MAG Back Injury vs Mental Freak Out?

[Mill09]

Hi everyone! How do you tell the difference between a legitimate injury and a complete mental freak out?

My son is 9 years old and competing his first year as a level 6. He had a mediocre level 5 year last year, but improved greatly over the summer and we decided to move him up (I posted about this a while back) He has been doing well, and his first meet was to be yesterday.

About 12 days ago, he landed on his head/neck during a back tuck. It was a bad fall, but he got up and continued practice....was a little sore the next couple days, but recovered. Until the next week....he was unable to practice the entire week, so he obviously couldn't compete at the meet.

At home, he is all over the place, being very active....not a word about his back bothering him. But he says it only hurts his lower back when he arches....and that it's really bad pain, so bad that he can't practice. So, I took him to the pediatrician, who based on the way he was jumping around in the office didn't even think he needed an xray, just time to heal.

So again, all weekend he was fine....said he'd be able to go to practice today, but now tonight he was complaining again....only about the arching, which he claims he doesn't do outside of the gym and that's why he doesn't complain all weekend.

Part of me thinks, he is freaking out about doing level 6. His coach thinks so too......but how do we know if it's real? Is there something else I should be doing?

He is at practice now....coach says he'll talk to him, and we'll reassess......

any advice?

 

[gymcoach26]

Pick him up from practice, bring him back to that doctor and ask for an x-ray or some other tests to be done.

 

[gymdog]

I agree. He very well could have an injury that mostly bothers him when he arches. Back injuries can be very difficult. I would plan for him to take some time off practice. The good thing is whether it's a mental freak out or an injury a break will either give it time to completely heal (or avoid making it worse) or give him time to refocus and really "want" to go back to gym.

 

[Mill09]

wow....now you guys are making me wonder...... I was just coming on here to post that he answered the question.

He walked in the door from practice and said 'Best practice ever!' He then proceeded to tell me all about his great rings and pbars routines. His sister saw the rings routine and agreed, it was awesome.

Apparently coach talked to him at the beginning of practice and told him that if by the end of the week he wasn't doing better he wouldn't be able to compete in the next meet.....so he actually tried. (sounds horrible, but coach and I had just had a conversation about him having a freak out rather than actual injury - and coach pumped him up too, telling him to have confidence and that he has a shot at placing all around if he just puts his mind to it etc etc)

He said his back didn't hurt at all during pbars, and only at the beginning of rings....but it went away once he got going. Now he says it's a bit sore when arching, but not bad.

He doesn't have practice again until wednesday, so I still have time to take him back to the doc before then, he is still having pain, even though he managed to work through it.....better safe than sorry I guess.

 

[Bobby]

...How do you tell the difference between a legitimate injury and a complete mental freak out?
.... he landed on his head/neck during a back tuck. It was a bad fall, but he got up and continued ....was a little sore the next couple days, but recovered. Until the next week....he was unable to practice the entire week, so he obviously couldn't compete at the meet. At home, he is all over the place, being very active....not a word about his back bothering him. But he says it only hurts his lower back when he arches....and that it's really bad pain, so bad that he can't practice. So, I took him to the pediatrician, who based on the way he was jumping around in the office didn't even think he needed an xray, just time to heal....

It seems from your later post this is all figured out now. I'm glad.
I can't help but post anyway though, because it sounds like a carbon copy of my "original" injury (decades ago, although I didn't bounce back as quickly as your DS afterwards). I did have xrays at the time which showed no spinal damage. As a result no one took my pain at all seriously, so as soon as I could force myself to move around, I went back to full training. I also re-injured it twice later.
All was fine until several years after I retired, and I developed some severe problems (when I wasn't doing anything at all!!). I later had an orthopedic specialist advise I have severe arthritis around my vertebrae, which he attributed to the previous gymnastics injuries (in absence of any other cause we could think of). He said inflammation around the vertebrae would not have been visible on an xray for a long time, and could have been avoided by properly resting until fully recovered before resuming any exercise.
I just feel better if you know that. Unfortunately the only one who knows whether they still have inflammation is the injured person. I'd encourage him to consider that his body might be warning him to stop certain movements (like arching) for a reason, and that a little rest and missing out now may help avoid a lot of missing out later on.
(PS: If he only avoids the skill that caused the injury then I'd interpret it as a mental freak out, but if he's willing to do tha but has trouble with other stuff then I think legitimate injury might be the cause).

 

[coachinkal]

If it hurts to arch his back he may have a pinched nerve in his back and it would not be good to train if that is the case. I would get it properly checked.

As a coach I have had gymnasts tell me their ankle, knee, wrist, arm or any other body part is sore, usually from some school yard activity. It is often really hard to know the severety of the injury, and whether in fact, they are having a lazy day!

My DS complained on and off about a sore knee amongst other general ailments and I actually didnt think too much of it. I took him to the physio and it turns out he does have knee problems with both knees.

 

[Geoffrey Taucer]

It's possible that it's all mental.

It's possible that it's a minor muscle thing.

It's possible that he has a nerve pinched or some other such problem and could permanently cripple himself if he keeps practicing.

Get it checked out. You don't mess around with back injuries; even if there's a 99% chance he's completely fine and a 1% chance he needs medical attention, GET HIM SOME MEDICAL ATTENTION.

 

[CoachTodd]

It's possible that it's all mental.

It's possible that it's a minor muscle thing.

It's possible that he has a nerve pinched or some other such problem and could permanently cripple himself if he keeps practicing.

Get it checked out. You don't mess around with back injuries; even if there's a 99% chance he's completely fine and a 1% chance he needs medical attention, GET HIM SOME MEDICAL ATTENTION.

I agree. We had a gymnast in our state that had hurt himself but went ahead and finished the season before seeing a doctor. The doctor took a look at the x-ray of the kid's neck and told him not to move until they got it stabilized as he could cripple himself since his neck was broken.

Don't second guess back and neck injuries. Better safe than sorry.

 

[Mill09]

Okay, so I have a call into the pediatrician to see if they will do an xray, other than that, what kind of doc do you think I should take him to? Orthopedist?

 

[sportyspice]

My DS broke the metacarpal in his hand at training one night - we didn't realise at first as there was no swelling or bruising. The next day he said it was too sore to train on so I told him to rest. His coach talked him into doing light training anyway (I don't know what was said) and the next day an x-ray showed the break. My reason for this post is to stress that sometimes a gymnast will push through pain to 'please' their coach and this results in them not learning to trust the signals their body is giving them. I think in this sport it is very important to teach our children how to interpret what their body is saying. Gymnastics is for a short time, but we want our kids to have healthy bodies for a long time.

 

[Mill09]

Thanks! We have an apt with a pediatric sports medicine doc, so we'll go from there.

 

[gymtaxi]

Hi, my son is the same age. He had a similar episode a couple weeks ago... bailed during his back tuck and landed on his head/neck. Next few practices he would not do his back tuck.. scared. Finally did it with his coach spotting several times. Still a bit scared but getting better. Kind of a mental block. Hope everything is okay with your son's back.

 

[Mill09]

Thanks Gymtaxi!

He is fine now. by the time we had our appt with the doc, he was no longer complaining. He is back at practice and we haven't heard a word about the back since last week.

He wouldn't do his back tuck at first...but finally got it, and now is doing it fine.