WAG Wrist Question for fellow Coaches

[wgagym]

I am a gym owner myself and have always had the stance that bracing should not happen unless absolutely needed. Now as I mom of a 5 year old practicing about 3.5 hours a week I am starting to second guess my stance, so I wanted to see what you guys thought.

She is experiencing wrist pain at practice. Not from injury, just lots of use. She won't say anything about it unless I ask her, but she is constantly rolling out her wrists after having any pressure on them.

I was wondering at what point do I get her in Tiger Paws? I know bracing does not help in strengthening an area, but also I wondering if by getting her in them now we can prevent major injury down the road. I would love to here your opinions.

Thanks!

 

[Deleted member D3987]

to young for tiger paws. get the velcro wrist bands. an ounce of prevention...

 

[skschlag]

What are the velcro wrist bands? My 10 yo struggles with wrist pain quite a bit too.

 

[bionickoolaid]

I actually require people to use them for yurchenkos but other then that only if its after a wrist injury. However I do alot of prehab and wrist strengthening

 

[gymdog]

It doesn't "help" with strengthening but it doesn't make your wrists weak. That said I agree that Tiger Paws wouldn't be the best support at this age, or actually I'd look at what she's doing first since that's quite young. Is there one particular thing like stalder presses or something that's setting it off near the beginning of practices or something. If so she could use a wrist support for that activity or modify it (use parallettes for example).

I used wrist supports for several years, and on mistaken advice stopped using them for awhile to "strengthen my wrists". Right, increasing pain and within a few months broke wrist on yurchenko...went back to using them and taping on beam and no more problems. I build muscle very easily, and my joints are extremely stable, but I have a cartilage problem in my wrist. So the "weakness" theory was wrong and led to further injury that could have been prevented. Certain things (like yurchenkos) place the wrist in too much flexion on impact, almost certain to lead to injuries like stress fractures and tendonitis eventually no matter how "strong" you are.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

these are the good ones:

velcro wrist support - Bing Images

"soft"-http://www.usglove.com/categories/Wrist-Supports/

 

[Deleted member D3987]

I actually require people to use them for yurchenkos but other then that only if its after a wrist injury. However I do alot of prehab and wrist strengthening

did you read that this is a 5 year old child?

 

[skschlag]

Thanks. We have been in the same boat as OP for years. Wondering when we do move to something. I am letting the coach take the lead on it, but like to have information

 

[Canadian_gym_mom]

did you read that this is a 5 year old child?

You mean your 5 year old isn't doing Yurchenkos? MY 4 year old is uptraining her Anamar as we speak!

 

[Deleted member D3987]

hahahahahahahaha ^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

[AlexsGymmyMom]

My DD has been wearing them for about 2 years now. I truly believe that preventing injury should be the main objective. Not to be a smart alec but it is funny how a coaches opinion changes once it is their own child. I had been told numerous times that the tiger paws weaked the wrists but we went with them anyway. My child being pain free and injury free is much more important to me.

 

[JoyAvenueMom]

I am not a doctor, and this is not medical advice! I do think my personal experience could be useful. My DD started having similar wrist pain when her training time increased for summer camp. I spent hours researching wrist pain on the web, and called to schedule a appt with our ortho. On a whim, I called my chiropractor for his opionion. He asked to examine her and determined the problem was actually in her shoulder. All the extra tumbling had created a problem with her shoulder alignment, which interfered with the alignment in her arm bones, all the way to her wrist. He adjusted her, and she laid off tumblling for a week. She has not experienced any pain since. In her case, wrist supports would not have helped. Our bodies are wonderfully complex!

 

[BlairBob]

Part of the problem is she is still adapting to the stress placed upon her. Wristbands are a temporary solution. Back off a bit.

However that is easier said than done.

I've had really good success with my homemade ones. I think I'll have to try out some Tiger Paws to see which feel better for myself right now. Something to do eventually in time.

And by homemade ones, I mean that I wrap a bike tube around my wrist gently and tie it off. Gets me through my lifting sessions but I haven't tried to tumble at all with them.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

I am not a doctor, and this is not medical advice! I do think my personal experience could be useful. My DD started having similar wrist pain when her training time increased for summer camp. I spent hours researching wrist pain on the web, and called to schedule a appt with our ortho. On a whim, I called my chiropractor for his opionion. He asked to examine her and determined the problem was actually in her shoulder. All the extra tumbling had created a problem with her shoulder alignment, which interfered with the alignment in her arm bones, all the way to her wrist. He adjusted her, and she laid off tumblling for a week. She has not experienced any pain since. In her case, wrist supports would not have helped. Our bodies are wonderfully complex!

umm...it was the week off.

 

[JoyAvenueMom]

umm...it was the week off.

Perhaps. I would never pick a fight with the Master! However, we had already tried 5 days off, with no improvement. DD's pain when flexing her wrist went away within minutes of the adjustment. (I only tried this route because after 3 months of physical therapy for a nagging hip problem, my chiro diagnosed my issue as an inflamed piriformis and gave me stretches to correct it. Ortho wanted to do sterioid injections into my SI joint!) DD's new schedule has as many hours as summer camp, and so far, no wrist pain. Just sayin'.... Dunno, aren't you the one who pointed out how untreated injuries in one part of the body could create problems in the most unexpected places?

 

[Deleted member D3987]

yes, i did say that. but in this case, the problems starts at the hands where they absorb 90% of the forces when they hit the table. the forces then distribute to the wrists and small bones in the wrist. i suppose that the ulnar nerve could have been aggravated near the trunk of the shoulder and tricep tendon and caused the pain to radiate down the arm then inflaming an already sore spot(s) at the wrist. something else was going on concurrently. no way to tell empirically.