Should bars hurt a little one?

[Twosmiles]

My DD is 5 and working on pullovers and backhip circles. She's working on her forward hipcircle too (i think that's what it is called) where she can go fully around the bar and support herself again. Ironically she has this but not the pullover & backhip circle which she says hurt her.

Unforutantely, she is now saying she wants to quit because the bars hurt her hips. Admittedly, there have been nights where she has come home quite bruised. However, she loves gym and literally spends hours around the house doing handstands and cartwheels and bridge kickovers. It would be a shame for her to quit given that this is all she wants to do at home; however, I don't want her to be in pain either (this should be fun!)

I'm not a former gymnast myself so I don't know if this is just a phase of things or if the bars really do hurt. She's super tiny at 30 pounds and has very little body fat. Her hips do jut out a bit. I try to get her to wear shorts for extra padding but none of the big girls wear shorts so she doesn't want to either.

I'm going to talk to the gym this week to let them know about the situation, but before I do so I wanted some advice. Do the bars really hurt? Is it possible she is doing something wrong? Do you think a private lesson to work on form (if that is the issue) would help to restore confidence and interest (or do you think that will lead to more pain and thus make her want to quit even more).

Thanks for any advice you can share!

 

[All Chalked Up]

Every gymnast get bruised hips from the bars. I have super bony hips so I can sympathize! Shorts really do help, but when I went through a shorts-hating phase I used to get such bruised hips that I taped pieces of foam or paper towel to my hips for padding! Looks ridiculous, but it worked for me.

 

[GymnastJoy]

My little one is the same age and has the same problem on bars. I attribute it to her "throwing" herself over the bar to get around. She makes it but ends up with bruises on both sides of her pelvis. And she is certainly not tiny and has plenty of padding . She will wear shorts when it gets bad but since she only goes twice a week and is not always on bars, it clears up after a few days. I wouldn't think that at 5 years old form corrections or a private would be necessary.

 

[BlairBob]

Talk to your little one's coach. If you get some insulation foam and adhesive tape, you can make an easy bar pad. I generally will cut the foam to be about the width of their hips. Cutting pool noodles might work as well. We had our L6s use them a lot when starting to work a lot of cast HS. Especially because sometimes the bar will hit your pubis and apparently it hurts like hell even if you are a little girl.

 

[fliptwisttwirl]

When I was probably 4 or maybe 5 I had the same issue..my mom went and got shorts and it was fine.

Recently I decided not to wear shorts anymore (I'm 16) and bars did start hurting my hips again. And I definitely get some nice bruises lol My coach suggested to just wear shorts for bars..I disregarded this but it might help your daughter! Tell her she just has to wear them a tiny bit during bars..maybe even just on her turn if she really doesn't want to wear shorts!

 

[sportsmom22]

I have a super skinny little one too. She stays bruised from bars. You may ask her to try shorts for just bars or put large bandaids over the area that is bruised. Talk to the coach, I bet she will have some suggestions for you.

 

[gymgurl]

Oh the pain i used to get when i did bars (i stopped doing them after a year) I have super boney hips and bruise easily (i can lie on concrete and get bruised hips) and really there isn't a whole lot you can do other than what is already mentioned but talk to her coach as the coach might have better ideas

 

[Clover]

When my DD was 5 and working a lot of back hip circles she used to come home with bruises (and sometimes scrapes) on her hips. I used to put bandaids (2 per side for more coverage) on the areas that she tended to hit. It helped.

 

[Mack_the_Ripper]

Bars is just one of those things that hurts a lot...I used to get big bruises all over my hips in level 5 and 6, but it actually improved after that because I no longer have to do hip circles or long hang pullovers - those were the worst! As my form on kips improved, those also hurt much less, and we start doing kip casts in a row rather than plain old casts, which can cause bruised hips. But when I was in levels 5 and 6, my legs and hips were so bad that when I had to wear a swimsuit in P.E., the coach called me over and asked if everything was alright at home!

