Parents Level 3 broke her radius and ulna doing double bhs in practice, need advice.

[Manauia]

my 8 year old is a level 3 gymnast and tops. She did her first 3 competitions and did great medaled a ton and was really loving being on team...until the dreaded practice where she broke her forearm doing a double backhand spring. She is will be in cast for 6-8 weeks. She was training 12 hours a week... and is not allowed back to gym u til out of cast due to liability issues.
I can’t decide what to do for her now. Should she continue gymnastics? She has been going since the age of 4 and loves it, but this really scared her to the core.
Has anyone gone through this? Is she off the team now that she is out of commission for so long? She qualified for states but can’t go. This is just really one of those conundrums and need to look to this forum for advice.
I just feel really lost as to what to do.

 

[CLgym]

My DD broke her radius & ulna when she was 6 years old (pre-team), and her foot when she was 7 years old (Xcel Bronze - roughly L3 skills). Neither injury occurred in the gym. She continued to attend practices while in a cast (and splint, once the cast was removed) to do conditioning and stretching. I think it is pretty standard for gyms to allow injured gymnasts to attend practice in order to condition, etc. -- even if on a reduced schedule. Is it your gym that is claiming "liability issues" and won't allow this? What does your doctor say? My docs were fine with my DD participating in activities while casted within reason (shockingly, my daughter was even allowed to return to ice skating lessons while her arm was in a hard cast -- we were told there was very little risk while in a hard cast -- but had to take a few weeks off from ice skating when she moved from hard cast to soft splint.) In your shoes, I would probably talk to your doctors and gym again. Assuming you get doc approval, I think it would be helpful for your daughter to continue attending practices to condition/stretch (even if only once or twice a week, or for a shorter period of time) and would push the gym a little on this issue. It will make it easier for her to re-gain skills, will keep her connected with teammates, and also might help her slowly get over the mental/fear piece. I can imagine that staying totally out of the gym for 6-8 weeks might make it scarier and harder to return.

I will let others weigh in regarding the potential for fear issues following a gymnastics-caused injury. In my case, both injuries occurred outside of the gym, and that is a big difference. My DD was a little tentative when she was finally cleared to do skills again (afraid of re-injury), but got over it relatively quickly. I remember I paid for a private lesson or two when she was finally cleared to return to full activity after the broken arm -- this allowed her to work slowly with her coach without the rest of her team watching on.

Good luck!

 

[MILgymFAM]

I can’t tackle the fear issue. My younger daughter had multiple injuries doing bhs but that didn’t end up being what pushed her out of the sport. But... her gym wouldn’t allow her to come to gym at all while injured either and it was hugely demotivating. I would try to explore with her gym/doctors if there is any thing she could come in and do.

 

[Greatlakesmom]

Sorry to hear about your daughter's injury. I wish her a speedy recovery. Our gym actually requires gymnasts to continue to attend practice with their group while injured. The coaches will modify the workout for the injured gymnast and will have them focus on conditioning and working the lower body (if upper body is injured) and vice versa. It is definitely not uncommon to see gymnasts with casts on at the gym. Good luck.

 

[Carly]

My dd broke her thumb in the spring after level 5 states doing a back handspring on the beam. She was in a hard cast for 4 weeks and was expected to continue going to the gym to do conditioning, stretching and whatever she could on floor and beam, such as leaps, turns etc. She was afraid to do the skill on the beam but she eventually got it back but had a rough competition season on beam as a level 7 because she was still hesitant to do it.

Then she broke her finger doing the same thing about a year later and doesn't want to do a back handspring on the beam again. She switched gyms and is doing Xcel now because she wants it to be more fun and less pressure especially for beam skills. The new gym won't force her to do any skills that she is afraid to do. She almost quit because of it but finding Xcel at the new gym has renewed her love of the sport.

If she can't go to the gym, I would have her do some conditioning and stretching at home. I would wait until the cast comes off and she is cleared for practice to decide. She might surprise you and will ease back into it while watching her teammates practice.

Is it the gym that won't let her be there or the Dr. that said she couldn't go? DD's doctor said no gym but the coaches wanted her there. She wanted to be there so she wouldn't loose too much strength or flexibility.

