Yes, it does happen to a lot of girls during puberty, they are growing and their bodies are changing and they become more susceptible to injuries for a while.
Also while they are growing and going through puberty they can become tired more easily, when they are tired their concentration wanes and they are at a greater risk of injury.
Some kids are more prone to injuries than others and do tend to get them frequently, some have a body more suited to gymnastics.
Make sure you do the following -
1. If your DD gets an injury have it treated straight away. Every single long term gymnastics injury I have seen has been caused by a gymnasts being mildly injured and deciding not to worry about it, leaving it for ages and keeping on training on it and making it worse and beyond repair. Most injuries that are treated quickly also heal quickly.
2. Look for a physio or sports doctor who understands gymnastics. Doctors who don't understand the sport often recommend treatments that don't work and are more likely to reinjure the gymnast. Ask your gym for a good physio.
3. Follow the physio's instructions but if your DD is injured make sure you don't take them out of gym entirely. If a child is training 10-20 hours a week and then just stops completely for a while and then starts again she risks re injuring herself. Have her continue to train on a modified program. paying close attention to her strength and flexibility training.
4. Watch her training hours. Unless she is elite there is no need for a kid who is going through puberty to be training more than 20 hours a week. If she is not level 7-10 then she should really be doing no more than about 14 hours while she is going through puberty. The higher the hours the more likely to injure. Of course it works the other way too. Not doing enough hours can also cause injury as the kids don't have enough time to safely physically prepare their bodies for the sport. As a rough guide during puberty a compulsory gymnast should really be doing about 10-14 hours per week and an optional gymnast should be doing 16-20 hours.
5. Watch her fluid intake, not having enough water makes a kid far more susceptible to injury. She needs to be drinking lots of water, all the time and not just training days. As well as lots of water before, during and after her work outs.
6. Diet is essential. Make sure she is eating enough before work outs, and enough of the right foods. Foods with a lot of sugar, colors, flavors, preservatives and additives will actually make her sluggish during work outs. many people fall into the sugar trap, thinking they should have sugar to give them energy when they train. What actually happens is when the body takes in sugar it develops a natural chemical called insulin which breaks down the sugar. When your DD has something sugary it will produce a rush of insulin to break down the sugar, this gives a temporary high. Once the sugar is broken down the insulin is still there and it goes on to break down other important nutrients in the body too fast. This will produce less energy and lapses in concentration leading to more likely injuries.
7. Sleep. All teenagers going through puberty need more sleep than they did before but rarely do they get it. Screens like TV's computer, mobile phones and video games make it harder for the body to produce a chemical called melatonin which helps the body to relax and fall asleep. If your DD uses any of these items at night within the few hours before bed (as almost any teen does) she will have more trouble falling asleep. But will still need to be up early for school. Most teens are in fact chronically sleep deprived again making them more susceptible to injury.
8. Really pay attention to proper warm up, strength, conditioning and flexibility training. As she grows she will need more strength. They key to gymnastics is the ratio of strength to body size. If her body size increases and her strength does not it will be harder for her to perform skills. Of course she will try to do the skill just as she did it before and that can cause injury. make sure she is putting her full effort into conditioning. Keep an eye on what is happening in the classes and make sure the classes have plenty of conditioning and that the girls strength levels are tested and monitored and that their strength is individually tailored. f everyone is just doing the same strength then the coach is not doing all they can to make it safe for athletes. Perhaps ask for a strength/conditioning and injury prevention program to do at home on the days she does not train.
