Parents Question on injuries and is this normal

[vera1000]

I know injuries are just part of the sport but should I be concerned when a little over 1/3 of the optional team is in some sort of ankle or wrist brace, knee pain, and a few with broken bones/recent surgery. We are a very competitive gym with some tough conditioning but didn't know how to compare the rate of injuries of our gym to others and if I should be alarmed - or this is normal.

 

[Committed]

I guess it depends on how they got injured & their ages.

Often, they get hurt outside of gym.
Often, it's doing the smallest thing, like stepping off a mat wrong and rolling an ankle.
I'm also told that puberty wreaks havoc on joints.

Tough conditioning is a good thing. It should help prevent injury.

I'd do a little more questioning before getting too concerned.

 

[GymDad9.9]

I guess it depends on how they got injured & their ages.

Often, they get hurt outside of gym.
Often, it's doing the smallest thing, like stepping off a mat wrong and rolling an ankle.
I'm also told that puberty wreaks havoc on joints.

Tough conditioning is a good thing. It should help prevent injury.

I'd do a little more questioning before getting too concerned.

My daughter's teammate hurt her knee falling off a hoverboard. Out of commission for about three months.

 

[cbifoja]

My daughter's teammate hurt her knee falling off a hoverboard. Out of commission for about three months.

I am SO showing this to my DD when she gets home. She has been begging for one of those damn things for almost a year now and I adamantly refuse to let her get one for just that very reason! Oh....and the whole catching fire and burning your house down thing.

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

Exactly what Committed said!!!!

 

[GymDad9.9]

I am SO showing this to my DD when she gets home. She has been begging for one of those damn things for almost a year now and I adamantly refuse to let her get one for just that very reason! Oh....and the whole catching fire and burning your house down thing.

Not to rub salt into any wounds, but this accident really set this girl back as far as her training and development.

 

[1canadiangymmom]

I guess it depends on how they got injured & their ages.

Often, they get hurt outside of gym.
Often, it's doing the smallest thing, like stepping off a mat wrong and rolling an ankle.
I'm also told that puberty wreaks havoc on joints.

Tough conditioning is a good thing. It should help prevent injury.

I'd do a little more questioning before getting too concerned.

Yep, this. One of DD's teammates has now had 2 breaks, with 2 surgeries in less than 10 months, of which neither happened at gymnastics.

 

[twinmomma]

DD was out due to an injury sustained in PE at school.

 

[AgingHippie]

I am SO showing this to my DD when she gets home. She has been begging for one of those damn things for almost a year now and I adamantly refuse to let her get one for just that very reason! Oh....and the whole catching fire and burning your house down thing.

I could have written this myself!

 

[Aussie_coach]

It is not nessesarily something to worry about.

First off how old are the girls? Young kids aged 10 and under tend to be quite resilient o injuries, they bounce around all the time and fall down a lot and seem to just pick themselves up and carry on a lot. But kids going through the puberty stage (around 11-14) are often prone to injuries. At this age their bodies are growing and changing rapidly, leaving the bones, muscles and tendons more vulnerable to injury. This is a normal part of their development.

Secondly optionals is a big step up from compulsory. The hours are longer, the training sessions and more intense and the skills are a lot bigger. Some kids cope with the higher training intensity with ease, others do not. Everyone's body is unique. Some body's can handle 30 or more hours of training with ease, while other bodies might be exhausted on 10. Those bodies will be more prone to injury. And of course with higher skill levels, little mishaps do happen.

Thirdly, gymnasts tend to be active kids in general. Especially those who make it to optionals. Active kids often get hurt in other ways - playing sport at school, falling of hover boards, climbing trees, jumping off the roof into their swimming pools, trying crazy tricks at home on their trampoline, showing off their gymnastics to their friends on the concrete and so on.

It could be purely coincidental that a third are injured. One way to see if it is related to the gym or not is to look at how the gym deals with injuries. Do they encourage a visit to the physio, do they allow training to be modified or do they expect the kid to continue to push through the pain?

 

[raenndrops]

My daughter's teammate hurt her knee falling off a hoverboard. Out of commission for about three months.

We had a girl get hit in the head with a NERF ball a couple years ago… out of gym with post concussion syndrome for 11.5 months! One girl missed our Championship meet because 2 days before, they were doing relay races at school and another kid managed to run over her foot with one of those scooters they use in some gym classes. She has been out for 3 months so far.

 

[raenndrops]

I know injuries are just part of the sport but should I be concerned when a little over 1/3 of the optional team is in some sort of ankle or wrist brace, knee pain, and a few with broken bones/recent surgery. We are a very competitive gym with some tough conditioning but didn't know how to compare the rate of injuries of our gym to others and if I should be alarmed - or this is normal.

We had a photo taken of our girls were going to Y Nationals… 9 girls in the picture… 2 in double knee braces, 1 in double ankle braces, 1 in a single ankle brace, 1 in cheetah cups, 1 with KT tape for knees and ankles. That is 6/9. Of the remaining 3, 2 just got back to training in the last few weeks and the other one is only 7.
That may sound bad but:
2 have E-D hypermobility type.
1 has "floating kneecaps."
4 have other medical conditions they are dealing with that are not caused by gym.
1 has been wearing cheetah cups since before she came to our gym.

 

[sce]

My concern would not bet hat their are injured kids but how are injuries handled. Are kids being allowed time to properly heal and rehab or are the working out on injuries? I am not saying that if you see kids in ankle braces etc working out that that is bad, as even coming back form an injury bracing can be necessary but moreso are kids being encouraged to push through when they need medical care, pt and modified workouts?

 

[JoyAvenueMom]