 

[CuriousCate]

They won't let her come and condition? We had two girls break their elbows while learning BHS while training L3, both requiring surgery. Both were allowed to come condition. Stretch, squats, crunches, etc. They still felt a part of the team and they maintained a great deal of strength. One finished the next level then quit, but the other girls is now L7 and awesome.

 

[Manauia]

Sorry to hear about your daughter's injury. I wish her a speedy recovery. Our gym actually requires gymnasts to continue to attend practice with their group while injured. The coaches will modify the workout for the injured gymnast and will have them focus on conditioning and working the lower body (if upper body is injured) and vice versa. It is definitely not uncommon to see gymnasts with casts on at the gym. Good luck.

Hmmm .... when I asked her coaches about conditioning while in the cast they seemed reluctant due to possible reinjury. But I do believe that it is important for her own mental morale to stay connected with her team. Is there a liability issue since the injury happened at the gym? Also, she was injured 6 days ago, so maybe they are waiting for the osteo to give her clearance to practice?

I am crossing my fingers. Her teammates are very close to her and 6-8 weeks seems like an eternity even in my eyes,

 

[Manauia]

They won't let her come and condition? We had two girls break their elbows while learning BHS while training L3, both requiring surgery. Both were allowed to come condition. Stretch, squats, crunches, etc. They still felt a part of the team and they maintained a great deal of strength. One finished the next level then quit, but the other girls is now L7 and awesome.

Her gym told me they would welcome her back when the cast is off.... I might have to bring it up again, seems like from the posts it is standard to let injured athletes participate in some way.

I also don’t want to push her if she is really traumatized....so hard of a decision to me at this moment. Maybe a week from now she might start missing gymnastics.

But I will ask the gym if she can do some kind of team participation for sure

 

[3rd_time_around]

My daughter broke her elbow and was back in the gym in a week, conditioning and doing dance throughs on floor beam and floor. She also became the aerial queen on floor. She broke her foot and was back in a week doing any conditioning she could, and as the weeks wore on did lots of upper body conditioning. She also did bar skills while wearing a boot and a weight on the other foot (not any circling or release skills, just conditioning, swings, etc). She broke her toe, her forearm, and sprained her ankles, but always went for conditioning. It's unusual that she isn't allowed back in the gym. We always have the injured girls come in and do conditioning and anything else they are allowed to do. She won't reinjure her arm in a cast, the cast will protect her. And she really can't hurt it conditioning and stretching. Maybe talk to them again about what she can do.

 

[Manauia]

My DD broke her radius & ulna when she was 6 years old (pre-team), and her foot when she was 7 years old (Xcel Bronze - roughly L3 skills). Neither injury occurred in the gym. She continued to attend practices while in a cast (and splint, once the cast was removed) to do conditioning and stretching. I think it is pretty standard for gyms to allow injured gymnasts to attend practice in order to condition, etc. -- even if on a reduced schedule. Is it your gym that is claiming "liability issues" and won't allow this? What does your doctor say? My docs were fine with my DD participating in activities while casted within reason (shockingly, my daughter was even allowed to return to ice skating lessons while her arm was in a hard cast -- we were told there was very little risk while in a hard cast -- but had to take a few weeks off from ice skating when she moved from hard cast to soft splint.) In your shoes, I would probably talk to your doctors and gym again. Assuming you get doc approval, I think it would be helpful for your daughter to continue attending practices to condition/stretch (even if only once or twice a week, or for a shorter period of time) and would push the gym a little on this issue. It will make it easier for her to re-gain skills, will keep her connected with teammates, and also might help her slowly get over the mental/fear piece. I can imagine that staying totally out of the gym for 6-8 weeks might make it scarier and harder to return.

I will let others weigh in regarding the potential for fear issues following a gymnastics-caused injury. In my case, both injuries occurred outside of the gym, and that is a big difference. My DD was a little tentative when she was finally cleared to do skills again (afraid of re-injury), but got over it relatively quickly. I remember I paid for a private lesson or two when she was finally cleared to return to full activity after the broken arm -- this allowed her to work slowly with her coach without the rest of her team watching on.

