How often do you find yourself icing

[jsfofec]

I'm curious how often do you find yourself icing after practice? I was looking at DD last night and she has 4 packs of ice on. One on each wrist, one on her hip for a hip flexor strain and one on her hamstring for a slight tweak she felt earlier in the week.

We get home from practice and it's straight to the freezer for ice

 

[gymgal]

I would htink this depends on the level of gymnastics but my dd ices after every practice, usually just an ankle or a wrist. She has been training more bhs on beam lately to prep for L7 so both the ankles and wrists have been hurting more. Other than that, it's usually only when she gets a beam bite.

 

[All Chalked Up]

Depends. I have bad knees so if I do quite a bit of front tumbling and vault/running my knees get sore. I use a sting mat for front tumbling in practice just to have that extra bit of cushion but I don't use it at competition.

If my knees have been hurting more than usual I only do one or two FHS-FT's and a couple vaults so I still practice it but not so much that my knees get worse.

I also have a knee brace on each knee which was recommended by the doctor. I find they help quite a bit.

 

[iwannacoach]

I wouldn't be concerned about icing frequently. It's a good way to moderate the effects of both injuries, and non injury-event pain caused by high repitions. I may be tempted to point an accusing finger at over use as a cause for high repetion pain (hrp), but usually the problem is a single instance where overuse or minor injury has occured un-noticed, followed by an extended period of hrp while adjustment and healing take place. I'm pointing this out because high repetitions are a part of gymnastics, and just a single work-out with the wrong hand/foot/knee/hip et.al. position, or landing technique can cause pain in an aggravated muscle, tendon, or cartilige.

Two choices to resolve the pain are available.....Rest the body part for 2-4 weeks, or manage the pain causing inflamation with otc pain/anti inflamatory medication, and agressive ice therapy. This needs to be coupled with making the coach aware of the pain, and the steps being taken in post work-out care. There may be something your child is doing during the skill the coach hasn't noticed, and an aware the coach may find a preventative solution to future pain-events from the same motioin that caused the problem in the first place.

In any case, you should expect episodes of hrp through-out your child's gymnastics experience. To get by with none of them would require that every skill attempt go right every time, and I know even the best athlete with the best coaching staff and equipment can not make that happen.

Post again if you have any question about icing criteria, extreme methods, their benifits, and how ice works. I'll try to answer them the best I can with all of the non-medical expertise I can muster.

 

[jsfofec]

I'd love any icing suggestions that you may have...

Trying to keep DD out of the gym is like trying to keep a fish out of water, so it's really hard to get her to rest. DD keeps her coach posted with all her nagging injuries and they work on the root of the cause. Sometimes I'm just not sure how much icing she should do, and if she should ever heat. Right now she's icing her hamstring 30 minutes each night, her wrists 20 minutes and her hip 20 minutes.

She's wearing a brace on her left wrist, since that's been her biggest problem. The right wrist started hurting about 3 weeks ago when she did a BHS series on beam and she felt a sharp pain shoot through her wrist. Since then, it just feels a little sore after practice, so she ices it each day, but doesn't wear a brace.

Her coach works with her to do extra stretching for her hip flexor and her hamstring. She's using KT tape on her hamstring right now. That's more of a precautionary measure. She felt a little twinge of pain on Monday and tightness in her hamstring, so she's trying to be real careful with it.

 

[gym law mom]

Sounds like time to see her doctor and make sure these injuries are not serious and icing is the best idea.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

my gymnasts spend most of their time eating the ice while they socialize...

 

[jsfofec]

Sounds like time to see her doctor and make sure these injuries are not serious and icing is the best idea.

That's exactly what we are doing to be safe. She has an appt with a Doctor specializing in sports medicine on Wednesday.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

After every practice.

....

Oh, you were asking about the gymnasts, not the spotters.

Nevermind, carry on.

 

[2gymmies]

My dd's been very lucky. She has really only had to ice for a couple things ever - a lingering ankle issue thanks to our incredibly hard elite floor (ugh) and the bruises she got on her pubic bone when kip cast handstand was new. We have been very lucky, knock on wood! I would worry that maybe your dd needs some therapy on her wrists or different braces - we had a girl on our team with lingering wrist pain and they discovered something more serious - she has had months of therapy and is finally feeling good. Good luck!

 

[iwannacoach]

icing in general

I'd love any icing suggestions that you may have...



Her coach works with her to do extra stretching for her hip flexor and her hamstring. She's using KT tape on her hamstring right now. That's more of a precautionary measure. She felt a little twinge of pain on Monday and tightness in her hamstring, so she's trying to be real careful with it.

The All You Can Eat Icing Buffet........

These are just my suggestions based on my experiences. I will qualify some of the icing experiences and methods where I feel they are a little out there. First a list of statements or conclusions that I live by.

Icing is safe, even to extremes if done using proper methods

Icing is best done by adding pressure, and elevating the injury above the heart (when practical)

rule of thumb...less than 20 minutes won't do much good except for really small body parts...like thumbs!!

