Any reason not to tell coaches about groin pain?

[wallinbl]

DD mentioned that she get some pain in her left groin when doing a round off or right leg split (described as "not a little, but not a lot"). My guess is that it's an adjustment related to having switched legs for round off, cartwheel, etc and her body is using muscles a little differently (and she's been drilled quite a ton to get her used to the switch). It doesn't seem like too much of an injury as she's still doing gymnastics all over the house.

She has refused advice to tell her coaches (she hasn't had practice again since I found out). She won't tell me why she doesn't want to tell them, but I suspect it's due to the fact that they've been working her ahead in skills and she fears that they'll stop if she tells them. She carpools with another teammate from school, so I'm figuring I'll just leave work a little early and swing by the gym before practice tomorrow to let the coaches know.

I assume my only real harm in telling the coaches is that DD is mad at me for doing so, and for which I'll have to manage the risk of her not telling me about future injuries.

 

[bogwoppit]

Do watch that it could be an issue. She does need to tell them, if she cannot then you need to. It may well be muscular, but it could be a strain.

As for her being mad for you telling, she needs to understand that if she has pains and the coaches don't know she could end up with worse pain and needing to take weeks off her sport.

 

[bookworm]

Do watch that it could be an issue. She does need to tell them, if she cannot then you need to. It may well be muscular, but it could be a strain.

As for her being mad for you telling, she needs to understand that if she has pains and the coaches don't know she could end up with worse pain and needing to take weeks off her sport.

Totally agree with Bog...that's an injury we had and it required 8 weeks of intensive physical therapy and it wasn't a good 6 months until it didn't hurt anymore...it can become chronic if it's not addressed in the beginning. Our former coach was a jerk about it and insisted my daughter do "everything" and that only made it worse...fast forward to current coach with understanding of injuries and how to bring gymnast back from them...my daughter is pain free and did quite well at her last meet!! If your coach blows you off about it, don't back down and be very cautious moving forward ( and be on the lookout for a gym with a different philosophy but i digress...)

 

[wallinbl]

If your coach blows you off about it, don't back down and be very cautious moving forward ( and be on the lookout for a gym with a different philosophy but i digress...)

No worry about that. Two of the coaches have Master's degrees in PT. While this is DD's first pain/injury, I'm told by other parents that they're very good with managing workouts around injuries.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

you're the boss. not your daughter. who cares what she thinks? tell the coach immediately. we as coaches cannot manage injury when certain info is withheld.

 

[wallinbl]

you're the boss. not your daughter. who cares what she thinks? tell the coach immediately. we as coaches cannot manage injury when certain info is withheld.

As I mentioned my plan is to go tell them before tomorrow's practice. I care what she thinks only so far as I don't want what I'm about to do to cause her to try to hide future injuries.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

this may sound harsh but please follow me on this. you must make a hard stand with your daughter with injuries. you can't believe how many kids leave the sport because the children (and sometimes wacky parents) have unreported injuries.

the kids need to understand that not 'telling' is like not breathing. you don't breathe you die. and so will their gymnastics. period.

 

[Optionals United]

it sounds like you have it under control. is your daughter shy? when I was younger I was really shy and didn't ever tell my coaches about injuries. also she may be uncomfortable telling them. it is just a guess i could be way off though

 

[mariposa]

I believe strongly that it is a parent's responsibility to teach their children from very young that pain is a bodies way of talking to them and they need to listen. I have really tried to make sure my daughter knows that she only gets one body and she needs to treat it right. She has now had a few minor injuries and realizes that it is no fun to have modified practice for a few weeks and I told her that if you don't tell mom or coaches about injuries, it can end up being way more. We err way on the side of caution with injuries, she has missed meets, etc. But she always tells me when something hurts and I think I have done my job to teach her how to be an advocate for her body. If she can't tell coach, I will or she won't be going to practice. Nice and simple.

Same goes with illness, nothing irritates me more than meet reports or videos prefaced by "she was sick all day before with a fever and I gave her Motrin, what a trooper. " or "she was injured but she really wanted to compete. " As parents we should show them how to respect what their bodies are telling them and rest, skip meet, etc. Not to ignore it and practice or compete at all costs.

 

[wallinbl]

it sounds like you have it under control. is your daughter shy? when I was younger I was really shy and didn't ever tell my coaches about injuries. also she may be uncomfortable telling them. it is just a guess i could be way off though

It may simply be shyness, which is fine. If that's all it is, then I have nothing to worry about with respect to her hiding future injuries. She reiterated last night that she's not going to tell them, but she didn't argue with the fact that I was going to tell them.

Edit:

Thanks for posting this. I tend to forget about her shyness sometimes and the worry over her injury got my mind all wrapped up in other things, I guess.

 

[BlairBob]

As a coach, I do not like it when kids don't tell me they are sick or injured. It generally means I have to figure out on my own after possibly wondering if they are purposefully slacking off or are not up to par. It also means I would rather have them scale it back or do something else possibly.

So generally after the first time, they realize they can't hide it anymore or they were doing a poor job of doing so in the first place. Some kids just want to keep on going, shrugging it off. That can be commended and I generally will do so but I would prefer they just tell me before the workout.