WAG Sternum injury

[npgymmom]

My 11 year old daughter finally got her Kip ! yay, she was so excited! But unfortunately one of her last ones that she tried her arm buckled and she fell pretty hard on to her upper chest. How many of you have had your kids do that? Her doctor wants her to stay out of the gym for 3 to 4 weeks and not even do Gym in school . He does not even want her doing some of her stretching . This is her first injury in a long time and I'm sure will be her last but just trying to find some feedback. Thanks for your help

 

[MaryA]

Generally, when you go to a GP with a gymnastics injury, you'll be told "stay out of the gym for x amount of time." If you go to a sports medicine doctor, they're generally better at letting you know what it IS safe for her to do in the gym rather than just making a blanket "no gym" statement. So you could try getting a second opinion from a sports medicine doc.

 

[wallinbl]

Like MaryA said, go to someone with more specific expertise. The GP is less likely to be familiar, and will be very cautious as a result. You may get the same answer from a specialist, but it's worth seeing one.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

probably just bruised. you have some cartilage between the sternum right at the solar plexus. what you explained is fairly common in gymnastics. more so with the boys from 'dip' movement paters on P-Bars.

there are known cases where gymnasts have actually 'moved' (displaced) their sternums out of place just a bit. maybe this is what your Doc found. if so, she then has to rest it for it to heal and return to its original position.

 

[iwannacoach]

Maybe dunno could offer an opinion on the wisdom of what I'm going to suggest........

Give her the weekend to allow the likely bruising to diminish. The place two chairs facing back to back about arm width apart. Have her stand between the chairs and put one hand on each chair and gently press down on both chairs as if she were trying to do an iron cross like the guys do on the rings. If she has pain that's centered in her sternum, like straight up the middle, the problem likely goes beyond superficial bruising. and may involve cartilage bruising or strains that need more than minimal time to heal. If the pain is only felt along the muscles that radiate away from her sternum, her recovery is probably a matter of working within her own level of pain tolerance...... which varies greatly from child to child.

The advice to go to a sports med doc is good, and you should ask around to se if anyone you know can suggest one they've used. If she doesn't need a sports doc now, at least you'll have a name to start with in the future.