DD wants to quit update & another question

[peanutsmon]

After 4 weeks of PT, we are seeing some improvement with our daughter's pain level during everyday activities but when she tries BWO or FWO during therapy she still has sharp pain in her back. Yes, we have had MRI & CT and both were negative for any fractures. Therapist believes the SI joint in inflamed & has her working on both stretching and strength exercises. DD says she wants to go back to gym and PT has given the OK but we are concerned about her coaches ability to monitor her properly and make sure she only does what has been approved by PT. Our DD certainly wouldn't be the only one in the gym and coaches can't watch every kid at once.

My question is...how much time do your gyms spend on appropriate stretching as a preventative measure and do they focus at all on making sure your gymnasts are balanced from a strength perspective? The PT mentioned that our DD's calves are extremely tight, her quads are much stronger than hamstrings which has resulted in knee injuries and her core is weak in comparison to her back. If these issues have contributed in any way to her current injury status, I would be hesitant to have her go back to gymnastics without changes in the program.

Thank you for any information - I am just trying to get some objectivity on this issue

 

[flippin out]

Equal parts on everything. Stretching/Warming UP, Vault, Bars, Beam, Floor, and Conditioning all get the exact same amount of time at every practice.

I would def be concerned if your dd's gym program were short changing Warm up and Conditioning......both are very important to Injury Prevention. If PT is noticing an issue with the conditioning and stretching, then that is a concern that I would def be looking into.

Talk to her coaches and tell them what PT has noticed. Maybe a switch up in the list of conditioning is in order. If they shut you down and refuse to even consider what the PT has said, I'd be looking into other possibilities. If all is fine at the gym (no one else is having similar issues and coaches have tried modifications to no avail), ask PT for a list of stretches that your dd can do at home, in addition to what she does in the gym.

It would be helpful to the PT if your dd could make a list of all stretches and conditioning (and #s of reps for each). Your dd may need to 'describe' the excersises to the PT...everone has different names for excersises......or maybe demonstrate one of everything on the list so that the PT has a FULL understanding of what she does at practices. Maybe her PT could confirm/determine if the list is acceptable or lacking something. A second opinion (other than her coaches if you have doubts) is Never a bad thing!

 

[bogwoppit]

After a few years of dealing with constant injury with my older dd, I realised that some bodies are just not cut out for the sport of gymnastics. Our gym was not full of injured girls, so I could only summise that my DD was more prone to injury. SHe loved gym and was prepared to work through all the PT and home stretching and strengthening she was given. SO she managed to stay in the sport longer. She didn't do a BWO or a FWO after grade 6, but stayed until grade 8. Her muscles were tight, she grew very quickly between grade 5 and 7 and that caused lots of issues for her as well.

For me I felt that the coaches were as supportive as they could be, but for them to integrate all the stuff in her PT program into their program was not possible due to time constraints. Though they would allow DD to work on it during the stuff she couldn't do. In the end mine had to stop as her back pain was finally diagnosed as a stress fracture with slippage, so the choice was made for us.

So is your gym full of injured girls? Are the coaches open to discussion? Are the coaches prepared to talk to the PT concerning treatment? Is your DD compliant with the therapy, and able to do the work without being nagged?

 

[Deleted member D3987]

all that ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

[peanutsmon]

Thank you all for your input and Happy New Year!

We have been at our gym for a long time and although the coaches always listen to concerns and discuss changes/improvements, the history is that they are not great on follow through (this applies to everything - administrative to coaching) so frankly I have concerns. After so many years at the same place, I doubt our daughter would be ok with a gym change. And with the back extension that is so necessary in so many skills not really improving, it seems likely she won't be going back unless there are great improvements in the near future.

We are disappointed but know that her health is more important that anything else. Good luck to all of you as competition season starts!

 

[Deleted member D3987]

):.................................

 

[sportyfam5]

It sound like you have made a decision but I wanted to chime in anyway. I have 2 DD who compete and we have been through injuries with both. My older struggles with her back and yes we also had MRI, Xray, Bone scan, PT, Chiro with deep tissue massage of her hips (they are too tight and pull back out of whack). Younger DD struggles with Sever's Disease. Coaches were very flexible with training, condition, and PT exercises. We heard similar things from PT on our their bodies were not 100% "correct". I started to question as you did whether the program was run well enough. My consesus is this: there really doesn't seem to be a way that one program can really train each individual girl to what they need. They do the best they can to meet the needs of the group as a whole.