WAG Could I ask coach to skip certain drills to minimize injury?

[rsm]

DD is prone to a toe injury on her foot which happens whenever she jams her toe it bends forward. Usually happens when she is jumping up and forward to land on her feet on a stationary object (block, vault etc.). And it happens when she is tired so she can't always get the height she needs. It happened this week again on vault where they were jumping on the vault table and she jammed her foot. Last time it happened, she had to wear a boot for two weeks. The swelling isn't too bad this time, so it's probably shorter.

I'm wondering if it just makes sense to ask the coach to avoid any of those drills where she is jumping forward onto a stationary object, since the risk seems quite high for her. And she always loses a few days when she gets hurt. She can certainly do jumps where the blocks are on the side etc. because she has no problems with the side of her foot. So perhaps there are other drills they can replace permanently?

I hope I can also get some coaches opinions on this. Would you be open to a parent asking for something like this?

 

[Amusibus]

I don't know how to answer your question about asking a coach, but I just wanted to ask, have you ever taken your daughter to a sports doc or physical therapist? I'm wondering if there is some underlying reason why that keeps happening. And if there is, is there anything that could be done to correct it? The problematic action you describe, jumping up onto a stationary object, sounds like something a gymnast has to do a lot.

 

[Kiwi]

I have occasionally asked coaches to minimise certain activities because of injuries DD had at the time. But in your DD's case I am wondering why she so often hits her toes, I think this warrants further investigation.

 

[Gymsanity]

Not sure why you would even have to ask. Can't the coach see there is a problem? We have different sized stations depending on skill level and size of gymnast. Those are important drills, but they should be done at the proper height for the athlete. I would first have your daughter ask if maybe she couldn't do it on a slightly lower surface as she is having a little trouble at the current height. Hope it helps, and good luck.

 

[kgymn]

You should always feel that you can discuss injury concerns with your daughters coach. I do agree that this sounds like something that also could use more medical examination to see what the underlying cause is, as well. This is not a common way to injure ones self, and it most certainly isn't an injury that causes most people to have to wear a boot for any length of time. It is very common for girls to be asked to run and jump from the spring board onto the vaulting table for example, or to jump onto/over mats for plyometrics. The fact that your daughter seems to be so rare in getting such injuries from these common activities seems to be a red flag that there may be something more going on. Perhaps it was never given the time to fully heal after an injury. Perhaps she has some sort of abnormality with her bones in her foot. Or any number of medical reasons I would have no reason to even think of.

In the meantime, as others have pointed out unfortunately the entire point of the exercise is to jump forward onto a stationary object. There are no other drills that can be done that I can think of that would have the same effects. What you may consider discussing with the coach is like others have suggested maybe having your daughter do the drills onto a lower surface. Or maybe there is a soft mat that can be added to jump onto. Or, since you mentioned that it happens most when your daughter is tired maybe it would be sufficient to either have her do fewer repetitions or move this drill to an early time during practice when she is not yet as tired.

~Katy

 

[gymdog]

You can ask, but ultimately this is going to be an issue. If that is problematic , landing two foot beam skills, certain bar moves, and floor movements are going to cause issues too . So I'd see if you can't address an underlying issue . Also, have her eyesight checked.

 

[my4buffaloes]

If your dd has gotten hurt several times on the same skill I would absolutely request that she not do that specific skill. But that doesn't mean she never does anything like that, just either not do that 1 skill or modify it so the issue with her toes isn't there.

 

[rsm]

I don't know how to answer your question about asking a coach, but I just wanted to ask, have you ever taken your daughter to a sports doc or physical therapist? I'm wondering if there is some underlying reason why that keeps happening. And if there is, is there anything that could be done to correct it? The problematic action you describe, jumping up onto a stationary object, sounds like something a gymnast has to do a lot.

She did go to a sports ortho specialist the last two times. She has likely weakened the ligaments in that area which is why it's more susceptible to injury. Unfortunately, ligaments don't always heal fully which is why we see some injuries recurring more easily in some people. I'm pretty sure we've done everything from the medical side that we can do. Hoping we can correct it on the gymnast side

 

[rsm]

Not sure why you would even have to ask. Can't the coach see there is a problem? We have different sized stations depending on skill level and size of gymnast. Those are important drills, but they should be done at the proper height for the athlete. I would first have your daughter ask if maybe she couldn't do it on a slightly lower surface as she is having a little trouble at the current height. Hope it helps, and good luck.

She can usually do all the drills, except when she's really tired. That's when we've had problems. And I don't think my DD has even mentioned to the coach how she got injured the last time since it was during conditioning and she didn't say anything until after practice. At least she knows how it happened this time, so perhaps she will modify drills now, but she wouldn't have had any reason to do it before.

