Parents Big day for DD - Follow-up appt with the Ortho for her back...

[Trixiebelle]

Background - Trixie has spondylylosis - aka pars defect - aka - lumbar stress fracture. L5 bilateral.

Ok - so the title pretty much sums it up. Headed to the Dr.s office at 4 pm today for a follow up appointment and keeping our fingers crossed she is given the all-clear to begin gymnastics again. She has been on a conditioning only regimen since early June and prior to that she was on 3 weeks of limited gymnastics (bars and beam only).

We spoke on the phone with the DR last week and he indicated that if she was pain free that most likely she'll be good at this appt. She has been pain free for 6 weeks now.

The big snag came this saturday for us when DD was playing tag with some friends. She tripped and fell and said she felt that same pain in her back again when she stood up. Only once and not again...so we shall see. I'm glad she told me about it, because I know she is so anxious to get back to Giants, tucks and beam, she'd work through any pain. Fortunately I have driven home how very important it is for her to heal.

Dr. said he is only going to do a manual exam rather than having another bone scan done/or a CT. Is this a normal protocol? Also, he has not ordered any PT. I have explained what she is working on at the gym (conditioning, some running, flexibility training) and I get the impression he felt that was adequate. I am concerned how she will ease back into the sport, but I'll meet with her coach to discuss the DR.s recommendations and how the gym can help Trixie with them.

So, I'll post the results tonight!

 

[Tumblequeensmom]

My DD has dealt with the same issue, along with a few of her friends at other gyms. Every single one of them went for PT to help build up the surrounding muscles in order to support the spine correctly. I'm anxious to hear from others on this issue too.

 

[cher062]

Crossing fingers and toes that all goes well!!

 

[AlexsGymmyMom]

I hope everything goes well with her appointment!!!

 

[Deleted member D3987]

Background - Trixie has spondylylosis - aka pars defect - aka - lumbar stress fracture. L5 bilateral.

Ok - so the title pretty much sums it up. Headed to the Dr.s office at 4 pm today for a follow up appointment and keeping our fingers crossed she is given the all-clear to begin gymnastics again. She has been on a conditioning only regimen since early June and prior to that she was on 3 weeks of limited gymnastics (bars and beam only).

We spoke on the phone with the DR last week and he indicated that if she was pain free that most likely she'll be good at this appt. She has been pain free for 6 weeks now.

The big snag came this saturday for us when DD was playing tag with some friends. She tripped and fell and said she felt that same pain in her back again when she stood up. Only once and not again...so we shall see. I'm glad she told me about it, because I know she is so anxious to get back to Giants, tucks and beam, she'd work through any pain. Fortunately I have driven home how very important it is for her to heal.

Dr. said he is only going to do a manual exam rather than having another bone scan done/or a CT. Is this a normal protocol? Also, he has not ordered any PT. I have explained what she is working on at the gym (conditioning, some running, flexibility training) and I get the impression he felt that was adequate. I am concerned how she will ease back into the sport, but I'll meet with her coach to discuss the DR.s recommendations and how the gym can help Trixie with them.

So, I'll post the results tonight!

yes. normal. just make sure the coaches understand that the comeback must be as long as the time out. approx 6 weeks. if it were me, i'd push it closer to 10.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

My DD has dealt with the same issue, along with a few of her friends at other gyms. Every single one of them went for PT to help build up the surrounding muscles in order to support the spine correctly. I'm anxious to hear from others on this issue too.

if the kids are in a proper program, they are already doing this stuff on a daily or bi-daily basis. with spondy, you must continue to do these excercises. even beyond the scope of pain free practice. like until their career is over.

 

[bogwoppit]

The doc will have no trouble finding the back pain if there is any. My DD had a few such tests and it only took bending over backwards for himto see that the fractures were not healed.

Crossing my fingers for your DD, it would be lovely for her to be back to her old self.

My DD did PT to strengthen her muscles for six months, daily and diligently. These excercises are so important for lumbar stability. Some of the muscles that need firing are tiny and under the bigger muscles. It takes a lot of patience and practice to do them. Even after surgery my DD will continue to do PT to ensure her core strength is able to support her spinal stabilty.

 

[Sydsmom]

The doc will have no trouble finding the back pain if there is any. My DD had a few such tests and it only took bending over backwards for himto see that the fractures were not healed.

Crossing my fingers for your DD, it would be lovely for her to be back to her old self.

My DD did PT to strengthen her muscles for six months, daily and diligently. These excercises are so important for lumbar stability. Some of the muscles that need firing are tiny and under the bigger muscles. It takes a lot of patience and practice to do them. Even after surgery my DD will continue to do PT to ensure her core strength is able to support her spinal stabilty.

That is so intersting to hear!! What excersises were perscribed. We went back for our follow up with her primary doc and DD was allowed to go back to moderate activity with no activity involving spinal impact (jumping, back handsprings, beam dismounts and vault) but she was finally cleared , after 4 weeks of moderate activity. She can do strength training again and bars and dance. She didn't have Spondylosis but a bad sprain...but I am interested in the back strengthing excersises so we can prevent an actual fracture.

 

[gym law mom]

Certainly mention the episode from Sat. to the doc today. He may have handouts for home exercises for her to do. Just stand in front of the door to the exam room until all of your questions are answered.
Let us know how it goes!

Sydsmom-I thought your dd was supposed to see a pediatric spine specialist? Glad she is doing better, but as Trixiebelle's mom did very well, you need to make sure your dd understands how important it is to let you or a coach know if she's having pain.

 

[Tumblequeensmom]

if the kids are in a proper program, they are already doing this stuff on a daily or bi-daily basis. with spondy, you must continue to do these excercises. even beyond the scope of pain free practice. like until their career is over.

The PT helped because it was all compressed into a 45 minute session with intense work on JUSt her back... She couldn't "cheat" when it's one on one with the PT!

 

[bogwoppit]

That is so intersting to hear!! What excersises were perscribed. We went back for our follow up with her primary doc and DD was allowed to go back to moderate activity with no activity involving spinal impact (jumping, back handsprings, beam dismounts and vault) but she was finally cleared , after 4 weeks of moderate activity. She can do strength training again and bars and dance. She didn't have Spondylosis but a bad sprain...but I am interested in the back strengthing excersises so we can prevent an actual fracture.

DD had many, many excercises, that changed as she got stronger. I will not share them here as they were very person specific and my DD had spondlylolysis and lysthessis, so anything that applied to her may be too little or too much for another child. Seeing a good sports physiotherapist is a great thing. My DD worked with hers twice a week, and daily at home. The workout she did took 45 minutes a day and she was very tenacious with them. But despite that there was not enough stabilty to ease the pain and she had surgery to fuse her spine and reduce the slippage.

Any rehab program needs to be carefully planned and designed for the individual patient.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

that ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

[Trixiebelle]

Thanks all. We are back from the Drs office as well as visiting her gym! Yes it went well. No pain at all during the physical exam and she is cleared to resume the sport gradually. Seeing as how we are headed on our family vacation next week for 2 weeks and this week she is in adventure camp...next week will be light bars and beam only for the 2 days she has gym.Trixie asked to visit the gym on the way home and her coach was happy to see her. We spoke briefly about how she was going to help DD ease back in...she had a plan in place to reteach her back walkovers, lots of shoulder flexibility, hip flexor stretching, continued ab work and to slowly reintroduce her to floor and vault. The dark cloud over this was the Drs overall pessimism regarding spondylylosis and it's reoccurrence. He was emphatic that this type of injury never truly heals and he gave DD a 50/50 for it to reoccur. So, cautiously optimistic here.