Parents Wrist pain

[canadiangymmom]

Does anyone know of any tricks to minimize wrist pain in a young gymnast? My dd has never complained about any of the workout that looks grueling, her only complaint is that her wrists get sore when they do handstands against the wall for too long.

I know she doesn't have any injury, and it's only when doing these wall hand stands that they hurt. I spoke to a couple of other gym moms who have all heard the same thing.

It's strange, from a spectator's viewpoint, I'd have guessed those were the least painful part of the gym time. That's not the case from my dd's point of view.

Any suggestions?

Canadian Gym Mom (edited for obvious spelling mistake!)

 

[gracefulone]

Tiger paws! Although I don't need them, many of our girls who started very young have been using them a long time and they work very well.

 

[midwestgymmom]

Hi ! My dd loves her ten-0 gymnlastic wraps they are really affordable and lightweight they slip on over her wrists and then she tightens them with the velcro closure. They are one size fits all. She started having pain when her training hours increased last fall. Her coach only wants her wearing them when her wrists hurt so her wrists don't become weaker with becoming too reliant on them. she only needs them part-time she tends to take them off as soon as her wrist feels better. Maybe somebody has wrist exercises they can add?

 

[canadiangymmom]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll look into the different types of supports available and maybe touch base with her coach next time I'm in the gym.

I'm still hoping someone has an idea of some stretching or strengthening excercises that will help. 7 seems young to require any *support* type contraption. Maybe it's a discomfort that will pass with time?

Thanks again,

Canadian Gym Mom

 

[Megley]

Canadian Gym Mom, I was just curious and checked around. I found these on Drills and Skills:

1. Find a racket ball, tennis ball, or one of those stress ball thingys and squeeze repeatedly until your forearm is tired.

2. Set a newspaper on a table. Place your hand palm down near one corner and crumple it page by page with your fingers.

3. With a dumbell in each hand "nod" your hand both palm up and palm down.

4. In a push up position push down with your figertips so your palms come off the ground.

5. Tie one end of a reasonably strong string to a 3/4" to 1 1/2" rod. Tie the other end to a 2-5 pound weight. Hold the dowel in both hands with your arms straight in front of you. Roll the dowel till the weight is against it, then roll it back down slowly. Do this both palms up and down.

My husband used to do the last exercise fairly often because he has weak wrists. Best of luck to your DD!

 

[canadiangymmom]

These are exactly the types of things I was hoping for! Easy to employ excercises that she can do at home to help solve the problem. Thank you so much for finding them. I'll let you know if they help over time.

Canadian Gym Mom

 

[gracefulone]

Those are really good. I did a lot of things like that when I had a ton of problems with hyperextending my elbows almost every practice. I had to strengthen all the muscles in my arms and wrists.

 

[virgogal1979]

My daughter has been having the same problem. She is 8 years old, and when a lot of pressure is added to her wrist she is in pain. Her arm was cast for 5 weeks, and she has been w/o a cast for almost a week, and has had two sessions. She has also had a lot of xrays and nothing.. Could be stressed, we do not know. She is obviously not up to par with her gymnastics, and is a bit scared to try new things, but something has to give because she really needs to get back to where she was. She goes back to the ortho next week, but when she does a lot of moves, she is in pain... Will those tigerpaws help as they are made especially for gymnastics or can something else a bit less expensive work?? The athletic trainer for the gym is going to look at my daughter on Thurs, but if I can help take the pain away for her, I want to do that so she can improve as she is bummed about this.. Any suggestions..

 

[JBS]

Canadian Gym Mom, I was just curious and checked around. I found these on Drills and Skills:

1. Find a racket ball, tennis ball, or one of those stress ball thingys and squeeze repeatedly until your forearm is tired.

2. Set a newspaper on a table. Place your hand palm down near one corner and crumple it page by page with your fingers.

3. With a dumbell in each hand "nod" your hand both palm up and palm down.

4. In a push up position push down with your figertips so your palms come off the ground.

5. Tie one end of a reasonably strong string to a 3/4" to 1 1/2" rod. Tie the other end to a 2-5 pound weight. Hold the dowel in both hands with your arms straight in front of you. Roll the dowel till the weight is against it, then roll it back down slowly. Do this both palms up and down.

My husband used to do the last exercise fairly often because he has weak wrists. Best of luck to your DD!

These are great tips...I used to do all of them. I forgot about most of these.

 

[hammy]

Don't use something unless it is absolutely needed--such as Tiger Paws--in the end support devices just weaken the wrists. This is coming from a person who has had wrist pain. I recommend doing some physcial therapy for them...simple exercises...

1. Bend your elbow so that it is at a 90 degree angle over the end of a hard surface--such as a table. Then, relax your hand so that your fingers are pointing down to the ground...slowly bring your hand up so that it is parallel with your forearm..then back down so your fingers are pointing towards the ground---repeat doing 2 sets of 15

2. Also do it making a fist with your thumb and index finger facing the ceiling---going up and down--repeat doing 2 sets of 15

I hope these help--if that's too easy add a very light weight and do them holding it. I'm going to try to find pictures of them online so that you can see them....i'll also try to think of more.

 

[flipflopdreamer]

Bars

Has anyone else had the same trouble on bars? I'm good for a while, but my wrists start to get sore after a few minutes.

 

[mbphoto]

I would say tiger paws as well. Don't be so sure that she does not have an injury unless she has had an MRI. This is the third major injury for my DD and I did not think she was hurt with any of them. First were the two fractures wrists that she practiced on for over 2 weeks. Second was a heel injury that she did not complain about until months later. Lastly, torn ligaments in left wrist that she did not say anything for many weeks later. She went to flipfest camp on with the torn ligs. My DD won't say anything when she is hurting because she does not want me to pull her from gym to give the injury's time to heal. I would say if they complain about the same injury for several weeks, take her in for an MRI or X rays. It may be a growth plate in the wrist. I have felt like the worst mom ever after each diognosis. I should mention that with the last injury when she told me she fell on beam, I did take her in for an x-ray and they said there was not breaks or fractures so I thought we were ok. Obviously, the lig problem does not show up on x-rays. Better safe than sorry.

 

[cher062]

any type of wrist support can help. I know they have the tiger paws but my son when he complained we got some wrist supports from the local pharmacy and they did the trick for him. They had a loop that went over the thumb then wrapped around the wrist and were secured with velcro.