Shoulder injury - bummed

[Tumblequeensmom]

I'm so disappointed, upset, whatever. My DD just moved up a level, is finally getting her kips (still w/o her grips tho (even tho I keep telling her to put them on now).... but NOW she's got a shoulder injury. She's been KIND OF complaining about a week or so, but I didn't pay too much attention to her until this morning. I could HEAR the darn thing popping in and out! We went to the pediatricia who has now referred us to an orthopedist. Great. The pediatrician didn't sound so hopeful about her continuing her gymnastics! Someone PLEASE tell me this is a temporary setback??? She's been doing so well and is sooo upset right now! Thanks for letting me vent! (Again)

[gym law mom]

Shoulder injuries are darn hard to diagnose by x-ray alone, so your pediatrician did the right thing by sending her on to see an ortho. Remember you are not dealing with a joint that is completely mature yet. Sounds like the ligaments in the shoulder may be loose---thus causing the popping sound. What you want to avoid is a shoulder dislocation. I would ask for a pediatric ortho if thats an option or certainly one who specializes in shoulders/sports medicine. You may have to almost demonstrate some of the skills she does for the doctor because while many understand football, basketball etc. they don't have a clue as to what a kip is.

My guess(and its only that) is that she'll be sent for physical therapy to strengthen the shoulder and put on restrictions for gym for awhile. Again if headed to PT, ask for someone who works with kids or has a good background with sports.

Hopefully this will be something that can be fixed, but she's going to have to go along with the plan----yup easier said than done. Make sure to talk with the coaches once you have a diagnosis and let them know firmly what she can and cannot do. There is never a good time for an injury and I'm sure she is bummed since she was getting that kip. Just keep asking questions of the docs and therapists especially if something just doesn't sound right.

Keep us all updated!!!

[Tumblequeensmom]

Thanks Gym Law Mom... I'm hoping it will just be a PT thing to have to deal with and not someone who says "she needs to quit gymnastics"... not when she's worked so hard up to this point! I'll keep ya posted!
-Lynn

[GymnastRaeRae87]

Bummer! Tell your DD good job on her kips though!! Sounds like she is a hard worker! I hope she doesn't have to give up gymnastics, it is such a great sport!

[bogwoppit]

I feel for you. We have been through a year of two different injuries. Last July my 10 year old was doing a front tuck on the floor and hyper extended her knee, that took three months, $500 of physio and countless hours of icing, home excercise and stretching. She couldn't train floor, vault or dismounts at all. She then competed Dec until March just fine.

Then in April her ankles began hurting when tumbling, vaulting or doing dismounts. She continued to train, but cut back on some stuff. She did a team competition three weeks ago on an old floor and since then has done no gym. She is back with the sports injury specialist. Luckily we live in a ski town and we have a great clinic 15 minutes away who deal with sports injuries, though it does add up very quickly.

She is now icing, stretching, not jumping or running all over again. She does not want to stop gymnastics, but I am not sure if she can continue. She has two weeks of sleepaway gym camp paid for and summer training beginning.

She is frustrated as for a year she has been held up by her injuries, just when they are learning next years skills she cannot train again. Her sister is of course training as usual.

It is all very frustrating for her, and me too! But, in the end it is better that she is a whole undamaged adult. It is not as though she is after a college scholarship and the olympics.

I am beginning to realise that some children do not stand up as well under the hard training of gymnastics. My DD only trains about 10 hours a week, I cannot imagine what more hours would do to her.

I wish you all the best for your little girl, I know how hard this is. BUt, as I am learning, gymnastics is a very tough sport and not every body can keep up with the strain.

[hammy]

Shoulders and ankles are common injuries, as are knees and backs. TQM: Sorry I don't know much about shoulder problems (i'm a back, wrist and ankle person), but try watching how she does the skills. Perhaps she is tweeking her arm/shoulder in a harmful way and not even realize it. Some gymnasts tend to have problems more than others, but I wouldn't be too worried about it. Gym law mom is right, shoulders are hard to diagnos.

Also, it is vital that every gymnast learn to tell the difference between sore body hurting and pain hurting. Sometimes people think they are hurt and swear there is something wrong with them when, they're just sore--this happens especially with younger kids who don't know their body. I'm not saying your daugther is this way, I'm just saying this is something that needs to be learned.

One more tip: a lot of injuries can be prevented through proper stretching and strength. When I was training, one night a week, we would do rehab strength. We would do typical physical therapy exercises in the gym. If you'd like to know some that you can work at home just ask.

