ElizaBrooke
Proud Parent
- Jan 29, 2014
- 16
- 11
Can you give some advice on whether or not my daughter is getting injured too often? I am clueless on these things, but I'd like to understand more of what may be going on for my daughter.
My daughter just turned 13 and she's level 5, training level 6/7. During the year, she trained 16 hours a week, and in the summer they increased the number up to 26 hours per week.
In late April, my daughter rolled her ankle and got a small sprain while doing some skill on the tumble track, used crutches a few days and returned to the gym with no pain a week later.
Then, in early June (6 weeks later), she started training 26 hours a week (10 more per week than she trains during the year) and she had pain in her lower back and ankle and needed to miss practice for a week.
5 weeks later in July she did something that hurt her hip and then she stayed home for a week to recover from that pain.
3 weeks later (in August) she hyperextended her knee when landing on something and her knee hurt intensely for a few days so we eventually brought her to a sports ortho doctor to have it checked. X-rays showed nothing but an MRI showed a small stress fracture in her knee with bruising on the bone. Also, we learned through an x-ray they did on her lower back (since she told them her lower back has been hurting for "years" since she started gym) that the ring around her spine is not completely fused and she may have spondylolysis. The doctor said he had the same problem in high school with football and that she needs twice a week physical therapy to strengthen the spine to help her back hurt "less." We've been taking her to the physical therapy, and she's practicing the exercises at home twice a day with icing.
So, now she's out of the gym for an additional 3 weeks (6 weeks all together out of the gym), and missing the first meet of the season. The doctor says no conditioning because it will irritate her spine before she's had enough physical therapy to strengthen it. So, she's home everyday.
Her coach is so kind, but she did say to me, "this is a lot of injuries for your daughter. We'll see how she does when she gets back in a few weeks, but if she keeps getting injured she may need to reduce her hours and switch over to the xcel team if it's too hard on her body to continue with the JO team. Some girls get more injuries as their bodies are growing because they get weaker as they're trying to do higher level skills like your daughter is doing now. We'll have to see if she can keep up or if it's just getting to be too much for her body."
I didn't tell my daughter what her coach said because I knew she'd be devastated to hear the possibility of not staying with her JO team (which she adores!) if she keeps getting injured.
Is it possible that she just had this spine condition for a while and we didn't know, but now we do and are getting physical therapy and she could be better in the future? Also, is it a big deal to have this stress fracture on her knee and be out for 6 weeks while it heals? Does this sound like "too many injuries"? Is there anything that can be done to prevent these injuries or pain, I wonder?
Thanks!!
My daughter just turned 13 and she's level 5, training level 6/7. During the year, she trained 16 hours a week, and in the summer they increased the number up to 26 hours per week.
In late April, my daughter rolled her ankle and got a small sprain while doing some skill on the tumble track, used crutches a few days and returned to the gym with no pain a week later.
Then, in early June (6 weeks later), she started training 26 hours a week (10 more per week than she trains during the year) and she had pain in her lower back and ankle and needed to miss practice for a week.
5 weeks later in July she did something that hurt her hip and then she stayed home for a week to recover from that pain.
3 weeks later (in August) she hyperextended her knee when landing on something and her knee hurt intensely for a few days so we eventually brought her to a sports ortho doctor to have it checked. X-rays showed nothing but an MRI showed a small stress fracture in her knee with bruising on the bone. Also, we learned through an x-ray they did on her lower back (since she told them her lower back has been hurting for "years" since she started gym) that the ring around her spine is not completely fused and she may have spondylolysis. The doctor said he had the same problem in high school with football and that she needs twice a week physical therapy to strengthen the spine to help her back hurt "less." We've been taking her to the physical therapy, and she's practicing the exercises at home twice a day with icing.
So, now she's out of the gym for an additional 3 weeks (6 weeks all together out of the gym), and missing the first meet of the season. The doctor says no conditioning because it will irritate her spine before she's had enough physical therapy to strengthen it. So, she's home everyday.
Her coach is so kind, but she did say to me, "this is a lot of injuries for your daughter. We'll see how she does when she gets back in a few weeks, but if she keeps getting injured she may need to reduce her hours and switch over to the xcel team if it's too hard on her body to continue with the JO team. Some girls get more injuries as their bodies are growing because they get weaker as they're trying to do higher level skills like your daughter is doing now. We'll have to see if she can keep up or if it's just getting to be too much for her body."
I didn't tell my daughter what her coach said because I knew she'd be devastated to hear the possibility of not staying with her JO team (which she adores!) if she keeps getting injured.
Is it possible that she just had this spine condition for a while and we didn't know, but now we do and are getting physical therapy and she could be better in the future? Also, is it a big deal to have this stress fracture on her knee and be out for 6 weeks while it heals? Does this sound like "too many injuries"? Is there anything that can be done to prevent these injuries or pain, I wonder?
Thanks!!