Parents Season ending injury?

[Yuenling]

At my daughter's last beam rotation (level 7), on her BHS last series, her left hand slipped off the beam and somehow she smacked the top of her dominant foot really badly on the top beam as she was falling. She has had pain in the top of the foot ever since and is now in a boot.

The grieving process is difficult. We had to cancel our trip out of state today for a meet this weekend that we were really looking foward to. Right now, she is getting an MRI so that the doctor can tell us how long she will be off her foot completely. From initial inspection, he said anywhere from 2weeks to 3 months. The X-ray shows no fracture but a little suspicious joint spacing between two metatarsals. The initial urgent care doctor and radiologist saw nothing in the x-ray, but this doctor is an orthopedist specializing in the foot. However, there is little appearance of bruising or swelling and the pain seems to be diminishing slightly from the first morning, so I hope that is a good sign.

The good news is that she's competed 4 times already, and had two amazing meets (placing 1st AA, and scoring above 38) and two great meets (scoring above 37). So we can be glad that she had a great level 7 season despite joining so late.

Her next meet after today is in 3 weeks, and then she has states in 7 weeks and regionals in 10 weeks. We think in the typical case, she should be able to compete states. But I'm also worried how being off her foot for a month will affect her skills and her confidence level and that she can get hurt exactly the same way again. Is it common to have your hand accidentally slip off the beam and is the accident part more the way she landed? I'm hoping now that this happened, she'll be more careful about her hand position on the BHS.

 

[Azgymmiemom]

That really stinks! I hope she heals quickly. Nothing worse than working so hard all year and then not being able to compete.
I think it was probably just a back luck/flukey thing. Kids slip off the beam a LOT. Most of the time, nothing bad happend

 

[Empowered]

Agree with the bad luck - it's just one of those things. I've seen positively brutal falls off beam result in no injury and I've seen girls land a layout slightly off and shatter a foot.

Sounds like a great season regardless. I personally wouldn't risk rushing her back at level 7. She has plenty of time. Let her heal and comeback when her body is ready. That will serve her better in the long run.

 

[Deleted member 17723]

DO NOT RUSH THE INJURY!!!!! She has had a great season so far, and I would rather see her out of the gym longer NOW than have life injuries. I had a severly sprained and strained ankle-2 partially torn ligaments, 1 partially torn muscle, and 1 partially torn tendons. It all equaled out to a pretty severe injury. Well, needless to say after 2 and a half weeks off I went back to the gym to do upper body, with doctor permission. I now regret that, there's possibility that while I was there I further injured it-and fully tore at least 1 ligament and possibly shifted my growth plate. Two very dangerous, life injuries. I will have to live with pain in my ankle now forever because I rushed recovery. Oh, and I hurt my ankle on a cartwheel.... on beam.... there are going to be freak accidents.
Just stay positive, listen to the doctor, keep us updated, and please, keep her out of the gym for at least a week and make sure shes careful if she goes in for upper body.

 

[Yuenling]

@cali_48, I am so sorry to hear about your situation. Wow, I was planning on having her do upper body and core conditioning and stretching today but I will tell her to be extra careful. I will definitely use the MRI results and the doctor's advice to push back the coach if she thinks my daughter can do more than what I want her to do. You are right that we should just be thankful for a great season.

I think the hardest part might be today. She was supposed to be competing in a few hours. =( This is the first season she had consistently scored so well and we were greedy to see more of that.

 

[Deleted member 17723]

Don't let her do bars today. Trust me, she is going to be frustrated and upset, but keep her off bars. Let her do abs and arms, and flexibility, but not her split which her dominant foot is facing down in the back. Be extra cautious with straddles as well. She needs to listen to her body, her coach is not her. If she feels the slightest pain, at the stage she needs to stop. It doesn't matter if it is bearable, she needs to stop, ice, rest. IMO I would stay out of the gym until the MRI results come back. The coach is going to push her, and she needs to know that she can say "no" and there won't be hard feelings. I went ahead and did a full beam routine at my coaches request, and ended up finishing with a worse ankle; prolonging recovery. Good luck, please be careful. She will have more meets in the future. I have scratched vault twice and floor once. I am also scratching the entire meet tomorrow. Yeah, its hard. But I will come back eventually, it is only a meet.

