Parents DD has lower back pain only while doing back walkovers on the beam

[Deleted member D3987]

yes

 

[gymmom8772]

I'm glad to know at least we caught this before a stress fracture! I was wondering the same thing (if she would've ended up w/ a stress fracture eventually) before you commented.
What do you think of those sports bands (like a wide ace bandage) for around the torso to help support her back during training for awhile?

 

[Deleted member D3987]

great idea!

 

[gymmom8772]

Thanks Dunno!

 

[Deleted member D3987]

my pleasure!

 

[my4buffaloes]

That is great news that you paid attention to your dd's pain and got her help early enough to prevent a worse injury. I hope she heals fast.

 

[momto8in10]

Yikes. This has been my DD all week. She has been training L4 all spring and just joined the L6 training group. I am hoping her back pain is just from more BWOs and increased training hours. She is very strong, but not naturally flexible, so I am not surprised that BWO are hurting. It isn't chronic pain, and she seemed to feel better Thursday after icing. Did beam on Friday (sat out Thursday), but this morning it was hurting again. Coach said she should ice and rest...but that resting wasn't an option (this was tongue in cheek, of course) . Just watching her, for the time being.

 

[gymmom8772]

momto8in10 definitely keep an eye on that for sure. How long has this been going on?

 

[momto8in10]

Just finished reading the thread...
So far only a few days.
I am glad that your dd's injury isn't a fracture!

 

[gymmom8772]

Me too. Had it gone on longer it could have happened, thankfully not. Very scary though!
From what I'm reading here and online, it isn't good for them to do a ton of BWOs on beam during practice. It really puts a lot of stress on the lower back. It seems to be a common cause of the stress fractures that happen. Glad to hear you are aware of it so early on and are keeping an eye on it.

 

[gracyomalley]

DD did only about 5 months of old L6 and until this week her (now old) gym wasn't great at uptraining, so those 5 months were the extent of her BWO on beam - she had back pain which she didn't tell me about until started competing, and her MD didn't realize that it could be serious (nor did her MD mom at the time). BUT HER COACH DID - and once she fessed up she did very few BWO for the last few weeks of that level, then went right to training for BHS-BHS as a level 7...a year later she could go back to BWO on beam no issues....(well, fear issues with connecting the other series, but that's different). Her technique had much improved with good coaching and the strength she had gained - but she knows to do no more than she needs to keep the skill clean. She's strong and reasonably flexible in her back, but was using her lower back for the bend, and her legs weren't following through early enough - I see lots of smaller/younger girls doing similarly - luckily her coaches (both the old one and the new one who was at the old gym at the time) recognized that it could become something and acted...

 

[gymmom8772]

I'm happy to hear her lower back pain did not turn out to be any sort of injury. I think that is the problem with my DD. She has a very flexible lower back and has been using it too much in her BWOs on beam and is not engaging her core enough. I am taking her to physical therapy to work on that so she doesn't continue to keep doing them that way and re injures herself.

 

[gymmom8772]

Took my DD for her first PT appointment tonight. The Physical Therapist discovered that she has tight hip flexors and because of that she was overcompensating by using her lower back in doing back walkovers on the beam and that resulted in too much stress=injury. I'm so glad to get to the root of the problem so she can work on improving flexibility in that area so she doesn't go back and do the same thing again and get re-injured.

 

[gymnastca25]

Just make sure you keep a close eye on all back pain. My 8 year old had an L3 stress fracture this past year. I was shocked when her bone scan results came. She was in a Boston brace for 3 months and was out of gymnastics for 4 months. She has completely healed and has no more back pain.