Returning from injury? LONG

[Petunia]

We are still at the beginning stages of this sport and we have a looot to learn. So while my brain tells me she'll has time to recover....I'm not sure what to expect.


My soon to be 9yr old will be redoing level 5 this season (due to not having enough coaches - long story)
Anyway, she had been complaining on and off about her foot, some good days, some bad. Took her to the doc and diagnosed with Sever's, great.
The foot started to do better then within days her KNEE started giving her a hard time. She can run to vault but says that by the time she reaches the board, she doesn't feel strong enough to punch it right (bc her knee hurts).

I'm thinking OS now in the knee from where it hurts and how etc. (I had it as a kid as well). She has a doc appt now for the knee. It actually LOOKS a little puffy and hurts to the touch (which I never experienced with OS so it's making me wonder) but she can run, just not completely pain free.

I'm looking at her with these two conditions, she starts the season next week, she hasn't vaulted in 2 weeks....
The good thing I guess is that we decided to redo level 5 so skill wise she's not really behind she just might have to scratch vault for a while....but whatever level 6 skills she was working on..well, need to be put on hold.

What I feel like doing is pressing her RESET button! lol
Just cutting back considerably in her hours (we train a crazy amount of hrs here anyway) and working on getting her better.

I've seen girls break bones/have fractures etc and come back and keep going..WHY do I feel like with these setbacks SHE'S DONE? LOL
I feel like being out for say 1 month...is going to wreak havoc skill wise and that she'll never be the same?
SHE's upset because she can't vault and she had a great vault....but later it won't just be the vault...I figure she's going to hate it. She can still tumble but not every day, she can do her beam but it hurts to leap sometimes, she can do her bars with no problem.

What if the doc says REST for 4 weeks....for gymnasts..at this level...is it just a bump in the road? When they come back do they really come back to where they were before?

These are her first complaints since she started competing...so I'm not sure what "coming back from an injury" is like for them.

I know, I sound like those crazy moms I said I would never become!!!!

 

[Sydsmom]

We are in a similar situation except I think you are in a better place, my DD is 12 and probably going to go L4 this year (she is recovering from a fractured back).
Part of me wants to say...we're done...but she loves it. I think at 9 yo she will be able to tell you what she thinks. However I don't know much about sever's either. But I still think at 9 you still have time. just my opinion though...

 

[gym law mom]

Most of the growth related injuries can be well managed with proper rest, training and following the md/PT directions. My gymmie had a microfracture of the growth plate in 1 knee(not OS, but looks like it) at age 10. The treatment was rest, condtioning and PT. When we were given the diagnosis, she was 3-4 weeks away from starting her 1st L6 season AND she did not have her flyaway by herself. The PT put it to her this way, " you can try to push through and end up at states WATCHING everyone or you can listen to me and most likely be competing at states." At the 1st meet she scratched vault/floor since she was just getting back into any real tumbling and still wasn't allowed to vault. 6 weeks post injury she competed AA and qualified for states---she also won bars at that meet too.
Be smart about taking care of the injuries and the skills will still be there.

 

[Flippers Mom]

Flipper started gymnastics at 3.5 years old. She had her first real injury last competition season - on her 12th birthday - she developed Severs and we discovered a stress fracture in her foot. She was sidelined with 12 weeks of no weight bearing, but was able to do upper body conditioning throughout. She came back - for 6 weeks - before breaking the big toe on the other foot. This time she was out was unable to even condition for 12 weeks because her toe had hardware in it. She was very discouraged and ready to quit about 2-3 weeks into each injury, but as she got closer to being able to work out, her attitude improved. She has been back in the gym for nearly 6 weeks and her coaches say she is at about 80% - just needs to get her power back. Kids bounce back quickly (if they want to ;>). Our ortho doctors told us that we could be very cautious or try to be aggressive but they both felt that taking a cautious approach would be better for her in the end. The Severs hasn't bothered Flipper (probably because she sat our for most of 8 months and that's the best treatment for Severs). The fractured foot is completely healed and has no pain. The toe has an occasional catch, but no pain. She does have the general aches and pains of a gymnast. She is convinced that the coaches are holding her back and being TOO careful with her comeback. Mom and dad are thankful for great coaches who are looking after the long-term well being of our daughter and supported our decision to give her injuries time to heal completely.

 

[Maitland]

I'm sorry to hear your daughter is hurting. Trust me when I say that if she has OS, then rest is the best thing. A short time resting right away could prevent a much longer recovery. OS is considered a self-limiting condition which means that when kids feel pain, they should rest as they alone know when it hurts. Luckily most kids have mild cases....IF they take proper care right away. I hope your daughter feels better soon.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

so gymnastics goes. deep breath. she's growing. she'll be fine. and probably not OS...but jumpers knee/patellar tendonitis. get her straps for her knees. and don't say good bye to "severs". it will return from time to time as she nears completion of growth.

i hope the coaches know about modifying practice. light and heavy days. and doing things according to how the athlete feels.

 

[Natasha]

My DD is training L7. she missed 12 weeks of tumbling and vault, and about 10 weeks of bars due to 2 wrist fractures this spring and summer. She has been back to full training 4 weeks now. She has all the skills back that she had before the injury, (RO, BHS, BLO; FHS, FT, BHS on beam) and this week she did a giant (x2) for the first time and a full into the resi mat. Last week she got her free hip to handstand. She did not train any of those skills before her injury. During her injury she worked lots of dance and extra conditioning- which totally paid off for her now.
All that to say that injuries do not have to be setbacks and yes gymnasts can come back just as strong and even stronger. THe key for my daughter was to take enough time to heal completely. She is not having any wrist pain now.

 

[Petunia]

Thank you!
On Thursday I just gave in...she still couldn't run and it hurt more after religious icing, stretching and motrin....I pulled her from practice and just took her across the street to an urgent care for an X-ray. I knew that was far from a "specialist" but I wanted some answers asap!
Coaches thought I was over reacting but if it made me feel better fine - well it was going to make me feel better and it drives me crazy when she just gets sidelined day after day and no one comes to me and asks "Is there something wrong with her knee? It's been 2 weeks and she's still in pain". I don't get that! But anyway, that's another thread! lol


So now after having some time to think I'm not sure WHAT to think:
They took the Xray (I explained that she's a gymnast, the amount of time she trains etc etc to please look for a fracture as well). They said the Xray was "negative". They said she had fluid in her knee (that is the lump I was seeing) from inflammation, that it must have been a wierd landing or something along those lines. (she doesn't know at what moment it happened).
They said, no OS.
The doc prescribed anti inflammatories and said to stay off of it for about a week. Then the radiologist came in and wrapped it and said the wrap was just to help reduce the swelling, not really for support or anything. He then said "I know the doc said a week off but I know she's an athlete and sometimes that's not really possible so just take it easy so the swelling can go down".

That same day we went home and took the meds. She skipped practice Friday and Sat, she had her party (at the gym of all places!) today so she did run around playing like a crazy person and said it was just minor running so it didn't hurt too bad.

SOOOOOO, what do you all think? Would you NOT EVEN GIVE IT A TRY (running) all this week? She can scratch vault this coming weekend. Or would you take it one day at time and let her do what she can? I just know that if I tell her to just do what she can she'll run on it if she thinks "it didn't hurt AS bad"
KWIM??

....sigh...thank you ONCE again for your words of wisdom!!!