Pain as a reason to leave gymnastics?

[misshoneybee]

Do a lot of gymnastics leave the sport due to pain that has not resolved through PT, Rest and has no underlying "cause"?

 

[cher062]

I'm sure many do if the pain is intense but just like any other sport where hour and hour are spent practicing many just work with the pain and live with ice packs and medication to control the pain. Most of the gymnasts I know that leave usually its because it got too hard (around L6 or L7), parents can't afford it any more as they move up, or they entered Jr High (also called middle school in areas) or High School and got involved in school activities they liked better. I've only seen a few that left because of injury.

 

[BlairBob]

It can be common especially with back pain. Some say that will take a break to let up their pain or if they have to spend some time in a back brace which pretty much is the death toll of their gymnastics career.

Joint pain being another. Some people's body just handle it.

 

[bogwoppit]

Mine left due to severe back pain, she just couldn't do anything anymore, it all just hurt. Only later did we find out she had stress fractures despite years of going to the doc and physio. I never wanted her to train through pain so she spent a lot of time missing gym or a lot of time watching others do gym. SHe never wanted to quit for years, but one day she just had enough of not being able to do gym.

 

[gymgal]

I don't know about college and elite, but in the lower levels, it seems most girls leave because of other reasons - entering middle school and juggling a social life, gym, and school is too difficult; the levels get too hard and rather than stay in a level while their friends move ahead, they quit; playing 2 different sports and at a certain level, having to choose between them; finances, travel expenses and time;

I do think some girls use injuries as an out in that they have wanted to sop for a while and an injury is a convenient excuse. I think some parents probably use it as well, encouraging their children to stop rather than risk more injury

 

[jcs]

I didn't do gymnastics other than pre-school, but did acro once a week through freshman year of high school. By the end of that year, I was in pain after every class, my body just ached. I wasn't injured at all, but my muscles were so sore for days, my body just couldn't do it anymore so as much as I loved it, I would say I quit due to "pain".

 

[Tumblequeensmom]

I know of several girls who quit because of constant back pain/injury/stress fractures. These are the older middle school/high school girls. One was even a L10 who was heartbroken when her parents finally "made" her quit due to constant back issues. The bottom line is that you need a healthy body for the rest of your life, gymnastics is only temporary!