Parents Moving forward after serious/scary injury

[momnipotent]

For both you and the gymnast. ODS bailed out of a double back on Monday and landed on his neck. He said he felt like he wasn’t going to make it and thought he was going to be able to land on his feet and his coach said it looked like he was trying to land on his back but had too much rotation going on from starting the double. We took him to the ER that night and he is, medically, fine, but is still super sore and stiff and has missed the last 2 days of school to be able to rest, ice/heat pack his neck, and take painkillers as needed. My problem: I am scared to take him back when he has recovered. I worry about him going for another double and panicking and doing it again and don’t know how or even if to talk to him about it. I don’t want to instill fear that doesn’t exist, but I want him to be safe. I know risk is part of the sport, but the possible life-changingness of this particular fall has me shaken. I’m going to talk to the coaches and see what they suggest, but would love any suggestions or input from other parents or cosches who have helped an athlete (or maybe just their neurotic mom) through something similar. Thanks!

 

[gymgal]

dd had an accident like this a few years ago. I can't remember the skill but she landed on her neck/upper back. Medically she was fine but it took her few weeks to build back up to that pass again, going back to pit, rod floor, spotting on floor, etc. It happened in summer so it didn't affect her season. I just let her take the lead along with her coaches and tried not to give away how scared I was or the thought of what could have happened. It was hard but I know she was taking cues from me and I did not want her to perceive or internalize my fear.

 

[Madden3]

My son had a serious wipeout on floor a year ago. It was during the last pass of what had been a very pretty floor routine. He straightened out of a back tuck prematurely- I guess he lost his orientation in the air- and it looked like he landed on his head/neck. It was at our tiny practice meet before the season, so everyone was watching him, and I can still hear the collective horrified gasp.

But the worst is that at first, we totally missed that he actually was injured because we were focused on head and neck and those were fine. What we did not see until we looked at the video in slow motion was that he had put out his arm to break his fall, and the arm bone consequently slamming into his shoulder socket ended up causing a really painful shoulder injury and he was out for the rest of the season.

(I describe what happend and his long road to recovery in this thread: https://www.chalkbucket.com/forums/threads/shoulder-bone-bruise-long-recovery-time-help.62459/ )

In this case, by necessity he came back to practice slowly, similar to what gym gal describes- basically relearning the skill, slowly building up to doing them on the floor again. I think that helped him handle his fears, which were in any case quite minor. He is competing this season, doing a similar pass on floor again, and doing fine.

I still have a hard time watching him on floor! But, he is only interested in one other sport, and that is football. So, I am happy to have him stick with gymnastics.