Injury psychology

[ivyagogo]

It was a year ago today I finally got my full twist - and a year ago today that I tore my ACL and severely sprained both my LCL and MCL.

[video=youtube;uN5bWkDm5nU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uN5bWkDm5nU[/video]

I am tumbling again and my layouts are strong. My coach (who is also my boss since I'm a coach too) is convinced I can twist and says that he can spot me. Everyone in the gym is convinced I can do it as well. Even I know I can do it, but I'm just really scared. I can do a 1/2 and I'm trying to slowly start the twist earlier.

If you look at the video you can see how I land to the side with my knee straight. When I hurt my knee, I am pretty certain I landed with my foot between those two mats. Now, we have a very large resi-pit at the end of this tumbltrak.

I am 42 years old. I don't have to twist - it's not like a requirement. It's just something that I wanted to do my whole life and was only able to do 4 of them before injuring myself.

So the question I pose here: If you were in my situation would you (a) say that I've proven I can do it and move on or would you (b) trust your coach and try to go for it again. If the answer is (b), how can I get over the fear of re-injury?

 

[10.0]

I guess that is a question that only you will have the answer to. No you don't need to do it for any reason, there are plenty of other things you can learn and you shouldn't do it because others think you should but maybe it is a fear you need to conquer. If you go for it, make sure you can do the layouts with bent knees on landing and then make sure you are ready to fully commit twisting can be bad for the joints if you twist the upper half but not the lower half. Good luck in whatever decision you make! I think it is great that you are 42 and still at it.

 

[mustlovejumping]

I totally understand your situation. I was working on front tucks on the tumble track when I injured my ankle, and I'm now terrified of both the tumble track and front tucks. I will even do a few things on trampoline now, but no tumble track. A couple months ago I decided I had to relearn my front tucks again (just going off the end of the tumble track onto a resi) but just the bounces on the tumble track scared me so much that I couldn't do a decent tuck. I've now decided that since I don't need any particular skill, there is no reason why I should have to do this before I'm totally ready. We never entirely forget the injury, but I think the fear of reinjury lessens over time.

I can't answer your question for you, but if it were me I would probably wait until I was totally ready and confident with the skill. However, there's no guarantee in gymnastics that you won't reinjure something.

 

[gymdog]

Do you have a foam pit? Could you go to an open gym somewhere that has one?

Personally I think the technique of doing a 1/2 and "trying to twist earlier" could be a recipe for disaster, especially a year out of a serious injury like that. It would probably be better to continue to work on the basic skills until they are extremely consistent in timing and technique, as that will probably improve your confidence and awareness to go for the fulls again.

 

[ivyagogo]

If we had a foam pit, I think I would already be twisting. Right now, when I do a 1/2, I'm twisting at the last possible moment - it is definitely very different from how I was twisting when I was doing a full. There is no place else really close with a pit that allows for adult tumbling.

 

[gymdog]

Right. I guess what I mean is that it's important to commit to the twist so that you don't bail and end up under rotating. A full twist to me is different than twisting earlier in a half. Perhaps one route would be to continue practicing half twists but slowly build up the surface that you are landing on so it is higher.

I guess to explain more I feel that I have a very different body shape in a half because I am looking for a different landing. A 1 1/2 is more like a 1/2, than a full is like a 1/2. If I did the full the way I did the half but earlier and trying to twist more, my body would be segmented for sure and this would increase the chance of landing injuries.

Do you have a trampoline? Some ideas might be back drop bounce half to stand, front drop bounce full to front drop or stand.

Can you do a front half, twisting the same direction you twist backwards (doing a barani as a roundoff with no hands may have you twisting an opposite direction). i would recommend working on front pike open, stand, jump half turn, then front pike 1/2 twist in the air.

 

[ivyagogo]

Thanks for those suggestions. I can do a front 1/2, I just can't crank out a front 1/1. I'll try that trampoline drill.

 

[gymdog]

So when you do the front 1/2, try to really memorize it (and make sure it's fairly late, so it might be easier to practice that from the front pike open to give yourself a cue), and think of that like looking for the landing for a back full. Being able to do a front full would be helpful, again make sure you're twisting the same direction, but it "feels" more like a back 1.5. However, any twisting will help with awareness and body positioning, but I would say for the back full the late front 1/2 (no barani) is a must.