wrist guards

[Panda-girl's Mom]

Daughter uses wrist guard for gym since she had stress fx last spring. She decided last week not to use them during open gym and came out bragging that she was tumbling without them. She is 10 I am sure both the doctor and myself would prefer her to use them why take a chance of reinjuring herself. I was just wondering if anybody else uses wrist guards and is it just a temporary thing. Her physical therpist felt that her wrist were healed and that she was young enough to wean herself off them. She is 10 only a level 6 but like I said I was under the impression once you had them you always had them.

 

[MamaofEnS]

That is a good question. I wonder about that too. Our gym told the girls to buy wrist guards, but only allowed level 8's and up to wear them at meets. They also told my DD that she couldn't wear hers because they weren't Tiger Paws, but another brand. I just keep them in her grip bag, and if she wants them, she can use them, or she can just ignore them.

MamaofEnS

 

[10.0]

Actually the less support items you use the better. If you are healthy enough to not use them they actually make you weaker.

 

[bpatient]

It's interesting that so many gymnasts and coaches seem to think that wearing wrist supports weakens the wrists. I suppose it's also possible that wearing a helmet to prevent head injury weakens the skull.

It's been clear for years that wrist injury is not only common in gymnastics, it's essentially the norm: Studies suggest that half to three-fourths of advanced gymnasts suffer (usually chronic) wrist pain, and about half of young, beginning to mid-level gymnasts also suffer from wrist pain. The authors report: "Gymnasts report symptoms of wrist pain as chronic, and perhaps because wrist pain is so common in the sport, it is not frequently brought to the attention of physicians." [Am J Sports Med. 2006 May;34(5):840] Since your child has already suffered a wrist injury well before the age at which such injuries typically occur in female gymnasts (in the years surrounding peak height velocity), you may wish to discuss with a sports medicine specialist who works with child athletes the wisdom of having her continue using the wrist supports while also continuing to strengthen her wrists through gymnastics and conditioning. My daughter's been using Golden Hands (which are similar to Tiger Paws) since she started doing Yurchenko-style vaults a couple of years ago; they help.

 

[bogwoppit]

Our sports therapist recommends tiger paws for gym. Both my girls wear them all the time.

 

[gymdog]

It's interesting that so many gymnasts and coaches seem to think that wearing wrist supports weakens the wrists. I suppose it's also possible that wearing a helmet to prevent head injury weakens the skull.

It's been clear for years that wrist injury is not only common in gymnastics, it's essentially the norm: Studies suggest that half to three-fourths of advanced gymnasts suffer (usually chronic) wrist pain, and about half of young, beginning to mid-level gymnasts also suffer from wrist pain. The authors report: "Gymnasts report symptoms of wrist pain as chronic, and perhaps because wrist pain is so common in the sport, it is not frequently brought to the attention of physicians." [Am J Sports Med. 2006 May;34(5):840] Since your child has already suffered a wrist injury well before the age at which such injuries typically occur in female gymnasts (in the years surrounding peak height velocity), you may wish to discuss with a sports medicine specialist who works with child athletes the wisdom of having her continue using the wrist supports while also continuing to strengthen her wrists through gymnastics and conditioning. My daughter's been using Golden Hands (which are similar to Tiger Paws) since she started doing Yurchenko-style vaults a couple of years ago; they help.

I agree. While I don't think it's always necessary to use them at the lower levels, conversely I believe it would be foolish to not use any support when doing certain skills like yruchenkos. If you watch even many elite gymnasts are wearing them just for vault; more and more optional programs are moving towards requiring them at this stage of training.

However I can also see some drawbacks especially for the Tiger Paws style. The brace over the thumb is annoying, and makes it hard to do some skills on beam. So if that is an issue you might want to ask her about it and look into getting tape for her wrists or a support that only goes on the wrist and not over the thumb/palm (they have those black ones, I don't know what they're called, a lot of guys I know have them).

 

[ZZMom]

My older DD's wrists started to bother her shortly after she started gymnastics at the age of nin. She moved up very quickly and was competing level five within a year after starting. That may have contributed to the problem she had with her wrists.

In any case, I bought her a pair of tiger paws about six months after she started. She wore them for floor, beam and vault all the way through level 10. She never had another problem with her wrists.

I've heard the contention that tiger paws (or similar) cause wrist weakness. But, in my daughter's case, she would not have been able to continue without them. With them, she never experienced any further problems with her wrists.

Hope this helps.

Best Wishes,

ZZMom

 

[Deleted member D3987]

It's interesting that so many gymnasts and coaches seem to think that wearing wrist supports weakens the wrists. I suppose it's also possible that wearing a helmet to prevent head injury weakens the skull.

It's been clear for years that wrist injury is not only common in gymnastics, it's essentially the norm: Studies suggest that half to three-fourths of advanced gymnasts suffer (usually chronic) wrist pain, and about half of young, beginning to mid-level gymnasts also suffer from wrist pain. The authors report: "Gymnasts report symptoms of wrist pain as chronic, and perhaps because wrist pain is so common in the sport, it is not frequently brought to the attention of physicians." [Am J Sports Med. 2006 May;34(5):840] Since your child has already suffered a wrist injury well before the age at which such injuries typically occur in female gymnasts (in the years surrounding peak height velocity), you may wish to discuss with a sports medicine specialist who works with child athletes the wisdom of having her continue using the wrist supports while also continuing to strengthen her wrists through gymnastics and conditioning. My daughter's been using Golden Hands (which are similar to Tiger Paws) since she started doing Yurchenko-style vaults a couple of years ago; they help.

yes rbw, what you said is true.

what is NOT TRUE is that wrist supports weaken your wrists.

