Parents Abrupt end of her season...

[AAAinNOLA]

Wishing you all the best day by day - I am sure you are relieved to have the surgery over. How are you hanging in emotionally?

 

[AYEMama]

Aw, pulling for her and you and the family! These are tough kiddos.

Thank you so much. They really are tough kiddos.

I haven't been on Chalkbucket much lately and am just catching up on posts. I just wanted to say I'm thinking of your daughter and you mama, and sending you strength and healing for the journey!

Thank you. We appreciate it and can use all the strength. <3

 

[AYEMama]

My daughters have had a few surgeries over the years ...elbow OCD surgery was one of them ...and the thing I can't stress enough , and that saved my girls limbs and back , is to listen to the doctors and not the coaches about returning to the gym....even to "condition". My daughter went to a highly rated orthopedic surgeon at a large Children's Hospital and he was able to fix her elbow but his caveat was "I don't want her back in the gym AT ALL for 3 months. I know who her coach is and he doesn't respect what medical professionals say so I've had kids "go in to condition" and he made them do more and he undid all my work..... So she stayed out of the gym...her coach didn't like it but when she came back, she was ready. She did PT prescribed by her orthopedic surgeon. Talk to your surgeon in depth about a timeline.

I had seen many kids march right back into our gym "to condition" and they were doing way more than that ...and a lot of them never healed correctly , had ongoing pain, needed another surgery , retired from the sport...and those things really didn't need to happen if the kids had been allowed to heal properly . The parents at that gym (and many others) were so afraid of going against what the coach said about returning to the gym that they abandoned their duty to protect their child. My daughter stayed out for 3 months, recovered ,went to Easterns that year and over 10 years later , still has a pain free elbow. Good luck.

Yes, we will definitely not rush things. Our doctor said once she's in a hinged brace, she can go back to doing very very simple, modified leg work only. I'm talking calf raises and butterfly leg/hip stretches. Absolutely no upper body stuff and no touching apparatuses. Her coaches are 100% on board. I will be there watching the whole time, as well, and am not afraid of going against the coaches or pulling her out (but again, her coaches are completely on board with the plan). She definitely won't be there the entire 4-hr practice. I will probably take her at the very end of practice for 15-30 mins, maybe 1-2 times a week. We will be relying on PT work for her elbow, but we (doctor, coaches, and myself) don't want her to do anything at the gym, until completely cleared to do so.

It's good to hear your positive outcome with OCD elbow surgery! We actually have another gymnast at our gym that just had that procedure. It's a totally different thing from what my DD is going through, but they are "elbow buddies".

 

[AYEMama]

Wishing you all the best day by day - I am sure you are relieved to have the surgery over. How are you hanging in emotionally?

Thank you for checking in. I'm doing better now, although still pretty anxious. I think these past few days, the most upsetting thing is how so many people keep trying to downplay the severity of what we are going through, but I'll take that over what we went through and how I felt last week.

One sad thing I did today was request a refund for UCLA High Performance summer camp. It was immediately granted. My daughter was so looking forward to going again. Hopefully next year.

I've switched my focus to trying to find a physical therapist that understands gymnastics. They're so hard to find!

 

[gymgal]

I've switched my focus to trying to find a physical therapist that understands gymnastics. They're so hard to find!

So relieved to hear the surgery went well (all things considered) and she is on the road to recovery. If you haven't already, be sure to talk with the coaches. Chances are there are others in the gym (and surrounding gyms) who have needed PTs. If you feel comfortable posting your general location (nearest large cities), some folks here might have recommendations.

 

[AYEMama]

So relieved to hear the surgery went well (all things considered) and she is on the road to recovery. If you haven't already, be sure to talk with the coaches. Chances are there are others in the gym (and surrounding gyms) who have needed PTs. If you feel comfortable posting your general location (nearest large cities), some folks here might have recommendations.

We thought we had a PT we could work with that understands gymnastics (recommended by some coaches and gymnasts)... turns out they are way out of our budget, unfortunately, and doesn't take insurance. We found one more, but they are a couple hours away and also doesn't take insurance. *sigh*

We are in the Los Angeles area, if anyone has any recommendations! I've had people recommend PT's that work with athletes, but it would be great if I can find someone that has worked with gymnasts specifically. Thank you!

