have to wait up to 9 months, for a kimb injury even longer. Hopefully all will be well, still keep up with the icing and try to encourage her to stay posistive, it is not easy when all they want is to do gym.
 
So sorry to hear she has to sit out right now. If it is something like Jumper's knee, the ice and rest will help her. She may try and talk you into letting her back into the gym because the knee does feel better when they aren't running and pounding----you can't cave in. She can go in to stretch and do strength while waiting to get the MRI and results. Both episodes we went through with my daughter were a month or so before a meet, so I know what you're dealing with. Actually, she started her L6 season just doing beam and bars since the knee wasn't ready for full floor or vault.

I agree with taking her to the meet and letting her hang out with her team before and after. She can be the official cheerleader.

Keep us all updated on what the doctor has to say. Best wishes to both of you.
 
Sorry to hear about your daughter, hope it doesn't turn out to be anything serious. Missing meets is tough, but that knee sounds like it could use a little bit of a rest. Here in NJ we can get MRI's pretty quickly thank goodness. I'm sure waitting until the 17th and then waitting for results will seem like forever for your daughter. Hope it turns out to be nothing.
 
Awww I`m sorry to hear she has to miss even two meets now! :( That`s too bad, and her disappointment is well understandable....
I hope the MRI will at least not show something serious, and that her knee will heal up fast.
I also agree on the idea to still go to the meets and watch and cheer. At least this way she still feels as a part of the team.
 
I feel her pain. Don't let her push it though. Jumping the gun now, will make it harder for her later in life. Also, she might mess her leg up worse and not be able to tumble at all.
 
Sorry to hear that she is missing any time, but hopefully this time off will help it heal on its own and the MRI will show nothing. Missing 2 meets is better than missing the whole season! Better to air on the side of caution.
 
O.K. here's a quick update. Her knee has been feeling alot better. We went and had the MRI yesterday, which by the way cost alot of $$$. Wasn't informed about how much it was going to cost until the day before when they called to pre-register her. Anyways, the tech said that it takes about 2 days for the dr. to get the results back, so I am going to call them on Wed. and see if I can get the results over the phone.

She did miss the first meet(we went and watched and she got to sit out on the floor with her teammates) but talked me into letting her compete bars and beam at the second one. I told her if her knee hurt at all not to do anything!!! Well, to my surprise, when it comes time for floor ex.(expected her to scratch), she does her full routine. Except she changed her front pass to a fhs, fhs instead of a fhs, front tuck. Since parents aren't allowed out on the competition floor, there wasn't anything that I could do! Same situation for vault. I was kinda ticked at her, but I got over it. She did really well, and her knee only hurt a little she said. If anyone is interested, here is a link to the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4Oyo4amZLw
 
Thanks a lot for the update! I`m happy to hear, that her knee is feeling so much better already! Still the MRI was a good thing to do, and with your dd feeling better this increases the chance for it not being so bad after all. Keep us up to date on the MRI result please.

It`s a little scary to hear about her competing on floor and vault though, but luckily it went all well.....
I can imagine it must have been hard to watch this and not being able to talk to her....On the other hand her coach is also responsible and maybe should have talked her out of it!?! But anyway.....everything is fine now. :)
I will watch the video when I`m at home. Here at school the computer is not letting me watch YouTube vids...:(
 
I'm glad to hear her knee is feeling better! Hopefully the MRI will not show anything that's too terribly wrong! Just be sure to make her take it easy--this is speaking from personal experience--I rushed back into the gym too fast a few times, and I ended up out of the gym longer.
 

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