Ice as long as possible/reasonable for "deep tissue" problems. If the numbing effect can't be felt where the pain is coming from it won't do any good beyond a plecebo effect.

Ice the entire joint when possible for wrists and elbows

Icing constricts the capilaries, decreases blood flow to reduce swelling, drains the iced area of any available damaged tissue that can be disposed of through the circulatory sytem which leaves space available within the damaged tissue for fresh, healing blood in the injury area. No draining...bad, More draining...good.

Frequent icing in addition to the obvious beyond "it hurts so I'm icing it" will accelerate healing because of the above. The iced area should be allowed to "rebound" with a fresh supply of blood before starting the next cycle

With planning, icing can be done while other activities take place.

Icing can be used as part of a maintenance program to keep overuse and hrp under control.

According to a nationally recognized pediatrician whose daughter spent years with me....you can ice and use the hrp area during less stressful warm-up activities, and then transition to the full meal deal type of activity. Use caution??? Don't just drop the ice pack and go full bore. Spent about five minutes at the less stressful level before moving on.

Strategies and Methods.....

For tissue safety and comfort start with a dry washcloth or hand towel between the ice and skin. This will prevent frostbite/damage to the skin, and allow for more comfortable icing as the "cold" comes on slowly enough to start the numbing process before the "full freeze" level hits.

Use smaller "loose" cubes to conform to the injured area's contures. It won't help much to put most of the "ice pressure" on an ankle bone when you are trying to ice the tissues above or below the ankle bone.


Wrap it up to keep it in place.....It only takes about eight to 12 ounces of cocktail ice to get the effect you want for the amount of time needed. By using just enough, you can still move around freely by first encaplsulating the ice cubes in a hand towel, place the towel on the injury with only one layer of fabric between the ice and skin, then you can keep the ice in place with an ace wrap....and even better, try using the 4-6 inch wide "shink wrap" found in most home improvement centers. It will contain most if not all of the water and still provide pressure.

I've schedule my work-out to have the impact activities alternate with the non-impact activites...Tumbling followed by dance throughs/dance elements with ice packs for those who need them....transition with ice packs still on, to beam or bars, warm-up the event as ice packs are coming off.....finish the event and move on to the next impact activity....ice packs after that event are worn during the last event warm-up.

I wouldn't say that each child has to ice at every opportunity, only those that have a hrp or minor injuries, but I can't think of any harm in having every child icing their wrists, elbows, ankles, and knees as event actvities allow to sustain good joint health.

It may seem like a lot to do, but if ice is handily availble it really takes just about 2-3 minutes for kids to "ice up" once they've been doing it for a week. I had more time lost with them thinking it was "break?chat" time than anything else, and had to cure that by assigning each child their own spot in the gym for icing up. It was either that or eliminating their scheduled break time.

So go out as a group and buy your gym an ice maker, or have one installed in you childs bedroom, or stop by a friendly fast food or restaurant on the way to and from the gym, or just pray for a timely and robust hail storm. No matter how you do it, more icing is better than none, and too much icing is just enough.

I think that about covers it. I'll happily answer any other qustions if I'm not busy icing for my "keyboard wrist" syndrome, or hanging out at the local hospital E.R.......

 

[my4buffaloes]

My dd is always icing something. And more than just after practice. Her coaches tell her if something hurts ice it. Stuff hurts more than just after practice, like the next morning. She also ices on the way to gym some too. Her coaches always say the more the better.

 

[gymnastgets10]

I always ice my lower back after practice - I injured it a few years ago and it still gets inflammed rather easily, so icing it is more precautionary. I usually ice my bad ankle, too - it's almost always sore after practice. I also ice my bad knee when it hurts, which isn't too often.

Seems I'm not too abnormal!

 

[iwannacoach]

I always ice my lower back after practice - I injured it a few years ago and it still gets inflammed rather easily, so icing it is more precautionary. I usually ice my bad ankle, too - it's almost always sore after practice. I also ice my bad knee when it hurts, which isn't too often.

Seems I'm not too abnormal!

Welcome to the club.....Be carefull with your "bad" knee.

 

[Canadian_gym_mom]

The All You Can Eat Icing Buffet........

.....It only takes about eight to 12 ounces of cocktail ice to get the effect you want for the amount of time needed.

And about 2 ounces of vodka over that cocktail ice to get the effect a mom needs stop worrying about her dd's frequent need to ice injuries.

 

[iwannacoach]

And about 2 ounces of vodka over that cocktail ice to get the effect a mom needs stop worrying about her dd's frequent need to ice injuries.

Shhhh! You'll give it away!!!!! So keep it on the "down low" unless you want to go back to the days when we all had those big cubes from the freeze........Or maybe you do, because 2 oz (or should I say 30 ml) of vodka just wont be enough to cover those huge, glistening, gidt of chill. Did I her someone say Grey Goose!........

I hope I got the conversion right as I don't want to cause any trips to the E.R., ehh!

 

[Twister]

Lately I have been icing alot as i am just recovering from a bad ankle injury :bored::bored:

 

[Melody]

Icing can be used as a precaution, too. When I did collegiate track, we had to ice our shins every day after practice, pain or not.