 

[rsm]

You should always feel that you can discuss injury concerns with your daughters coach. I do agree that this sounds like something that also could use more medical examination to see what the underlying cause is, as well. This is not a common way to injure ones self, and it most certainly isn't an injury that causes most people to have to wear a boot for any length of time. It is very common for girls to be asked to run and jump from the spring board onto the vaulting table for example, or to jump onto/over mats for plyometrics. The fact that your daughter seems to be so rare in getting such injuries from these common activities seems to be a red flag that there may be something more going on. Perhaps it was never given the time to fully heal after an injury. Perhaps she has some sort of abnormality with her bones in her foot. Or any number of medical reasons I would have no reason to even think of.

In the meantime, as others have pointed out unfortunately the entire point of the exercise is to jump forward onto a stationary object. There are no other drills that can be done that I can think of that would have the same effects. What you may consider discussing with the coach is like others have suggested maybe having your daughter do the drills onto a lower surface. Or maybe there is a soft mat that can be added to jump onto. Or, since you mentioned that it happens most when your daughter is tired maybe it would be sufficient to either have her do fewer repetitions or move this drill to an early time during practice when she is not yet as tired.

~Katy

The boot was so that she wouldn't stub her toe while it healed. It looked like it was a bit overboard for the toe, but really, there's nothing else that would've been able to protect the toe. She had no problem or pain walking or anything like that. The boot was just protection for the toe.

We had the ortho specialist look at her before she took off the boot for practice. The xray didn't show any abnormality. But as he mentioned, with weakened ligaments, getting re-injured can be more likely. I can ask the coach about some of the recommendations.

 

[rsm]

You can ask, but ultimately this is going to be an issue. If that is problematic , landing two foot beam skills, certain bar moves, and floor movements are going to cause issues too . So I'd see if you can't address an underlying issue . Also, have her eyesight checked.

Somehow she hasn't had any issues with landing at least BHS on beam or BHS/BT/FHS etc on floor. At least not yet (knock on wood). Even if she lands badly, it's not hitting the toe and bending it forward which is the problem. If she starts having problems here as well, then we will definitely have bigger problems. I probably will get her eyesight checked again since it's been about two years since we last checked. I think it's more tiredness (as in lack of sleep) when she runs into trouble, and not eyesight, but it's a good idea to get it checked. She's 8, so she doesn't always know, and certainly never says that she's tired.

 

[gymdog]

Well, just see what her coach thinks.

 

[MileyDylan]

Well, if it's happening when she's jumping onto the vault it sounds like she's going too far forward before she gets enough height. So, asking for the vault to be lowered might be a good idea. Maybe even moving the board back a bit. If she's pointing her toes when she jumps up, she could be landing with her toes still pointed a little. These are just some ideas as to what might be going on. Don't take my word for it, because I'm not an expert or anything. Just trying to help.

 

[Amusibus]

Could you ask your doc/PT if there is any kind of taping that could support the ligaments during practices?

 

[Deleted member D3987]

DD is prone to a toe injury on her foot which happens whenever she jams her toe it bends forward. Usually happens when she is jumping up and forward to land on her feet on a stationary object (block, vault etc.). And it happens when she is tired so she can't always get the height she needs. It happened this week again on vault where they were jumping on the vault table and she jammed her foot. Last time it happened, she had to wear a boot for two weeks. The swelling isn't too bad this time, so it's probably shorter.

I'm wondering if it just makes sense to ask the coach to avoid any of those drills where she is jumping forward onto a stationary object, since the risk seems quite high for her. And she always loses a few days when she gets hurt. She can certainly do jumps where the blocks are on the side etc. because she has no problems with the side of her foot. So perhaps there are other drills they can replace permanently?

I hope I can also get some coaches opinions on this. Would you be open to a parent asking for something like this?

no. tell the coach to get a PT or ACT in there to show him how to tape for turf toe. for crying out loud...coaches are supposed to know this stuff. honest.

 

[sce]

What if she wears tennis shoes for these exercises?

 

[Deleted member D3987]

yes, that would be helpful.

 

[rsm]

no. tell the coach to get a PT or ACT in there to show him how to tape for turf toe. for crying out loud...coaches are supposed to know this stuff. honest.

It's not turf toe. The injured area is not the actual toe, but near the second joint of the big toe (where you would usually flex your toes upwards). Sorry it's hard for me to explain. Not sure if the same taping would help, but I will ask.

I do think the tennis shoes would help since the toes won't be able to bend as much forward even if they do hit somewhere. I'll ask about that as well.

Thanks everyone for the advice.