and i have been very clear and consistent with all of you regarding all the issues that come up when parents get concerned or scared by medical prognosis that comes up in gymnasts pretty regularly. from calcaneal epophysitis (Seevers), ostechondritis desecans in the elbows and knees (OCD and not to be confused with obsessive compulsive behavior), Osgood Schlatter, achilles tendonitis, osteochondrosis in the knees, pars defect syndrome, spondylosis (kissing vertebrae) positive ulnar variance (PUV or what used to be called ulnar radial variance) patellar tendonitis (the knee cap keeps kissing the tibial head or what's called "jumpers knee") and the list can go on and on.
but of all the things that gymnasts experience throughout their careers, the 1 thing that is just not worth it and can be potentially cause a crisis, it is Spondylolisthesis being the ONLY malady in where kids should not do gymnastics, diving, sometimes swimming depending on the stroke and football.
and if it is a kid only working out 8 hours a week (where you find most competitive gymnasts training 16 or more hours per week), this may be a threshold that this child's body/spine musculature can handle without accelerating or exacerbating the "what if". certainly, it takes more than 8 hours a week to perform most of the gymnastics that we see. and the young lady states that she can no longer do back walkovers. i'm certain that other skills will fall by the gymnastics wayside also as her body fully matures. but at some point, and in the vein of the old saying that "nothing lasts forever", this spinal condition is one where it is just not worth the risk. this is my opinion along with experience over several years of having dealt with this spinal condition.
