Parents And then this happened...

[CLgym]

DD rolled her ankle in gym (leap pass) about 2 1/2 weeks ago causing pain on the outside of her foot. When it wasn't totally healed after Thanksgiving, I made an appointment with the highly regarded sports medicine (orthopedic) department at local children's hospital. In the meantime, things started feeling better, DD began practicing in full again, and she competed this weekend (good meet, by the way). Appointment was yesterday. I almost canceled it, but DD wanted to go because of some continued, mild discomfort. X-Ray revealed an avulsion fracture, starting to heal. Boot for the next two weeks. Follow-up appointment is on 12/16, and it is possible (likely?) she will be cleared for activity at that time. Next meet is the very next day, 12/17. Trying to keep DD from getting too optimistic, but doc didn't rule out the possibility that she might compete. What do you think... For those who have been through this kind of injury, how was the recovery? Weirdly, DD seems to be in almost no pain anymore (competed this weekend without ever mentioning her foot). Thanks in advance.

 

[profmom]

She's L4, right? If she's booted from now until the day before the meet, I think it's unlikely she'd be ready to compete floor or vault. You certainly don't want her reinjuring herself for the sake of competing in one meaningless meet in December. You have my sympathy -- my daughter once missed a meet due to an ill-timed Severs flare.

ETA: I should also mention that many gyms have rules about doing full practices prior to a meet, often with a two-week window. At my kids' gym, she'd not be permitted to compete floor or vault on either the boys' side or the girls', and on the girls' side, if she was unable to do beam or bars dismounts the two weeks prior to the meet, she'd be scratched from those events as well. Best to check on your gym's policies.

 

[calli]

I would have to agree with both of the posts above. My daughter had a slight fracture of the ankle and was in a boot for 3 weeks. She is 6 weeks out of the boot now and she still has to really concentrate to point her toes on that foot. Definitely, as much as possible, take the boot off during rest ( sitting on the couch) and have her do ankle circles, trace the ABC's etc. because all of the tiny surrounding muscles , tendons , and ligaments need to be kept as strong as possible to aid in a speedy recovery. Good Luck!!

 

[CLgym]

@ calli -- Thanks for the tips. Doc mentioned tracing the ABC's (which sounded like fun to DD) -- I will make sure she does it!

@profmom -- Yes, Level 4. I will look into team policies re: practices before a meet. Even if there isn't a policy in place, I agree that it seems highly unlikely she will be ready for all events with only one full practice! FWIW, we have grandma in town to watch that next meet, which I'm sure is contributing to DD's interest in competing.

 

[e'smum]

i'm sorry she's going through this! we're dealing with some knee issues and our hosted meet this weekend. dd has a 4pm apt with a former gymnast sports therapist so missing practice today. tomorrow is her last practice before the meet as the meet starts friday afternoon. if she misses practice tomorrow, i think she can't compete. i believe our gym rule is that if you miss the last practice before the meet, you can't compete. we'll see what happens. i'm ok with her scratching. she's not, of course!

but if i were you, i'd scratch that meet. it's Lvl4. it's a huge deal to the gymmie in the moment but in the long run, you want a healed gymmie who is fully prepared to be 100% for a meet.

 

[cadybearsmommy]

I'm so sorry she is dealing with this! I think there's a good chance she will be healed in time for the meet but I wouldn't put her out there in a meet after not vaulting or doing floor for two weeks and probably only doing very limited things on bars and beam while she is in the boot. Not to mention, her foot and ankle will likely be stiff from the injury and being in the boot and she may need another week or two to get back to normal before she is ready to compete. I would probably plan on scratching just to be safe and take the pressure off. Hopefully the rest will heal her completely and she will have no more of the nagging pain! So sorry this happened during meet season!

 

[stacy]

I just replied on another post but still had to share.Daughters hand slipped off the high bar and she landed on both forearms/elbows.Right is swollen but ok,but both bones broke I left.They reset them in the er and off to ortho we go tomorrow.Our first official meet was supposed to be this Saturday.

 

[CLgym]

@stacy -- Oh geez! Ouch! I am so sorry. I hope your daughter has a full and speedy recovery.

 

[profmom]

Wow, Stacy! So very sorry!

 

[stacy]

Wow, Stacy! So very sorry!

Thanks!We had tried to move up to level six at a meet last month but she wasn't ready.So we were already pretty down about that.She was going to do USAG 4 a couple meets then try to score high enough at a level 5 meet later in the season to move to six for next season.Im trying to frame it as we just have more time to work on skills and now don't have to focus on four.I truly think she's more upset at not being able to do cartwheels and handstands in the house more than anything.She has a hard time being still.

 

[profmom]

It's tough, I know! My daughter broke her arm when she was looking to move up from old L5 to L6 -- her injury was in the spring, and we figured with missing half the summer, she had no chance. But she ended up making it. They can surprise you.

One thing that helped her stay sane was going in for about half of her practice time and working on core and leg strength. If that's an option for your girl while she is healing, I think it's a good idea. It really helps to burn off some of that energy, and really, what gymnast doesn't need more core strength?

 

[txgymfan]

Stacy, tell her to focus on leaps, jumps and the dreaded full turn on beam ( or tape line) Olympians still fall on that darn skill. Her core will be killer by the time she can use her arms again.

 

[e'smum]

Thanks!We had tried to move up to level six at a meet last month but she wasn't ready.So we were already pretty down about that.She was going to do USAG 4 a couple meets then try to score high enough at a level 5 meet later in the season to move to six for next season.Im trying to frame it as we just have more time to work on skills and now don't have to focus on four.I truly think she's more upset at not being able to do cartwheels and handstands in the house more than anything.She has a hard time being still.

i think that's a great way to look at it and yes, work on that full turn on beam! and she can work a 1 1/2 turn on floor - my new level 6 had to throw that in her floor routine the last minute for another B skill and she's still working on getting it perfect. she can also work on leap passes and various leaps that she wants to put in her level 6 floor routine. i agree with what someone said above, still send her to practice and she can work on what she can. we have kids in the gym with broken stuff all the time. one girl broke her foot last year, while it was healing she got her giants.... she was level 6 and ended the season doing giant flyaway on bars. i'm hoping my own injured gymnast can now work on giants while her knee is healing.

if she's going to have to miss a season at least it's one she's already competed. i'll bet she can score out of 5 by the end of the year. still rooting for it to be a quick healing process for her! KUP on how it goes with her ortho appointment.

 

[karenity]

My son had an elbow injury (growth plate related) and worked out 1/2 practice doing core and conditioning for a few months plus physical therapy - our gym was nice enough to charge us less since he wasn't doing full workout. He also could do tumbling from a punch, just no round offs. And the dreaded flexibility, lol. I hope all kids with boo boos heal quickly.

 

[Flicfliclay]

I was just going to post something like this about my daughter spraining her ankle 3 weeks ago to date! Her ankle was horribly black and swollen for some time.. three weeks later she says it has some pain still when hitting spring board or certain landings. ughh She is a first year level 7 and she was looking great out there... and now she is afraid to do beam ( this was where she fell and sprained ankle )! She had a inter-squad meet this week and didn't do so good because she didn't point her toes at all on floor and her tumbling passes she stuck them, but decided to do it on one foot! ahhh! Bars she finished like a sumo stance because she didn't want to hurt herself again. The coach today told me that she thinks she is using it as a crutch.. and that if she sees her favoring it she is going to have her sit out until she doesn't favor it... her first real meet is the first part of January! I hope she can get it together! stinks