WAG Gymnast wrist - what's next?

[Gymsanity]

I find a very large percentage of wrist pain is caused by inflexible shoulders and that is the first place that I look at and address. If the shoulders aren't flexible then that automatically puts the wrists in a state of hyper flexion which would hurt anyone. I have the athlete show me their bridge and if they can't get their shoulders past their wrists, there you have it. My experience shows me that accounts for about 80% of the problem. The other times you can see it from weak kids, improper technique (jumping straight up and down, too long on their hands, etc.), or rarely an anatomical problem. Wish you good luck with it.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

She was casted for 3 weeks and then braced for 4 weeks and then did a slow return. She started using the tiger paws when she was back to actually tumbling/vaulting. She's been taping and using them religiously ever since. She only uses the foam inserts. If she decides to go back I'll have her try some of the other inserts that came with them.

Thanks for clarifying.

My gymmie uses them on all events except bars. Every practice, every rotation. Her wrist issues started with the BHS on beam.
She also limits the amount of BHS she does in a turn. Never more then 5.

 

[backflipruby]

I have ulna impaction syndrome... my ulna bone is longer than my radius in both my wrists and causes pain on impact because the ulna bone pushes on the carpal bones in the wrist. I was diagnosed with this about two years ago and was told by two doctors I could either quit or have surgery to shorten the ulna. My parents wouldn't go for the surgery, and I didn't want to quit, so I became a one-handed gymnast for a few months and then slowly started to build some cartwheels and skills using hands. In my experience I can't make it worse - I just have to work around it. My coach modifies my training so I do fewer impact things (eg. handstands on parrallets instead of the floor) and what works for me is a lot of wrist strengthening exercises, icing after training wearing wrist braces that stop my wrists flexing too much.

 

[xxStumpyxx]

Update on my dd..

Called the physio today as my dd is still having pain in her right wrist 9 months after injuring it, she has been out of gymnastics for 4 months due to covid 19 lockdown, gym reopening from 25th July.

My dd has been giving the diagnosis of TFCC (Trinagular Fibro Cartlidge Complex) due to where she is expericing the pain, how she hurt it and also that using her wrist causes pain, the physio doesn’t think that anything serious is going on as she hasn’t got any swelling or pins and needles feeling.

I have been sent some physio exercise to do for 6 weeks which has 3 different difficulty levels, she has to do these exercises 4 times a week.

When she goes back to gymnastics she isn’t allowed to do any weight bearing exercise until these 6 weeks are up (from today) and then has to gradually increase the stuff she does using her hands, starting with supported press ups and front support holds and gradually working her way up to handstands if she doesn’t get any pain in her wrist.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Update on my dd..
When she goes back to gymnastics she isn’t allowed to do any weight bearing exercise until these 6 weeks are up (from today) and then has to gradually increase the stuff she does using her hands, starting with supported press ups and front support holds and gradually working her way up to handstands if she doesn’t get any pain in her wrist.

Get her wrist supports.

My daughter uses Tiger Paws, all events except bars.,

 

[mom2gymnast]

I am sorry your daughter is going through all of this. Mine was originally diagnosed with gymnast wrist. After the fracture was healed she continued to have pain and was eventually diagnosed with a partial scapholunate ligament tear and full TFCC tear. It was a really long road and I won't go into all the details here, but would be happy to discuss with you. Make sure your daughter takes it slow and listens to her body! Also push for answers if she continues to have pain!

 

[xxStumpyxx]

I am sorry your daughter is going through all of this. Mine was originally diagnosed with gymnast wrist. After the fracture was healed she continued to have pain and was eventually diagnosed with a partial scapholunate ligament tear and full TFCC tear. It was a really long road and I won't go into all the details here, but would be happy to discuss with you. Make sure your daughter takes it slow and listens to her body! Also push for answers if she continues to have pain!

thank you, my daughter didn’t even have a fracture, I think her hand slipped to the side whilst doing a back handspring at the gym, she is still quite new to those and was trying them on the floor with her coach beside her. I hope that my daughter heals but I am worried that age might be against her as she turns 14 in October. We are going to follow the physios advice to the letter.

How is your daughter now? Is she still doing gymnastics?

 

[mom2gymnast]

She retired last fall. She was 14 at the time too. After over a year of working on one and no handed skills she decided it was too hard on her body. I think it was hard for her to let go, but she is happy now doing pom at her school. Her wrist still bothers her some. She doesn't do much tumbling anymore, but does feel it when exercising etc. We knew this would be the case as the scapholunate ligament has a chronic tear and the only fix now is a reconstruction which we are not willing to do on a teen because she could lose her range of motion. Her TFCC is good now though. You might ask about the wrist widget. I have heard claims that it does wonders for a TFCC tear. Sadly, we cannot pinpoint one event that caused all of this. She had elbow OCD the year prior and I think it was a combination of a weaker arm and the repetition.
Sorry my news is not better. I know when we were going through this I was searching for any info I can find so I hope it helps!

 

[xxStumpyxx]

She retired last fall. She was 14 at the time too. After over a year of working on one and no handed skills she decided it was too hard on her body. I think it was hard for her to let go, but she is happy now doing pom at her school. Her wrist still bothers her some. She doesn't do much tumbling anymore, but does feel it when exercising etc. We knew this would be the case as the scapholunate ligament has a chronic tear and the only fix now is a reconstruction which we are not willing to do on a teen because she could lose her range of motion. Her TFCC is good now though. You might ask about the wrist widget. I have heard claims that it does wonders for a TFCC tear. Sadly, we cannot pinpoint one event that caused all of this. She had elbow OCD the year prior and I think it was a combination of a weaker arm and the repetition.
Sorry my news is not better. I know when we were going through this I was searching for any info I can find so I hope it helps!

My daughter is very anti surgery and probably wouldn’t have it if offered. I understand what you mean when you said it was hard for your daughter to let go of gymnastics, I was wondering if my daughter would lose her love for gymnastics after having 4 months off, she is still adamant she loves gymnastics and doesn’t want to quit and would be heartbroken if this problem forces her out of gymnastics.

Before lockdown my daughter was a young leader at gymnastics and her goal is to be a coach, she still wants to carry on being a young leader and help the rec kids (she seems natural at it even though she is shy and doesn’t have much confidence in herself), this might be a way of keeping her connected to the sport if she has to physically give it up.

My oldest daughter is a disability gymnast who has billateral madelungs deformity (and severe short stature) and had a few years of Wrist injurpies including fracturing her wrist just doing a front support mount on beam, at the age of 13 she had surgery on her right wrist to release the ligament, she has been pain free ever since but due to her condition she doesn’t have full range of motion in her wrists and finds it hard to put her hands flat on the floor, she tends to lift her palm a little due to the limited range of motion, this hasn’t stopped her doing gymnastics but can only do very basic skills and cannot do bridges, walkovers or handsprings, she is now 16 1/2.

 

[Jessleemom]

Another update....she joined a competitive dance team for approximately one month. Then they had a break in activity so she went and did a rec class at her gym just to keep busy. When the class was over I told her it was time to focus on dance again.

When faced with that reality she said she'd rather do rec gymnastics than competitive dance. Clearly she missed being in the gym. Sooooo....she joined the Xcel team. Hours are half of what she was doing in JO. The coach also had gymnast wrist so is familiar with limitations/need for breaks in activity. Hoping this is where she will stay and flourish. I just want her to be happy and being in the gym is what makes her happy!