 

[balancedmom]

I hope your daughter heals quickly. these injuries are so hard!

 

[sce]

Don't let her do bars today. Trust me, she is going to be frustrated and upset, but keep her off bars. Let her do abs and arms, and flexibility, but not her split which her dominant foot is facing down in the back. Be extra cautious with straddles as well. She needs to listen to her body, her coach is not her.

A good coach will be able to manage her workouts with her injury. Cali - your experience is a good warning, but do not tell her to not listen to her coach. Yuenling - talk with her coach.

 

[bogwoppit]

DO NOT RUSH THE INJURY!!!!! She has had a great season so far, and I would rather see her out of the gym longer NOW than have life injuries. I had a severly sprained and strained ankle-2 partially torn ligaments, 1 partially torn muscle, and 1 partially torn tendons. It all equaled out to a pretty severe injury. Well, needless to say after 2 and a half weeks off I went back to the gym to do upper body, with doctor permission. I now regret that, there's possibility that while I was there I further injured it-and fully tore at least 1 ligament and possibly shifted my growth plate. Two very dangerous, life injuries. I will have to live with pain in my ankle now forever because I rushed recovery. Oh, and I hurt my ankle on a cartwheel.... on beam.... there are going to be freak accidents.
Just stay positive, listen to the doctor, keep us updated, and please, keep her out of the gym for at least a week and make sure shes careful if she goes in for upper body.

I think you said that you are a 14 year old. Please do not post in the parent forum unless you are a parent. Take this as a warning.

 

[Deleted member 14190]

Well? how is she feeling now?

 

[bookworm]

. From initial inspection, he said anywhere from 2weeks to 3 months. The X-ray shows no fracture but a little suspicious joint spacing between two metatarsals. The initial urgent care doctor and radiologist saw nothing in the x-ray, but this doctor is an orthopedist specializing in the foot. However, there is little appearance of bruising or swelling and the pain seems to be diminishing slightly from the first morning, so I hope that is a good sign.

.

I would not let her do anything in the gym until you have had an MRI and a definite diagnosis...the presentation as you describe is suspicious for a very uncommon Lisfranc injury of the foot ....and while recoverable, she would be out for the remainder of the season. I would definitely be at a pediatric orthopedic/sports medicine person

 

[Yuenling]

Hello, the orthopedist was indeed worried about a Lisfranc foot injury. Thankfully, the MRI results came back today, and there was no tearing or fracture. However, there was a lot of swelling, so the diagnosis is a stress reaction. If she doesn't keep her foot protected in a boot, it can turn into a fracture.

It looks like the bones affected mostly are the 3rd and 4th metatarsal, based on where the pain was that she's pointing to.

Over the weekend, the pain had gotten a lot better and I had let her come off the boot because she wasn't even limping. I thought that if she had no limp, it's okay to be out of the boot. However, the doctor gave us strict orders today to keep the boot on for 2 weeks.

It looks like she'll miss her next meet in 3 weeks because I can't imagine her going from boot to full strength in 1.5 weeks. That is so disappointing, but we are glad that it is not something more severe, and that she should have no problem doing states in 7 weeks.

 

[sce]

Hello, the orthopedist was indeed worried about a Lisfranc foot injury. Thankfully, the MRI results came back today, and there was no tearing or fracture. However, there was a lot of swelling, so the diagnosis is a stress reaction. If she doesn't keep her foot protected in a boot, it can turn into a fracture.

It looks like the bones affected mostly are the 3rd and 4th metatarsal, based on where the pain was that she's pointing to.

Over the weekend, the pain had gotten a lot better and I had let her come off the boot because she wasn't even limping. I thought that if she had no limp, it's okay to be out of the boot. However, the doctor gave us strict orders today to keep the boot on for 2 weeks.

It looks like she'll miss her next meet in 3 weeks because I can't imagine her going from boot to full strength in 1.5 weeks. That is so disappointing, but we are glad that it is not something more severe, and that she should have no problem doing states in 7 weeks.

