MAG pommel wrist supports

[gracyomalley]

My 14 year old L7/training 8 needs wrist supports for pommel - everything hurts most of the time, but the pommel/wrist thing is getting to him. His tiger paws help with floor and vault, so now he wants the pommel ones. There is only one kid ahead of him level wise, and coach is young, so I figured I'd ask here for guidance before purchasing. He's about 120lbs? working L7/8 stuff on pommel. He's a hypermobile kid, so lots of aches and pains, but thankfully no big injuries as of yet. Oh, and and advanced violinist whose teacher has no idea what he does to himself at gym or she's have a heart attack!

 

[KCHAMP]

These are what my son uses. He has tried others but likes these the best so far.

http://www.ten-o.com/The-Ultimate-Wrist-Support,652.html?b=s*wrist

 

[skschlag]

Following. D's coach doesn't want him using any wrist supports yet so we are taping. Could be a time down the road though when he needs them.

 

[munchkin3]

We used SKIDZ for bit....you can adjust the support from mild to stiff.
I understand the taping bit, but DS went this rout and lost skills and was in pain. When he got the wrist supports, he felt much more confident.....
My logic tells me that there is NO amount of wrist support that could hurt. You have 100+ pounds swinging on a tiny point, the wrist?....sorry, DS uses supports. I dont care what the coach says.
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[skschlag]

YEah. I know It is a debated issue. Both of D's coaches and the ortho he saw for his shoulder discouraged it as it can refer the injury higher. And the kiddos at our gym who have used them cannot do anythign without them, so D doesn't want that right now. We keep a close eye on it, and he only tapes about once a week.

eta: What I meant was, that some kids with wrist pain, when they wear the supports, the pain, injury can move up to elbow, shoulder, and those joints absorb more of the forces.

 

[profmom]

Some of the boys use these on pommels, and just about all of the L7+ girls start with them on vault before some move into Tiger Paws.

http://www.gymsupply.com/wristsupportpegasus.aspx

 

[Flipz]

My level 7&8 use these for heavier days. We try and stay off them on light days.

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[LilHawkMom]

YEah. I know It is a debated issue. Both of D's coaches and the ortho he saw for his shoulder discouraged it as it can refer the injury higher. And the kiddos at our gym who have used them cannot do anythign without them, so D doesn't want that right now. We keep a close eye on it, and he only tapes about once a week.

eta: What I meant was, that some kids with wrist pain, when they wear the supports, the pain, injury can move up to elbow, shoulder, and those joints absorb more of the forces.

My son also now has pain in his wrists with pommel (12yrs old, 2nd yr level 8). His coach has said no to using them, doesn't want to make them weaker and says he needs to strengthen them doing exercises. As a mom I don't know the ins and outs of this topic, but just want to make my son's pain go away. He hasn't had a specific injury so we haven't taken him to a dr and wonder what a dr would say if there wasn't a specific injury except just rest it, which of course would be very hard for my son to do. I would love to know what other coaches think about this issue. Does the writs supports help guard against injury? Does it help with pain? Does using them make the wrists weaker?

 

[profmom]

Honestly, I wouldn't mess around with it. Besides pommels, there's now whatever vault he's doing, and what is he doing on floor now? Double backs? The force exerted on the wrists for all of those things is tremendous. If he is having persistent pain, get him checked out so he doesn't end up off for three months with braces on both wrists like my DD's teammate. The scary thing to me as a parent about that one is that the wrist that DIDN'T hurt much was actually the more seriously injured one. (She went in for pain in one, and the ortho doc took an X ray of the other one just for comparison and was shocked by what he saw.)

Our coaches say pain=wrist bands or tiger paws. That's in addition to more strengthening exercises for the wrists. But persistent pain in the wrists should be checked out, regardless of whether or not the kid goes into wrist guards.

 

[KCHAMP]

I know coaches are not always in favor. I will say that many kids at FS nationals seemed to use them as well as most of the elite guys at meets like P&G use them. When they started who knows...my so feels better using them so he does. Not sure whether it will hurt him in the future but pommel is one of his best events and that is a lot of pressure on those little wrists!

 

[sce]

My son also now has pain in his wrists with pommel (12yrs old, 2nd yr level 8). His coach has said no to using them, doesn't want to make them weaker and says he needs to strengthen them doing exercises. As a mom I don't know the ins and outs of this topic, but just want to make my son's pain go away. He hasn't had a specific injury so we haven't taken him to a dr and wonder what a dr would say if there wasn't a specific injury except just rest it, which of course would be very hard for my son to do. I would love to know what other coaches think about this issue. Does the writs supports help guard against injury? Does it help with pain? Does using them make the wrists weaker?

There may not be an acute injury, but there may be an injury. Take him to a sports doctor to see what's going on. I definitely agree that you don't want to just try the wrist guards before assessing the cause of the pain.

 

[LilHawkMom]

Just an update, I finally took my son to the dr (ortho specializes in hands). Had xray and mri no specific injury but small cyst but don't think that is the reason for the pain since not in the same area where the pain is. They thought it was just the constant use and pounding it takes for someone training at his level. (They had a fancy term for it but can't remember.) They had him wear a wrist support for a month. Coach not thrilled about that and definitely was thinking this would be just a short term thing and then out of the support. The wrist support at first helped lessen the pain and then started to increase a little towards the end of the month but not to the level it was without the support. The dr wants him to use a different longer type, like the one flipz posted a link to. He had been using shorter/smaller ones that are white. Of course they said the standard "take time off gymnastics" but it would likely return when he starts working as hard again.
Is it just that gymnasts that are training this much and gymnasts that are training for reaching high level and then when they reach level 10/college, is it just the norm that they are in pain?? And that they just learn to train and compete with it?? I want to help my son, I want the best for his gymnastics and his health. I feel so torn between coaches and the dr. He goes back to a different dr (sports medicine) that the hand ortho wanted him to see.

 

[profmom]

I think you should consult more with doctors, but in looking for something else, I found Bill Sands' website, which is a treasure trove for the analytically inclined. I'm always alert for advice on wrists as the fellow owner and operator of a boy. This article http://www.advancedstudyofgymnastics.com/blog/reducing-the-pain-of-hyperextension-with-ethafoam describes a splinting technique I've seen used in my son's gym.

One of DD's friends had a ganglion cyst removed a few summers ago, but the consensus was that it WAS causing problems. The removal of the cyst resolved most of her pain, but she's staying in Tiger Paws. And of course, she doesn't do PH.

 

[samsmama]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I am sure we will need this info eventually. My DS is just L4 and already has some mild wrist pain. We tried Tiger Paws and Skids after he hurt his wrist doing back handsprings in the fall and he hated the Tiger Paws but the Skids really helped. He still uses them on and off, usually he will put them on toward the end of a long practice, but doesn't rely on them, and the coach is working with him on wrist exercises as well.

 

[Deleted member 17723]

Pain will always be a part of gymnastics. But, pain that is enough to be complained about for 2 weeks or longer needs to be checked out by an orthopedic. Try a different doctor. I wore tigerpaws for a week when I very mildly sprained my wrist. I hated them. Maybe try a teammates wrist supports to see which he likes-since they are so expensive. Hope he feels better! (P.S. sometimes the only cure is to rest for a few days! Even just a week sometimes...)