Coaches Knee, Ankle, Heal (etc) Issues & Spring Floor Type / Thickness

[JBS]

Trying to get some data on injuries and spring floor type (thickness).

How many gymnasts do you have (as a percentage) with lower body issues?

How thick is the foam on your spring floor?

How thick is the deck (wood / fiberglass boards) on your floor?

What brand / type of floor do you have?

How many hours per week do your gymnasts tumble on the regular floor (not rod floor or tumble track)?

 

[JBS]

Nobody has anything here...come on???

We have a homemade deck with Palmer springs. The deck is 9/8" (1 1/8") thick...in other words...it is very thick. Foam is 12+ year old 2" foam. About 25% of our athletes have issues like Osgood...Severs...etc. We have a 42' rod floor and a 40' tumble track. We use our regular floor very little now that we are out of season due to the fact that it is so hard.

What percentage of your athletes have ongoing issues with the lower body? Is 25% normal or high?

 

[All Chalked Up]

Old gym... no springs.

Foam blocks, 1 inch plywood, carpet.

75% of gymnasts had some sort of ankle or knee problem. 100% (I kid you not) had a back injury at some point or another.

Keep in mid comp team was 10 gymnasts. There was no other tumbling surface except the grass outdoors!

Not sure about new gym.

 

[Jenny]

We have foam block floors so can't compare really.

 

[gymdog]

I don't know the exact thickness of the deck but I'd estimate half inch to 3/4 inch. Whatever is standard. It's definitely less than an inch. 2 inch foam I think. We didn't do anything homemade. We prefer the traditional type foam to the carpet bonded foam that they're putting in now. We almost always use sting mats and 4 inch mats on the floor.

Hard to give a percentage but I wouldn't say we have unusually high lower leg injuries that are ongoing. Severs and osgoods are kind of unavoidable in some ways. Be careful transitioning from softer surfaces to a hard floor, that can cause problems.

 

[JBS]

We have foam block floors so can't compare really.

Sure can.

 

[Jenny]

Sure can.

I understood they were really different from the US ones.

 

[raenndrops]

We have homemade spring floor... 3/4 inch plywood... cant remember the springs, but all the teams we go against say we have the best floor... replaced the foam about 2 years ago (the "new" 2 inch foam is about 7 years old and our "old" 2 inch foam was about 16 years old). We also have a carpet over our foam.

Of 48 girls, there are 6-8 that wear ankle or knee braces occasionally (but one of them doesn't count since her knee is a genetic condition that pre-dated gymnastics... she once dislocated her knee on a kip at a meet!). Of the other girls 3 also play soccer and one is a sprinter on the track team.... oh yah... and one had a disagreement with a fish tank last year and just recently had surgery to remove the rest of the glass... So, probably 1-2 are gymnastics (or other) related.

Tumbling on the floor can't exceed 5.5 hours a week (because practice is 7.5 hrs - .5 hr warm up and stretch x 3 days - 10 minute munchie x 3 days). USUALLY, a group won't be on floor longer than 45 minutes a day.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

Midwest Gym Supply plastic paneled system. 2 inch carpet bonded foam on top. very fast floor. 3 days a week doing some type of tumbling on this floor.

no problems with bodies either.

 

[JBS]

I understood they were really different from the US ones.

Yes...they are different...but it would still be very interesting to see how many athletes are having lower body issues on it.

 

[JBS]

Midwest Gym Supply plastic paneled system. 2 inch carpet bonded foam on top. very fast floor. 3 days a week doing some type of tumbling on this floor.

no problems with bodies either.

How does this floor compare to an AAI Stratum deck?

 

[Deleted member D3987]

How does this floor compare to an AAI Stratum deck?

it's faster.

 

[JBS]

it's faster.

Meaning the deck bends less than the AAI? Can the athletes tell a difference between the two?

 

[Deleted member D3987]

Meaning the deck bends less than the AAI? Can the athletes tell a difference between the two?

no, it's lighter and reacts faster.