Sore- Too many back walkovers!!

[fishchimes]

Okay, I've been training back walkovers on beam a lot lately for long periods, and even though I warm up beforehand my back is just always sore these days. If I go a week or two without doing any it goes away but it always comes back.

It's my lower back. Is there anything I can do to stop it hurting or is my body just going to have to get used to the skill? Thanks!

 

[JennMene]

Sometimes this can mean that you are doing the skill wrong. If you are falling through support (rolling your back instead of hitting a tall handstand), this can definately cause your lower back to hurt.

 

[bogwoppit]

My DD had similar issue. So she stopped doing walkovers of any kind and is working on a core strength programme. Her back pain is totally better now but we continue to limit the back flex moves as she only has one spine!

Any persistant lower back pain should be looked at by a doctor as there can be many reasons for the pain.

 

[tumblerK]

We have a girl that gets a sore back from BWOs too. She has rather inflexible shoulders and when she does her BWOs she leads with her shoulders rather than her hands... if that makes sense.

 

[Linsul]

I don't know if you're doing this too possibly, but here's what I've been seeing with beam BWO's lately. This is with a group of girls who are just learning them on the low beam. They had practiced on a line on the floor for about a month prior.

My gymnasts on floor do them great, the part where their legs are split and going over they are holding their cores tight with zero back arch. They lever out nice and straight and finish. On beam, (2 gymnasts) arch their backs during the phase where their legs are split and weight is on their hands. Sometimes so much that it looks like their rear ends are going to touch their shoulders! They explain that this slows them down and gives them time to place their feet on the beam. It's got to be murder on a back though!

In response to this I had them do BWO's on low beams with panel mats on the side for them put their hands on. All they did was get their feet to the beam and finish properly with the core being held tight in their vertical. They did very well with that, next week I'll switch it. Panel mats for their feet, correct beam hand placement and no severe back arch.