Good luck!

This is really informative and good to know!

 

[PNWMtnDude]

my 8 year old is a level 3 gymnast and tops. She did her first 3 competitions and did great medaled a ton and was really loving being on team...until the dreaded practice where she broke her forearm doing a double backhand spring. She is will be in cast for 6-8 weeks. She was training 12 hours a week... and is not allowed back to gym u til out of cast due to liability issues.
I can’t decide what to do for her now. Should she continue gymnastics? She has been going since the age of 4 and loves it, but this really scared her to the core.
Has anyone gone through this? Is she off the team now that she is out of commission for so long? She qualified for states but can’t go. This is just really one of those conundrums and need to look to this forum for advice.
I just feel really lost as to what to do.

My daughter fractured her knee cap when she was practicing on the strap bar. She was just about to start her level 4 season and it was effectively ended before it even started. She was out for almost 4 months.The following April she was back in full training and by September she was able to test out of Level 4, even winning her session by over 2 points! She did go to team practice during that time, maybe once or twice a week and stayed only an hour doing conditioning. Lots of girls in our gym get injured and they still come in to train, working around their injuries whenever possible.
She had a subsequent injury to her shoulder that cut short her Level 5 season. Both of these injuries truly had a tempering effect on her confidence levels and the fear factor for doing certain skills was more pronounced. It took her many months and emotional effort to overcome her fears and do a BWO-BHS on the high beam for example. So, it's something to watch out for.

Based on that, I do think your DD can come back from a months long layoff and I do think it's unusual that the team wouldn't allow her to train with them although I do understand the liability thing. She could at least do some conditioning with them. You'd probably want to check with the doctor before proceeding though.

 

[gymgal]

dd had a wrist fracture just before her first competitive season. about 5 wks in a cast. I can't remember exactly - it was 10 years ago. She was back in the gym conditioning within a couple of days. The gym expects all injured gymnasts in practice as long as the dr has recommended against it (neck/back injuries mainly). As for fear, dd's injury was a simple misstep doing a cartwheel(!) . She didn't have fear of that but she had been training BHS prior to the injury and it took her a while to regain her confidence for that skill. She feared her arm wouldn't be able to support her, that it would break again. The coaches were great and let her go at her own pace. As for your dd staying in practice, I would talk with the coaches. The longer she is out of practice, the more hesitant she will become.

 

[NY Dad]

When my dd was 7 and on pre-team, she broke/dislocated her elbow at the gym attempting a cartwheel on beam. For the first several days the orthopedist said she should minimize even walking for fear that the bone might slip (so no gymnastics). She had to go to the ortho every few days for the first few weeks to make sure the bone didn’t slip. Initially when I asked the ortho what my dd could safely do, he wasn’t distinguishing gym class from gymnastics. He was talking about the kids horsing around in the gym. He said absolutely no gym/gymnastics until she was out of the cast.

My dd missed the first few practices but then went back to watch. She wasn’t always excited to go but we pushed her a little. When she was only able to do limited conditioning, she wouldn’t stay for the whole practice. The gym had a prepared list of conditioning that they felt a gymnast could do based on the body part injured. I used their list and pulled images from Google so that I could explain the exercises to the orthopedist so that he understood and could tell me if something was safe. I had to imply that she was going to be doing this conditioning at home.

Each time she went to gym I sent her in with an updated list of the exercises that had been green lighted by the ortho (and eventually her physical therapist.) The ortho must have thought I was a little crazy but it was the only way to be sure we were playing it safe.

Staying connected with the gym made it much easier for her to fully return to gymnastics again, it kept her connected to the team socially, it gave her something to do and it helped keep her in shape when she would have otherwise been at home making slime (with one hand) or watching TV.

She had/has fears related to her injury but as time has passed it seems like it’s not as bad as it had initially been. I should also mention that she was always a cautious kid so it’s not like she was ever fearless. She’s in IGC Copper 2 (approx. JO3) and CW on beam is not a required skill at that level so she hasn’t had to directly face this fear yet.

