WAG I can't take any more knee injuries!

[gymisforeveryone]

At last practice yesterday one of my gymnasts hyperextended her knee on landing her front tuck step out. It looked painful and when I saw that happen I immeadiately ran to get ice. This gymnasts NEVER complains about anything and she has super high pain tolerance and now when I saw the pain from her eyes my heart jumped. I asked if she was okay and at first she said she was but then she collapsed to her back. Every one of the team came and hold her hand and made her feel comfortable laying on the floor with the ice on her knee. We were all so worried because it was HER who was hurt since she never hurts herself and is so well conditioned and so diligent young woman.

She laid there for 20 minutes and everyone else continued the practice. I asked her to lay there for the rest of the practice but when my eyes where elsewhere she stood up and throw the ice bag away and put her cloves and straps on to work on strap bar......... When I noticed her hanging there trying to hide the pain from her face I asked her to go down and get more rest. She did what I asked like she always does... And when we started conditioning she was there again doing pull ups and climbing the rope. Sigh. If it wold have been anyone else I would have let her but since I know her so well I knew her knee was still hurting and she did everything she could to pretend she was okay.

This was the fourth girl of the team getting in trouble with a knee. Even MY knee is hurting badly after every practice. I'm so sick of injured knees! We do a lots of lower body conditioning and we stretch 15 minutes at the end of every practice. What else could we do to prevent such injuries? I'm planning to ban the front tuck step outs for a while, at least until we get to the gym where there is a pit.

 

[Pineapple_Lump]

What else could we do to prevent such injuries?

Do you have many landings (from, roll/height/step etc...) in your program?

 

[Gymsanity]

First, let me say how sorry I am. Nothing tears up a coach more than when one of our athletes gets hurt, whether it's our fault or not. Their parents trust us with them, and they themselves trust us to do our best to keep them safe, but sometimes accidents just happen.... Here is some advice that you may not get anywhere else, but it has worked great for me to prevent that injury on that skill. You call it a 'front tuck step out' as do most all coaches. The hyperextension comes from that step out. Answer? Don't step out! My girls do the front tuck, but instead of stepping out with the front leg, I have them step back with the back leg. That way the front leg is already in a tight bent lunge position when they land, so it is nearly impossible for that injury to occur. I even call it a 'front tuck step back' to reinforce the concept and techique to the girls. I don't want to jinx myself, but I have never had that injury since I started teaching it that way many years ago. On a side note, I am not a fan of too much knee flexibility. A little, of course, but I've seen some kids and gyms that have WAY too much and it will lead to instability of the knee which will in turn lead to these sorts of injuries. Hope you and she feels better soon.

 

[BlairBob]

Yes, I have seen coaches purposely stretch knees to the point of slight hyperflexion to get a better line. I've also seen these kids hyperextend their knees (admittedly on pike fronts which are problematic that way).

That kid would totally be one of my favorites.

Something that may be used to prevent knee injuries like that is single leg squatting, either pistol with the free leg in front or just with the free leg hanging ( generally done on a balance beam ). Step-ups with the stepping leg around parallel or lunges, preferably weighted somehow. Or just weighted squats of some kind, even leg press will do it but those would require equipment you might not have.