Parents Back pain question (not asking for medical treatment advice)

[Ali'sMom]

So, DD has mentioned that her back is sore sometimes. (she is starting to train L6).
She mentioned it a few weeks ago, but then not again.
Last night she says it's been hurting the whole time.

She said lower back, centralized in the middle near the spine.

My question - it could be muscular, it could like my old body when I sleep wrong, or it could be worse, i.e. spine.

The most I've taken DD to is pediatric urgent care when her foot hurt a lot. Xrays, then told to go to orthopedic to verify it was a growth plate and not a fracture.

For something like her back, do I just go ahead and start with orthopedic? and be glad that we went to "big dr" when he says shejust needs to stretch? Or do I start with her regular dr who will push and poke and send us to orthopedic, or do I start with urgent care, let them take an x-ray, then go from there?

Normally, if not for gymnastics, I'd have her treat it with ice, heat (whatever the protocol is, I haven't looked it up) and antinflammatory, so I'm in uncertain territory. Kind of don't want to make a huge deal about it (and scare her), but don't want to let it just go.

What's been anyone else's experience with "a sore back", where did you start?

 

[mariposa]

If you can go directly to a pediatric ortho, I would go there first. Ask around the gym for recommendations for a good ortho if you can. Back pain that's lasted that long is definitely something to get checked out soon! I would talk to her coaches to and have her stop back walkover, etc, anything that causes pain, she sees the doctor. Hope it's nothing serious.

 

[Quadqueen]

Start with the ortho, as long as your insurance allows you to do so without a referral. Your pediatrician will just send her there anyway.

 

[sce]

I agree, start with the ortho. I find the ped. doesn't really understand the impact of gymnastics on their bodies. Hope it turns out to not be serious issue. Glad you're getting it checked out.

 

[flippin out]

when my dd had issues a few years ago we started at an orthopedic sports clinic. They have walk in clinic for sports patients and access to xray and mri right there. They did xray that day, MRI within 3 days (that had to be scheduled). Once MRI was done we were referred to a spine specialist.

I also took it a step further. I had dd seen by both a spine specialist AND a renowned doc who specializes in gymnastics injuries. I wanted opinions for both. While both dr agreed on diagnosis, I found the gym dr much more helpful. The spine guy wanted to just ship her off to generic therapy a couple days a week after time in a brace (with no instructions or direction for therapist). The Dr. with the gymnastics background was more cautious and gave us a detailed plan of therapy for the PT (had us video him as he explained in detail for PT) and a detailed video message to her coaches for instructions as to how to get dd back into full practice.......a week by week plan of action for her so that she was not doing too much too soon.

For that reason, I always now recommend a 2nd opinion. If we had only gone to traditional therapy (with a therapist not familiar with gymnasts) weeks or months would've been wasted on incorrect guessed therapy (not their fault, they don't know). I've seen girls do that route and end up re-injuring the back within a year. Dr not familiar with how intense high level gymnastics is can not fathom what their bodies go through. The back was nothing I wanted to mess with. I wanted the best plan possible to get her back to 100% healthy back.
--- Last year she had an ankle injury and a doc told her it was fine (as in no fracture....but it was a severe sprain). He had no idea what Level 10 gymnasts do in any given practice. Told her since there was no fracture she could just slap a generic brace on it and go Full Out! He has no clue. Even if you try to explain, they still have it in their head that full out means that you go do some backhandsprings. When our trainer found out, he was livid. Called another dr familiar with the sport and was able to get a plan for her. IF something doesn't seem right, always get a 2nd opinion. Trust your momma instincts.

 

[Ali'sMom]

Thank you all!
I don't feel so crazy to think about going straight to ortho.

 

[shelovestoflip]

Agree with others. Go to ped sports ortho. My daughter had a back injury a few years ago and the dr was great. Knew athletes and how to get them back safely.

 

[GymBeeMom]

Ortho. And s second opinion. Trust me, it's worth it.