Great news that it wasn't serious. Hope the recovery goes smoothly.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

Hello, the orthopedist was indeed worried about a Lisfranc foot injury. Thankfully, the MRI results came back today, and there was no tearing or fracture. However, there was a lot of swelling, so the diagnosis is a stress reaction. If she doesn't keep her foot protected in a boot, it can turn into a fracture.

It looks like the bones affected mostly are the 3rd and 4th metatarsal, based on where the pain was that she's pointing to.

Over the weekend, the pain had gotten a lot better and I had let her come off the boot because she wasn't even limping. I thought that if she had no limp, it's okay to be out of the boot. However, the doctor gave us strict orders today to keep the boot on for 2 weeks.

It looks like she'll miss her next meet in 3 weeks because I can't imagine her going from boot to full strength in 1.5 weeks. That is so disappointing, but we are glad that it is not something more severe, and that she should have no problem doing states in 7 weeks.

i hate when they do that. it hurts like hell also. i did it once a long time ago doing a standing layout step out. my back foot slipped and 'slapped'. God almighty i remember how much that hurt. and i hurt a lot of things when i was a gymnast.

she should be good to go in 3 weeks. listen to the Doc. and don't be concerned with her losing anything. at that level, one solid week of practice and she'll be good to go.

 

[Yuenling]

Thanks, Dunno.

Out of curiosity, how does a boot work? Does it prevent weight-bearing on the foot by distributing the weight somewhere else? (My daughter is not using crutches) or is it purely for immobilization of the joints of the foot?

 

[Deleted member D3987]

Thanks, Dunno.

Out of curiosity, how does a boot work? Does it prevent weight-bearing on the foot by distributing the weight somewhere else? (My daughter is not using crutches) or is it purely for immobilization of the joints of the foot?

both of those things AND to protect her foot. you can't imagine how many times they go to school and someone knocks them over. lol!

 

[Yuenling]

Well, my daughter came back from a week of camp and was ready to do some upper body conditioning in her boot to make up for 10 days of no gym. Unfortunately, she now has a fever and a sore throat. There have been cases of pneumonia going around, so I am letting my daughter get lots of sleep today so that she doesn't get more sick. So I guess her foot is going to get a LOT of rest the next few days.

I asked my daughter how her foot is feeling (since I hadn't seen her for a week). She said it is a very mild pain but it has felt like that for a couple of days (and hasn't improved).

I'm pretty sure if she rests her foot she should be safe to compete states in 6 weeks, but this waiting game is hard.

 

[Yuenling]

Hello! We had our 2 week follow up yesterday. The doctor reviewed the MRI with me and said it wasn't "just a bruise" but that my daughter was very lucky. He showed me these 3 shiny spots. One on a ligament and two on some bones and said the words "trabecular bone compression ligament strain pre-fracture stress reaction lisfranc injury" all in about 2 sentences. However, in English, he says there's nothing broken or torn and that it's fine that she uses her foot but that she should avoid running and landing on her feet for two more weeks because her bones are still a little weakened. I asked him if she really needed 2 more weeks, and then he seemed to agree that another week of being careful should be fine and that her pain should be the main guide.

Yesterday, she had her first bar practice yesterday and was able to land her dismount from a giant without too much pain. I kept on telling her if it hurt too much she should stop, but she insisted it felt fine and her landing was confident each time. This morning her foot still feels fine, so I think "the next morning" is a good indicator that she didn't do too much the night before.

We're still not if she can compete decently at her meet in 9 days because she still has not run, vaulted, or done anything on the beam. She has been doing a teensy bit of tumbling on the tumble-track, and it feels fine. She has done some extra conditioning but not as much as I'd hope because she missed an entire week of practice last week with the flu! I'm guessing she didn't miss much anyway since she had a boot, and I'm thinking that being completely in bed for 4 days might have helped speed up the healing of her foot. But, I hope you guys are right that the level 7 skills are easy to pick back up once her body is ready.

 

[Seeker]

Is the meet in 9 days her State meet? Otherwise there is no way I'd push her to be ready for that. If she's already qualified to State, it's an unnecessary risk IMHO. If she's having any pain whatsoever, she should not be landing on it.

 

[sce]

I would either do just bars at the next meet or not compete that meet and get fully recovered for states. No running, vaulting or tumbling just yet.