Parents Tiger Paws causing pain??

[Flounder]

Has anyone experienced this?

My gymnast is a L8 and was off of her wrists for awhile due to tendonitis and bone bruising. She's been making her way back and has been 99% pain free! About 2 weeks ago, she started using her tiger paws again after being cleared for vault and is now complaining of pain on the top of her wrist when using TPs. That is a not where she had the pain before. She was not complaining about pain before restarting TPs even though she was building her vaults back up.

I did buy the EZY wraps, but she's not sure they provide as much support and hasn't given them a shot.

Tonight, she noticed some aching on her wrist even though she didn't she didn't vault. She is super anxious because she hasn't been cleared to be back 100% that long and is worried that the tiger paws caused some damage that's going to force her into rest again.

Does anyone have any been there/done that advice?

 

[rjb123]

My DD had gymnast wrist for over a year. She (unknown to me) competed last season in pretty serious pain and didnt' say anything. This summer we switched her to the EZ wraps and since then her wrists have gradually gotten better and better. She is now pain free with them and even when doing things without them. I strongly encourage you to have her try them out for a few weeks. They are designed differently and have made a huge difference for my DD.

 

[Flounder]

My DD had gymnast wrist for over a year. She (unknown to me) competed last season in pretty serious pain and didnt' say anything. This summer we switched her to the EZ wraps and since then her wrists have gradually gotten better and better. She is now pain free with them and even when doing things without them. I strongly encourage you to have her try them out for a few weeks. They are designed differently and have made a huge difference for my DD.

Thank you for the feedback. We suspected gymnast wrist before the MRI, but the downtime ended up being pretty similar.

When your DD switched supports, did it take some time to adjust? Did she find that the EZYs were less restrictive, but still better? I want my DD to give them a shot b/c I think the palm pad is a really good feature. She tried them again and said she didn't think they were as supportive, but maybe she needs to reevaluate what her wrist supports should do. Did your DD switch cold turkey or ease into the new wraps? I was thinking maybe try the EZYs for floor and stick with TP for vault until she got more comfortable with them.

 

[gymgal]

What inserts is she using in her TPs? My dd had to experiment with the number of plastic and foam inserts as she transitioned into higher tumbling and vts.

ETA: also make sure the TPs are the right size. They may be too tight/loose at the end, causing friction. Of course, if the pain is actually muscle/tendon related, that's different

 

[Flounder]

What inserts is she using in her TPs? My dd had to experiment with the number of plastic and foam inserts as she transitioned into higher tumbling and vts.

ETA: also make sure the TPs are the right size. They may be too tight/loose at the end, causing friction. Of course, if the pain is actually muscle/tendon related, that's different

She is using both the plastic and the foam. I will double check the sizing. Based upon the weight, she should still be a small, but I haven’t checked her wrist size in a while.

 

[rjb123]

If only....by the time I realized what was happening, we were already in too deep. I love my DD’s gymnastics, always have and always will. I love it for her, for me, not so much.

Thank you for the feedback. We suspected gymnast wrist before the MRI, but the downtime ended up being pretty similar.

When your DD switched supports, did it take some time to adjust? Did she find that the EZYs were less restrictive, but still better? I want my DD to give them a shot b/c I think the palm pad is a really good feature. She tried them again and said she didn't think they were as supportive, but maybe she needs to reevaluate what her wrist supports should do. Did your DD switch cold turkey or ease into the new wraps? I was thinking maybe try the EZYs for floor and stick with TP for vault until she got more comfortable with them.

So I just asked her because it has been a while. She said she went cold turkey with tiger paws to ezy wrap. They do feel different, but they honestly just FIT her so much better that within a week she had pain reduction. She did continue to use her tiger paws for impact conditioning but for beam, floor and vault she used the ezy wraps. As I said she really didn't take any time off her wrists during this transition and found that her pain literally went away and now her wrists are totally pain free even when she will do the odd tumbling/ impact conditioning without her ezy wraps. IMO (take it for what it is worth) her tiger paws didn't fit her properly to give the support she needed where the ezy wraps DID and actually allowed her wrists to heal because they minimized the impact. Oh DD also suggested to try taping her wrists under the supports and once her wrists are feeling better she can stop taping them under the wrist guards. This also helped her.

 

[gymgal]

It is possible that she is coming back too fast on vault too. Who is working with her to clear her for different events and specific skills? Just asking because I have found that orthos and PT/OTs often just don't "get it" when it comes to gymnastics, unless they have a gymnastics background. They don't understand the amount of load being put on the wrists, especially in the upper levels and the amount of hours these girls put in. So, they clear them for the next step prematurely. Even if you are working with medical staff that has good understanding of gymnastics, I still would alert them of this new pain and get them to help you figure it out. It just seems odd that the TPs didn't hurt her before but do now. It may be more to a coincidence than a cause of the pain

 

[Flounder]

Oh DD also suggested to try taping her wrists under the supports and once her wrists are feeling better she can stop taping them under the wrist guards. This also helped her.

She did tape tonight and said it definitely helped. I feel silly that we skipped this stop when taping has always been part of the path back in the past!

It's interesting and good to know that your DD's pain went away as she was using the EZY wraps. I think my DD was concerned b/c she was feeling some discomfort when using them that she didn't feel with the TPs. I think maybe she just needs to heal a bit more and dial back the intensity before evaluating the new wraps.

It is possible that she is coming back too fast on vault too. Who is working with her to clear her for different events and specific skills? Just asking because I have found that orthos and PT/OTs often just don't "get it" when it comes to gymnastics, unless they have a gymnastics background. They don't understand the amount of load being put on the wrists, especially in the upper levels and the amount of hours these girls put in. So, they clear them for the next step prematurely. Even if you are working with medical staff that has good understanding of gymnastics, I still would alert them of this new pain and get them to help you figure it out. It just seems odd that the TPs didn't hurt her before but do now. It may be more to a coincidence than a cause of the pain

I think this is really part of it. She backed off to easier vaults and said there was no pain with those. Her PT just told her to start vaulting, but he don't understand the differences between the skills. Luckily, she is now open to less strenuous options. It's tough b/c she wants to work on tsuks and yuchenkos, but if it's causing pain, that's a sign to slow down the reentry. My gymnast does like to jump in at full speed. Shocking, right?

 

[Deleted member 18037]

What inserts is she using in her TPs? My dd had to experiment with the number of plastic and foam inserts as she transitioned into higher tumbling and vts.

ETA: also make sure the TPs are the right size. They may be too tight/loose at the end, causing friction. Of course, if the pain is actually muscle/tendon related, that's different

This and account for a break-in period and is it pain vs discomfort (due to it being new)

 

[JBS]

She is using both the plastic and the foam.

We never have anyone use the plastic... they just don't work right. Typically any time the athletes likes the way they feel with the plastic in... it's because the plastic is creased or even cracked or broken in half.

 

[gymgal]

We never have anyone use the plastic... they just don't work right. Typically any time the athletes likes the way they feel with the plastic in... it's because the plastic is creased or even cracked or broken in half.

I just checked with dd and she wears the plastic with the foam. I am pretty sure she started with just foam in the lower levels - she started wearing them after a fractured wrist- but as she moved up the levels, she added the plastic

 

[JBS]

I just checked with dd and she wears the plastic with the foam. I am pretty sure she started with just foam in the lower levels - she started wearing them after a fractured wrist- but as she moved up the levels, she added the plastic

Just depends on what each person likes... as a coach... I recommend replacing the foam inserts on a regular basis instead of moving to the plastic.

Have her check the plastic and see if it is bent in half or broken. I'm interested to see as I've never had any athletes like the plastic.