Is it a injury or is it normal

[hunde2]

Few weeks ago daughters ankle was hurting.By the time I was going to make an appointment she felt better.Then it was her elbow.Which I think is a tendonitis.Had it on the other elbow before.She also does this weird thing with her shouder,on the opposite shoulder from the hurt elbow.Just by using her muscles it seems like she subluxates her shoulder.Is not painfull.Is this normal for a gymnast that is really stretched or is it an injury?

[gymdog]

Does she turn her hands out on her tumbling? Working yurchenkos for the first time?

[hunde2]

She does not turn her hand out but has been working on yorchenkos on and off over the past year.

[gymdog]

Could be related. If she uses one shoulder one way and does not use the other, she is probably taking more stress on her elbow on the side of the shoulder she's not using the same way. And yurchenkos can put a fair amount of stress on the shoulders and elbows if she is doing something like that. One side might be more flexible for some reason or she is just using one side more (possibly even because the other side hurts, thus starting a bad cycle) but I've seen imbalances like that result in overuse injuries fairly often.

[hammy]

It's possible and common for gymnasts to hurt due to overuse. If she's been doing a lot of tumbling and pounding it could be a reason for her ankle to hurt, and her shoulder may be hurting because she's using it more to be compensate for her hurting elbow. I recommend making sure that she properly stretch before and after working out, as well as taking preventative measures.

[KBT]

It's pretty common for random joints to hurt. It's easy to land just a little bit wrong and then have the joint be a little tender for a few days. I'm assuming she's flexible - is she also double jointed in many of her joints? The loose ligaments in double jointed people can cause joint instability and cause additional pain. If this continues I would encourage you to see a physical therapist who can identify loose ligaments and give your daughter a strength program to make these joints more stable. The standard gymnastics conditioning usually doesn't touch on joint stability.

I'd also make sure she ices these sore joints - nothing wrong with a little pre-emptive icing. I've found it's really helped prevent longer-term pain.