 

[kipnastic mom]

My dd broke her foot in January part way through her level 5 season from an ackward landing off the bars. She was back in the gym the next practice working on conditioning skills and within a week was back working bars (no flyaway or squat on). She went to every meet and sat in the stands to cheer her teammates on. I think being in there with them and celebrating their success allowed her to not get too depressed. The week before state she was cleared to land a dismount off the bars and her gym let her compete bars at state. Wasn’t pretty (bars are her weakest) but it went along way into her morale.

We have had lots of girls with broken arms, wrists etc. They work leaps, jumps, conditioning during practice. Depending on skill level they even work aerials on the tumble track.

As for fear, my daughter just this week finally went to handstand on the high bar. She has been fearful of going over. It has helped her to have supportive teammates who encourage her to do it.

 

[mommyof1]

My daughter’s gym also requires injured gymnasts to come in and practice. The coaches are very good about keeping them safe. If your child’s gym is asking you to keep her out of practice while injured, I would be concerned that they don’t know how to handle injured athletes and might let her push herself too far if you did have her attend practice.

If she gets referred to PT, I highly recommend choosing a facility that serves collegiate and/or professional athletes. The quality difference between our local “sports PT” practice and the one at a nearby D1 university with a med school and PT degree program is astounding.

 

[Amanda]

My daughter had a flair/progression of arthritis that we thought might have been an injury- either way it significantly limited her activity for a pretty long time. She stayed completely out of the gym for about 2 weeks and then VERY slowly worked back in with the help of her physical therapist. For about a month she went in for an hour twice a week and mostly did upper body conditioning. It was more about helping her feel connected to the team. She then added back in a skill or two at a time starting with very low reps. We slowly increased the amount of time she stayed and the number of days she went in. I think it was important for her to be there, but I also thing it would have been challenging for her to try and be there the whole time- both emotionally as she would have had to sit out of so much- and physically as I think she would have been tempted to do things she shouldn't have really been doing yet or doing too much of what she had been cleared for. I think it's a balance and probably depends some on the gymnast and the coaches' attitudes. I communicated with the coaches pretty regularly about what she was allowed to do. She didn't really have fear issues in terms of the injury- especially as it turned out not to be an injury, but regardless it didn't come from a single event. But she was afraid of pain returning as it started to go away (mainly because she didn't want any more delay to her full return). She has been very cautious. We've mostly let her go at her own pace, but occasionally her coaches will push for just a little more- like one more rep when she thinks she should be done. I hope your daughter's recovery goes well!

 

[LJL07]

My youngest daughter broke her ulna and had to have surgery. The injury happened in the gym. She was coming off of level 3 and training for level 4. She continued to go to gym and condition. She was out for a good three months. She actually had no trouble catching up and competing level 4. She had a great season. I think it would be helpful to continue to go to gym and at least condition, but if it is a liability issue, I guess that's tough. She can definitely recover from this though! And probably faster than you think!

 

[kb1984]

My 5 year old level 2 just broke her arm a few days ago. We're waiting for her to go to ortho next week, but the coach said she would most likely just take some time off. She said the older girls do come in for workouts if they're injured, but they are on their own for much of the conditioning and we can't expect a 5 year old to do things by herself. She might go in like 1 of 4 hours each week to just run through floor routine/dance stuff, but I'm assuming they'll just give us a home stretch program and wait for her to heal.

 

[SarahJ]

[QUOTE="Manauia, post: 570521, member:

My 8 yr old broke one bone in her arm and had a cast. (on monkeynbars) 2yrs ago as L2 9/hrs a week. She went to practice just to show support for her team on occasion over 4 weeks. She didn't lose her spot and really didn't lose much muscle either. She is now 16hr a week training L6 with zero issues from the break. Good luck to you guys!

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Just dropped mine at gym. Currently rehabbing an injury. No weight bearing on her arm and no running due to the fall factor is a reinjury risk. She practicing what she can on floor and beam. Doing splits, leaps and turns. Core and leg conditioning. And hanging with her tribe. She is going half time as it is frustrating to be at gym and not do gym. But she also has PT.

She has also had an ankle injury in the past. I think she dealt with that better as she could still do handstands, press handstands and bars to a degree. The arm has been very frustrating. Both in gym and school.