 

[gymgal]

We thought we had a PT we could work with that understands gymnastics (recommended by some coaches and gymnasts)... turns out they are way out of our budget, unfortunately, and doesn't take insurance. We found one more, but they are a couple hours away and also doesn't take insurance. *sigh*

We are in the Los Angeles area, if anyone has any recommendations! I've had people recommend PT's that work with athletes, but it would be great if I can find someone that has worked with gymnasts specifically. Thank you!

That's frustrating. Sorry. I know it's not ideal but maybe consider using that first PT on a consulting basis? Like monthly sessions so that they can give exercises to do and monitor recovery. Also, even though they don't take/bill insurance, you may be able to recoup some costs from your insurance if you have out of network benefits and file on your own. Our PT was a former college gymnast and was incredible with understanding all the ins/outs of returning back to training. Unfortunately they became out of network when our insurance changed midway through. We ended up working out 2x/mth consultations, which were fine at that point. If it had been earlier in the recovery process, we likely would have done that and also seen someone in-network as well.

 

[AYEMama]

That's frustrating. Sorry. I know it's not ideal but maybe consider using that first PT on a consulting basis? Like monthly sessions so that they can give exercises to do and monitor recovery. Also, even though they don't take/bill insurance, you may be able to recoup some costs from your insurance if you have out of network benefits and file on your own. Our PT was a former college gymnast and was incredible with understanding all the ins/outs of returning back to training. Unfortunately they became out of network when our insurance changed midway through. We ended up working out 2x/mth consultations, which were fine at that point. If it had been earlier in the recovery process, we likely would have done that and also seen someone in-network as well.

That's actually a really good plan. Thank you!!

 

[Gymnastmom818]

UPDATE 3/9/23

We drove far and saw the specialist today. She's an arm specialist and is someone that understands high performing child athletes and their needs (we went to a children's hospital). She is scheduled for surgery next Wednesday. The doctor told us that for any "regular" child, surgery isn't necessary, but 100%, no doubt in her mind, will need it for sports like gymnastics or baseball (pitchers), etc. The chipped fracture is facing the wrong way, so it'll be turned back and then screwed onto her humerus. No nerve damage that she's worried about right now, but wants us to keep an eye on it until the surgery (she's also a nerve specialist and saved my daughter's teammate's hand). We didn't take an MRI because she said with the severity of the dislocation, everything is probably looking crazy right now anyway. She'll see everything during surgery.

One thing we did was take more X-rays because she couldn't see the fractured bone in the images we gave her. She thought maybe the ER realigned her severely dislocated elbow poorly and left the fractured piece INSIDE her joint , which would make this case a more urgent once. Thank goodness the new X-rays showed that the ER did a good job with the realignment. phew.

My daughter asked about recovery time after the surgery. Doctor said 3 months, which sounds super short to me. Maybe I misheard. She'll be in a cast for a few weeks (3?), and then a brace to start moving her arm as soon as possible to start PT.

We called our gym on our way home to let them know. They said when she gets an 'ok' from her doctor to do simple/modified leg conditioning, they'll have things for her to do. They don't want her back until she gets cleared to do that stuff, though, and I'm not going to rush it for sure, but when the doctor clears her to do any leg work and stretching, my daughter will be so happy to go for even just a little bit at a time.

She is really scared about the surgery, but knows it's really her only option to go back to doing what she loves. She's optimistic and looking forward to putting in the work to get back to 100%. She knows it won't be a quick process, but a journey. And I'll be with her every step of the way.

So, we have a plan. Now we wait for surgery day.

Thank you all again for your replies. I truly never thought I would feel comforted by people I don't know and wrote the original post out of desperation. I'm grateful for this forum <3

 

[Gymnastmom818]

Hi there, my daughter is 7 and just dislocated her elbow and has the same fracture yours did. How long did her recovery take before she returned to tumbling ect?

 

[Gymnastmom818]

Hi there, my daughter just had the same exact injury, she is 7 and anxious to get back into the gym. How long did it take for your daughter to recover and return?