Gymnastics is a rough sport, and I'll be honest with you--if a gymnast works hard and sticks it out through their whole school career they will be hurting. Gymnastics is no football, gymnasts don't get to wear pads all over their body--gymnastics takes a toll on the body. Sadly, that's the downside to this amazing sport.

Good luck and please try not to get too frustrated.

[Tumblequeensmom]

Thanks everyone for all of your feedback. This isn't a sore body issue... the pediatrician could feel her shoulder "clicking" when she moved it and that's why she referred us to an ortho... I guess we'll just have to wait and see what he says Friday a.m. In the meantime, I'm going to take her to gymnastics tonight and talk to the coach before hand. Maybe the only thing she can do is the warm up (w/o pushups) and I'll just stay and wait for her and bring her home.

I DO know that the warmup/conidtionin gprogram has NOT consisted of any shoulder-type workouts... they do great things for abs (she's got an "8 pack" which I'm sure most of you/your daughters have as well) and legs, but nothing that I've seen for shoulder flexbility/strength.

Hammy, I'd LOVE to see your suggestions for exercises she could do here at home.

I'll keep ya'll posted!

Thanks again!

-Lynn

[littlegymchampsmom]

I am so sorry to hear that TQM... I have honestly not seen or heard of any shoulder injuries before... its great that she came to you and that the pedia. sent you right to the ortho. to take a look... please keep us updated on how your dd is doing and what the doc says. - nic

[hammy]

I'm glad they sent her to an ortho because if there is something wrong they'll be able to tell you. If it makes you feel any better my shoulders click and crack when I move my arms, and I'm alright. Hopefully there won't be anything series with her shoulder. Here are some things to do at home--some of them you've probably heard of.

Somethings to do at home:
1. stretch the shoulders
a. pull a straight right arm across chest and pull arm close to body with your left arm---repeat with left arm across chest. This one is common--i'm sure you've seen it before.
b. tricep stretch. right arm up and over head--like you're patting yourself on the back with elbow pointed toward ceiling use your left hand to push your right elbow down so that your fingers go towards the lower back. repeat with other arm (also a common one)
c. sit on the floor with your knees bent and hands about (can be more or less depending on how tight the shoulders are) one foot behind you. turn your fingers so they face towards you body and bend your arms. You can also do this with your fingers turned away from your body. When you do this be sure to keep your shoulder blades pushing together.
d. lay on your belly with your arms straight out in front of you and hold onto your thumbs (make fist with right thumb in left fist and left thumb in right fist). lift hands and arms off the ground, but DO NOT life the chest up off the ground. Have a parent straddle the back and use one hand to keep the gymnast's chest on the ground and use the other hand to pull her arms up higher. To get a little strength in this stretch use resistance when pulling up and going down.
e. Do the same as above but have the hands start on the back, and the helper is to pull from in front of the gymnast (by their head).

NOTE: This is an obvious one but I still want to say it...be sure not to overstretch.

2. some strength
a. start with hands down by sides, arms straight. lift arms to shoulder height without bending the arms then lower back down. try to lift them fast and lower down slow. repeat this about 10 times. to make it harder hold onto a 1 or 2 pound weight.
b. repeat the same exercise but go out to the sides


--I can't think of a whole lot of shoulder stuff to do, and I don't want to tell you stuff that can cause a lot of stress on the shoulder until you know what is wrong with it.

For ankles:
-Stand on the stairs facing upstairs and stand on your tip toes. Do 3 sets of 10 toe raises in the following three positions:
1. feet turned out (like a frog)
2. feet turned in so toes are touching
3. feet straight ahead
when doing this exercies make sure to fully extend in both directions (go all the way up and all the way down) and do these slowly. Toe raises will make your calf muscles burn but they're good for strengthening your ankles.
Also, be sure to stretch your ankles, you can do this in the same manner as stretching your calf muscles.

That should be enough to get you started, but like I said please be careful if you're going to do these before you go to the doctor and if it starts to hurt when doing these don't do them. If you have any questions please ask--it's hard to explain how to do a stretch/exercise without being able to demonstrate it for you.

[Geoffrey Taucer]

This may not be the cause of this particular problem, but one common cause of shoulder and back problems among gymnasts is uneven conditioning; for example, doing a lot of chest strength (ie push-ups, etc) without doing much upper back strength (inverted push-ups under a bar, back of the neck pull-ups, etc). I'd pay special attention to making sure she gets an evenw orkout whenever she does any strength/conditioning.