Parents tendinitis, ganglion cysts, shoulder pain....now what?

[misshoneybee]

Hi everyone - happy summer!

My 10 year old is now a L6 gymnast and she will NOT give up this sport. She is training in a good gym and her coaches are great. She wants to get to L10 (that is her long term goal). She is hyperflexible which creates problems for her. She also pronates really badly and has sinus tarsai in her ankles. Her coaches are worried she is going to dislocate her shoulders because she is so flexible and she has a large ganglion cyst on her right wrist. she has taken every other week off this summer from training because she has done some other non-gymnastic related camps.

She told me today that she goes to gymnastics and doesn't train because she has pain in her ankles and wrists so her coaches have her doing conditioning exercises instead.

Should I make her quit the sport she loves? Or is this something that she can work through with more conditioning, orthotics, etc?

Or should I take her back to her sports medicine doc and get their opinion?

 

[bogwoppit]

For me long term health is more important than any sport. Sometimes adults have to make grown up choices because kids are not mature enough to know the consequences of their choices.

I would have the sports med doc evaluate her and talk to her coaches, if they are truly concerned about her ability to stay healthy in gymnastics, aside from the usual breaks and bruise (!), then perhaps gym is not the sport for her. NOt every body is able to take a sport like gymnastics, it is very hard and even the strongest girls struggle with injuries.

My DD had to quit gym, and then she had to quit T&T and then she had to stop doing any physical activity. She was sad, but she knew that her body couldn't take the strain of gym. In three months she will eb able to do pretty much anything but gym, tramp, bungee jumping and skydiving. So it's all good.

 

[misshoneybee]

Thank you so much for your reply. LOL - as I was writing the post I realized I should probably talk to her doctor and we can make the decision together. Were your daughters injuries or problems similar?

 

[bogwoppit]

My DD had a hyperflexible lower back and relatively inflexible shoulders. THis added up to stress fractures and a lot of pain. Good luck, it isn't easy to parent an athlete.

 

[misshoneybee]

It certainly isn't easy parenting these kids!!!! My other daughter plays soccer (8 year old) and her knees are hurting her. This is ridiculous

 

[gym law mom]

The fact that all the coaches will let her do is conditioning should speak volumes. Right now, she's in pain and not accomplishing anything at practice, so she needs to see the doc.

 

[Tumblequeensmom]

I responded to this earlier today, but for some reason it would not post. That occasionally happens when I try to post on CB... don't have a clue why... anyway...

Your DD's health is much more important that the "now" of gymnastics. These kids have to keep their backs all of their lives.. no sport is worth a damaged spine!!

I posted on another thread about my DD's ordeal with back pain this past season. She never told us she was in pain, but once she did, it had gotten pretty severe. Fortunately, after all her testing and scans, a stress fracture was ruled out, but she ended up doing 2 months of PT to try to build up the supporting muscles around her spine. The best "guess" the orthopedic sports Dr. came up with is that she injured the muscles or pulled a ligament/tendon and since she didn't rest it properly and kept working out, it just kept creating more and more inflammation, hence, pain. After allowing the injury to completely heal, and then doing the PT, she is now completely pain-free. Yes, she had to give up most of her gymnastics for 3 months. Oh well... it's JUST gymnastics!

 

[misshoneybee]

thanks for all the thoughtful replies. I didn't realize until yesterday that she was just doing conditioning at the gym, she told me yesterday morning. I put an email out to her doc and hopefully will get her in today. She doesn't have any back pain - thank goodness.

 

[Muddlethru]

My DD has a ganglion cyst as well. But it is small. I brought her to an orthopedic surgeon but they could not do anything because it was still so small. The beginning of this year, it caused her some discomfort. I had her take time off the gym whenever she felt she needed to. It seems to not bother her now. She does on occasion show me the cyst when it gets a little bigger and causes her discomfort. I don't think a ganglion cyst is career ending (at least I hope not). Like everyone above has indicated, a heart to heart talk with a doctor may be in order. It may make the decision a lot easier once you know what the diagnosis and/or prognosis is. Maybe quitting gym is not necessary. There are several procedures to address both the ganglion cyst and the sinus tarsai. They certainly pose additional challenges to an already challenging and demanding sport.

As far as injuries due to being very flexible, I think your DD just needs to strengthen the major muscle groups that are driving the skills. The body understands function, not individual muscle strength. When we ask our bodies to do a job, it will get the job done the easiest way possible. All muscles have a primary job to do, but also have secondary jobs they can do. When muscles don't do their job, joints and tendons jump in to help.

 

[misshoneybee]

Well we went to the doctor today and she had an ultrasound on her cyst to confirm it size which was 2 cm by 1 cm. They attempted to drain it and poked her twice, once for the anesthetic and once to try to drain it. They didn't get anything but they did poke 2 or 3 holes in it and then put a compression bandage on her and no gym until next week. My DD said it was uncomfortable but not too bad. The doc also evaluated all of her joints and said it would be safe for her to continue the sport provided she starts a strength training regimen and gave us an rx for an eval and PT. Her shoulders are subluxating and her ankles are loose, but her elbow and knees are tight. She stressed the importance of letting pain be her guide as too how much she should be doing in the gym. I called her coach and we had a long talk and she wants to find out what the PT folks say and will also help her condition and on days when she is in pain will alter her training. Meanwhile she gets a 10 day rest period and I will line up the PT etc. sometime in early August and we will go from there. I am glad I have the peace of mind, at the moment, that she is healthy enough to continue in some limited capacity until she gets stronger.

 

[gym law mom]

Good to hear you have a plan. I would make sure to ask the coach to keep an open line of communication--she needs to let you know when dd is only able to do conditioning due to pain. That way you can relate what is going on in the gym to her PT.

 

[emandelsmom]

I have a daughter with a ganglion cyst as well. Her ortho said to get tiger paws. It works. No pain.. She vaults and does floor with them on. I just bought her a new pair because she has worn out her old pair-they stink and are discolored. UGH.Her coaches require her to wear it because the dr said so.

 

[misshoneybee]

My daughter wears tiger paws too. I am not sure what hurts her the most- her cyst or the wrist weakness/tendinitis. she also wears Luli's Cheetahs and they are beneficial. I am glad your coach follows doctor's direction, we were at a gym where the coaches would roll their eyes at you if you went to them with a doctor's note. We left that gym BTW.

Is your daughters cyst pretty big?

Good luck!

 

[emandelsmom]

At times it is bigger. It shrinks some..The important thing is to replace the inserts in the tiger paws.