If your daughter has a low pain threshold and being bruised makes her want to quit, maybe gym isn't the sport for her. However, she's five so she'll probably grow used to it as she gets older. For now I would just ice her bruises and give her children's Tylenol if it's especially bad.

 

[Danica76]

My DD also started to bruise badly on her hips when in L3 and learning BHC and pullovers. We did band-aids on the bruised areas and then moved to wearing bar shorts just for bars. She has since ditched the shorts but still gets bruises all the time. I think she has just gotten used to it and maybe the skin in that area has toughened up some. If it were me, I would pitch the bar shorts idea to her for bars only as sportsmom22 said...all of the "big girls" at DD's gym wear shorts, so it wasn't a hard sell for DD.

 

[MaryA]

Poor kiddo. Definitely talk to the coach, but as Mack said, if your DD has a low pain threshold, this is probably not the sport for her. I think my daughter hurts somewhere all the time. She still has a scar on her thigh from where the beam "bit" her earlier this season. It seems as though the gymnasts wear their bruises and rips and scars as a badge of honor. My gymmie has a twin sister and I have known since they were infants that Kathy's pain threshold was higher than her sister's. When Tory was grumpy and crying and pulling on her ears, I always made the dr. check Kathy as well, even though she was happy and smiling, and invariably they both had the same ear infection. Tory takes ballet and is looking forward to going "en pointe." Maybe she wants it badly enough to put up with the pain... we'll see.

Maybe, since she's so tuned in to what the "big girls" do (no shorts, etc.) you can have a big girl show your DD her rips and bruises and scars and talk to her about how common they are in the sport and how it means you're working hard. Either the "badge of honor" thing will stick, or she'll never want to do gymnastics again. Either way, you'll have your answer!

 

[cher062]

I think every gymnast is skinny at least the ones I see. And they all have bruises on their hips, legs arm, everywhere. Doing bars my DD has hip bruisies and leg bruises. She is 14 and since she started on pre team when she was 3 yo she has had bruising of some type from bars on her hips. Its just part of the sport. Wait until she gets her first rip, first rope burn, first rug burn, first leg bruise from falling from beam. There are alot of first boo boo to come that hurt its just the nature of the sport. They are all badges of honor in this sport

 

[tennesseesunshine]

I have a skinny five year old too.....when your daughter learns to do the skill correctly, it won't hurt anymore. At least that is what I have found out with my dd. Although, she didn't complain about the pullovers or back hip circles...she did complain about the backs of her legs after mill circles and once she got them down, the pain went away. Now we are doing front hip circles, and she can do them but same thing, sore legs and chest.

 

[lhmom]

I have a skinny five year old too.....when your daughter learns to do the skill correctly, it won't hurt anymore. At least that is what I have found out with my dd. Although, she didn't complain about the pullovers or back hip circles...she did complain about the backs of her legs after mill circles and once she got them down, the pain went away. Now we are doing front hip circles, and she can do them but same thing, sore legs and chest.

Same happened with DD. When she was first learning the skills, her body (legs and hips) would "slam" into the bar because she wasn't really using her upper body to control the skill. I remember that she had some bruising on her inner thighs when getting the shoot through and mill circle although she didn't complain about it. I like others' suggestions about trying to have a little extra padding there while she gets the skill down. It's funny to hear about bruises and rips being "badges of honor"- that's exactly what my daughter told me when I saw her first rip.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

Talk to your little one's coach. If you get some insulation foam and adhesive tape, you can make an easy bar pad. I generally will cut the foam to be about the width of their hips. Cutting pool noodles might work as well. We had our L6s use them a lot when starting to work a lot of cast HS. Especially because sometimes the bar will hit your pubis and apparently it hurts like hell even if you are a little girl.

this is spot on. ^^^ talk to her coaches.

 

[Twosmiles]

Thanks so much for all of the quick replies! I am definitely going to try the bandaid trick (she loves bandaids at this age!) and will also see if I can get her to wear her shorts just for bars. (also will talk to the coach too).

 

[cbone]

My daughter had the same issue and also chafing. We got her some spandex "booty shorts" and the problem has been much better. I know I'm repeating what many have said, but it seems to work for us.