vaulting shoes

[bogwoppit]

Hi coaches,

DO any of your gymnasts wear shoes to vault ? Oldest DD is coming back from achilles pain/injury. The sport tharapist thinks it would be a good idea to return to vault slowly and wearing some kind of footwear. What would you recommend?

[JBS]

Cheetah's by TULI. It is a neoprene sock with a heel cup built into it. That's about all I can think of.

Here's a link:

http://www.gripsetc.com/store/shopexd.asp?id=76

[hammy]

Great advice JBS! A lot of gymnasts wear tennish shoes to vault in when they have shin splints and ankle and heal problems. However, I would recommend getting the cheetah's or another type of neoprene sock with a heel cup, as a more permanent/effective brace.

[bogwoppit]

Thanks you two. I bought her tuli's cheetahs a while back and she really likes them. She got a bit worse and took a month off to give her time to heal. I just wanted to know if there was anything better.

Glad to know that you recommend them. Hopefully she can get back on track with her gym life now.

[hammy]

You can always try taping them and using the cheetahs. Ice and what not is always a good idea after gym.

[bogwoppit]

My beloved DD is so good about all this. She has been stretching and icing daily for three months, in the end she just had to stop as things could not improve with repeated pounding. She goes back to gym on Wed for the first time in four weeks. The coach will only really do non jumping/running stuff with her until she gets the go ahead to do more. She may only compete beam and bars this year (fortunately she can do that in Quebec, it would just me no "states" equivalent)

Hopefully this is just a growth issue and it will pass with focussed effort. We are very lucky to live in a ski resort and therefore we have a fabulous sports injury clinic with a orthopedic doctor. SO, I think she/we are doing all we can. At a certain point genetics will win out and we'll work out what to do then.

Fortunately we were never in gym for any major goals, just to have the most fun, which she has had.