Parents Mean mom because of knee pain

[Avasmom]

My 8 year old daughter has been complaining on and off for about a month about knee pain. We think she injured it working on her front tuck. Three weeks ago I took her to the doctor and they said the knee was inflamed. Told us to ice it, give ibuprofen, and rest it. We did that but continued letting her go to practice without tumbling. She practices 2x a week. She didn't complain any more so I thought all was well until last week. I dropped in to watch her at practice and saw her limping as she was running to vault. I immediately took her to the doctor where they did x-rays and referred us to an orthopedic doctor. I have stopped all sports and make her ice it after school every day until we can figure out what is going on and the doctor gives us the ok.

I am now the meanest mom in the world because I have taken away the one thing she loves more than anything but she is entirely too young to jeopardize her knees. Her life is pretty boring without activity according to her and honestly this is one of the hardest things as a mom I have had to do. I even reached out to her PE teachers and homeroom teacher because she told me she would continue running, playing soccer, and playing basketball if I took gymnastics away. They are all watching her and making sure she is on light duty. Of course I know this is what has to happen for her to heal but she is one sad little girl without sports. Our ortho appointment is on Wednesday. Any idea of what to expect? Any advice? Anyone have a similar experience with knee pain?

 

[munchkin3]

You are doing the right thing! Mean mom is a good mom!
I hope the ortho finds only minor issues.[emoji1317][emoji1317][emoji1317][emoji1317]

 

[B&M's mom]

Knee pain can be a lot of things. There's no way to know. But be the mean mom. My daughter has had three knee surgeries before she was 16. Screwing up your knees is not worth it!!!!!!!

 

[ascarter1]

Hopefully it's just jumper's knee, common during periods of growth. My dd struggled with knee pain while in growth spurts. It helped by wearing a knee strap. She wore it for a year.

A good piece of advise is to ALWAYS see an orthopedic if possible. Never go to your pediatrician unless there is no other option.

You are doing the right thing by making her sit out! Sending you good mojo!!

 

[duyetanh]

Ok, what is jumper's knee?

 

[ascarter1]

Ok, what is jumper's knee?

An injury to the tissue connecting the kneecap to the shin, AKA patellar tendinitis. Jumper's knee is believed to be caused by repetitive stress placed on the patellar or quadriceps tendon during jumping. It is an injury specific to athletes, particularly those participating in jumping sports such as basketball, volleyball, or high or long jumping.

My dd's flared up about the same time as her severs. And hurt especially during front tumbling. The knee strap helped tremendously.

 

[raenndrops]

You are doing the right thing... But I sympathize with your dd. In 2nd grade, I had knee pain. While waiting for the ortho appointment, I wasn't allowed to do any sports. Because everyone knew I would run and play ball at recess, I wasn't even allowed to go outside. At gym, I was forced to sit in the bleachers - the gym teacher even made a sign for where he wanted me to sit (so I wouldn't move around in the bleachers claiming to be looking for a better place to sit, lol). I thought my dad was the meanest man on Earth and my doctor, stepmom and teachers were not far behind him.

Hoping it is something minor. Good luck, you big meanie

 

[GymCMLA]

Hopefully it's just jumper's knee, common during periods of growth. My dd struggled with knee pain while in growth spurts. It helped by wearing a knee strap. She wore it for a year.

A good piece of advise is to ALWAYS see an orthopedic if possible. Never go to your pediatrician unless there is no other option.

You are doing the right thing by making her sit out! Sending you good mojo!!

Please don't say "never go to your ped". We can be very helpful with diagnosing apophysitis (severs, OSD, etc) stress fractures, tendinitis, muscle strain, and helping to use the exam to localize the problem. We can get imaging before you can get into ortho, we get pt ordered and started....
Please don't discount us all...we can help.

 

[profmom]

If she needs to burn off energy, there's plenty she can do that doesn't involve running and jumping. No gymnast can ever have enough core strength.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

No one has died of boredom.

When mine whines I tell her find something to do even if it means laying on her bed staring up at the ceiling thinking about what a mean mom I am.

Or tell her she could clean the toilets and bathrooms.

She usually finds something to do.

 

[Tuppy]

You are taking good care of her. Time to do the things you haven't had time to do. Catch up with friends, movies, and books. Or like everyone else said give a bad alternative. That might work too. Good luck!

 

[xxStumpyxx]

My 8 year old daughter has been complaining on and off for about a month about knee pain. We think she injured it working on her front tuck. Three weeks ago I took her to the doctor and they said the knee was inflamed. Told us to ice it, give ibuprofen, and rest it. We did that but continued letting her go to practice without tumbling. She practices 2x a week. She didn't complain any more so I thought all was well until last week. I dropped in to watch her at practice and saw her limping as she was running to vault. I immediately took her to the doctor where they did x-rays and referred us to an orthopedic doctor. I have stopped all sports and make her ice it after school every day until we can figure out what is going on and the doctor gives us the ok.