 

[Billy]

DD's coach recommended Tiger Paws for wrist pain, too. DD wears them for vault and sometimes on floor. She does not wear them on beam because she doesn't like the part that goes over the thumb (she feels like it compromises her ability to grasp the beam well enough). But since she got them, she has not complained about wrist pain at all.

 

[10.0]

Okay let me rephrase a little. I was speaking more on part of the gymnasts that get them thinking they are a cool gymnastics accessory or a gymnastic right like grips and use them all the time, not kids using them for high level vaults or kids who have an ongoing painful injury that can’t continue gym without (I do however believe if your dd was injured and now it not and her doc suggests weaning her off then you should.

I do believe they make your wrists weaker if you do not need them (there that sounds better) to me it is almost like wearing casts on your legs every time you walk because walking causes stress on the bones and you might break one. I completely agree with their use if they are truly needed but not for preventive care.

 

[gymdog]

I do believe they make your wrists weaker if you do not need them (there that sounds better) to me it is almost like wearing casts on your legs every time you walk because walking causes stress on the bones and you might break one. I completely agree with their use if they are truly needed but not for preventive care.

How can they make your wrists weaker if you don't need them but not if you do need them? Through what mechanisms would that occur? There's still plenty of weight-bearing, more than wrists were designed for, if the kid is doing BHS. I don't think it really matters. In fct it would probably be a reasonable preventative measure. Though they're annoying and I'd recommend avoiding them until they're necessary, particularly on beam (though I would not use them on beam anyway, I'd look into other support options). I believe they actually become necessary when yurchenkos come into play. I was given the BAD advice to stop using my wrist supports to "strengthen my wrists." About six months later I fractured my wrist doing a yurchenko timer (not even onto the real table. Onto one of those table trainers which are a significantly softer surface). I'm no specialist, but wrists don't strike me as having particularly great muscle potential in the first place. I think most girls will need support moving up the levels. I believe the OP's daughter is a level 6, possibly training for L7 now. That's when I started to need them.

 

[mariposa]

My 8 yo (level 5) has wrist pain sometimes and I asked her coach about TPs and she said that she is too young for them right now. I figured, but since she had injured her wrist (wasn't a fracture) and then had wrist pain months later on both hands when doing a lot of HS, BHS, etc, I was wondering if maybe her tiny wrists just needed support. I do see that most all our optionals wear them, so coach isn't against them, just at her age/level. She said it would be best to work on strengthening them, which we were already working on at home since she hurt her wrist the first time.

To the OP, maybe give her a trial of not wearing them (but not sure if you have to wean off them slowly?) and see what happens, if she has any pain at all, back in the wrist guard.

 

[cher062]

Well I'm not a DR but last year my DD's left wrist started hurting her so off to the DR we went. We were basicly told by the Dr he wished every gymnast would wear wrist supports especially the young gymnasts. Basicly his take was that their bones are still growing and can easily be dammaged doing all the tumbling etc. My DD had an over use issue with some growth plate issues and after some PT she was fine but from that point on she wears wrist supports and will always wear them. Dr says it doesn't weaken the wrist and again highly recommended it. (I had heard that it did and asked DR about that)

From my own observations the coaches that seem against them seem not to like the look of the gymnasts hands - (clunky and restricts some graceful moves) more than any other complaint.

 

[Panda-girl's Mom]

Thanks for the replies she wore them at practice the other night. I quess it is better to error on the side of caution but I think I will talk to her dr and coach about maybe possibly not using them for beam. Vault and floor I am more nervous ecspecailly if they start trying that yerchenko vault but she is only a 6 at this point. She got them because she really had stress fx to her wrists not as ancessary or preventive measures. Her wrist were just in pain but she could barely tumble unfortantely I blew it off until it got really bad cause I was unsure so to any parent who child complain I would get it checked out.

 

[gymdog]

She definitely needs to wear them then. I can tumble now without pain when I'm not wearing wrist supports, but only for a little while (as opposed to at one point I literally couldn't flex my wrist - no weight - without pain). But I literally cannot tumble day in and day out without them. I have what's basically early arthritis in my wrist joints which means that the normal shock absorption (which wrists aren't even meant to be weight bearing joints) is even further reduced. Since I can't exactly grow more cartilage magically, it's better for me to try and reduce the angle of flexion (which for me means I reduce a constant sensation of my bones literally hitting each other when my hands strike the floor/vault). It's not a strength issues for me. I actually have really developed muscles throughout my forearms and to be honest I build muscle really easily in general. Because of this I have very little pain throughout my body considering how long I was in gymnastics. But the genetic thing in my wrists doesn't make them any good for the kind of weight bearing you have to do in gymnastics.

If she wants to not wear them on beam, I would still recommend you buy some rolls of tape so she can tape her wrists, especially when she does BWOs and trains BHSs. Actually someone just told me the other day you can make a wrist only style support using old grips (velcro), cutting the palm part off and then you would turn it around to have the larger side on the back of the wrist/hand. I imagine this works best with the kind of style like from Ten-O with the blue padded inserts. I have never tried it but it might be an option for someone to try if they have an old/outgrown pair hanging around, or maybe they have seen someone use it and could weigh in. They also have this which might work like taping and offer some support but not feel as restricting as the Tiger Paw style: Link Removed

And this is the other kind I was talking about (fairly popular on the men's side but I've only met 2 or 3 girls who have them): Link Removed

Personally if I was going to buy now I'd go "thumb-free"...but I suppose people's mileage would vary so it's hard to tell. I'd just ask her why she doesn't want to use and kind of go off her answers for alternatives, if it's just beam I'd get tape or the reusable wrap style and have her try that.