I am now the meanest mom in the world because I have taken away the one thing she loves more than anything but she is entirely too young to jeopardize her knees. Her life is pretty boring without activity according to her and honestly this is one of the hardest things as a mom I have had to do. I even reached out to her PE teachers and homeroom teacher because she told me she would continue running, playing soccer, and playing basketball if I took gymnastics away. They are all watching her and making sure she is on light duty. Of course I know this is what has to happen for her to heal but she is one sad little girl without sports. Our ortho appointment is on Wednesday. Any idea of what to expect? Any advice? Anyone have a similar experience with knee pain?

Going through a similar thing with my oldest dd, but it her wrist and not her knee, she has had multiple "injuries" this year and has missed a lot if gym, she goes back after her recovery time our and within a few weeks she is out again with another injury, she currently out with a wrist injury and had been for 5 weeks, this might be a gymnastics ending thing as its a Congenital Abnormality causing this, hopefully she will be ok to just do trampolining when she gets the all clear, waiting on physio and to see the Orthopaedic Paedatrician.

Hope your daughter recovers and gets back to doing what she loves, it can be frustrating for them on the sidelines but is important to recover first.

 

[Randomactsofcheer]

DD injured her knee in cheer at the beginning of the year. It occasionally bothers her, especially when she does a lot of running and leaps at the gym. We saw her ped who recommended seeing a ped orthopedic surgeon. The orthopedic surgeon said she would need PT. We almost gave up on getting an appointment with the local PT that specializes in pediatrics, but we went to her ped who recommended another PT clinic for DD and got us right in. I haven't seen DD limp since she recovered from her injury but usually, by her last practice of the week, she starts complaining about a sore knee and sore heel. DD has had two PT sessions so far (in one week) and I can see a huge improvement. She had no heel or knee complaints last week.

DD's diagnosis: In addition to her right leg being twice as flexible and stronger than her left (her injured knee), she also walks and runs on her toes. Her calf muscles are incredibly tight, which is causing the heel pain she started experiencing in the last few weeks. Her hamstrings muscles are also very tight and weak. The PT is currently working on building up strength and gaining flexibility on DD's left side and loosening up her calf muscles. She recommended not using a knee brace because it will only serve as a crutch for the muscles that need to support her knee cap and will not help them get stronger.

I hope your DD recovers quickly. I know what it is like to be the mean mom that doesn't let DD do "anything" because her knee hurts.

 

[ascarter1]

Please don't say "never go to your ped". We can be very helpful with diagnosing apophysitis (severs, OSD, etc) stress fractures, tendinitis, muscle strain, and helping to use the exam to localize the problem. We can get imaging before you can get into ortho, we get pt ordered and started....
Please don't discount us all...we can help.

Certainly not trying to discredit the peds out there...we love ours! But, my experience is that my daughters sports ortho is my go to guy. We are lucky enough to have a walk-in sports ortho who has worked wonders for us! Our ped does not have imagining and would send us to the sports ortho anyway.
But that was an unfair statement on my part so I will reword it...

In my experience, I would see my sports ortho over my ped for a variety of reasons! You will have to use your best judgement for your child!

No disrespect meant for the peds out there!

 

[Avasmom]

Hopefully it's just jumper's knee, common during periods of growth. My dd struggled with knee pain while in growth spurts. It helped by wearing a knee strap. She wore it for a year.

A good piece of advise is to ALWAYS see an orthopedic if possible. Never go to your pediatrician unless there is no other option.

You are doing the right thing by making her sit out! Sending you good mojo!!

Thank you! We didn't take her to the pediatrician the last two times but took her to a place with the ability to x-ray it. Normally we go to the pediatrician first but it was after hours.

Going through a similar thing with my oldest dd, but it her wrist and not her knee, she has had multiple "injuries" this year and has missed a lot if gym, she goes back after her recovery time our and within a few weeks she is out again with another injury, she currently out with a wrist injury and had been for 5 weeks, this might be a gymnastics ending thing as its a Congenital Abnormality causing this, hopefully she will be ok to just do trampolining when she gets the all clear, waiting on physio and to see the Orthopaedic Paedatrician.

Hope your daughter recovers and gets back to doing what she loves, it can be frustrating for them on the sidelines but is important to recover first.

Hope it doesn't end your daughter's gymnastics career. Prayers for her to heal!