WAG Continued minor injuries

[Eleven sol]

My gymnast is 14 and having continued back issues. For the last 3 months we’ve been going to either the PT or chiropractor every week. It’s been pretty exhausting. The pain has been moving around her back -sometimes lower back, sometimes abs, sometimes upper back, sometimes no pain at all; I was hopeful this meant maybe the strengthening exercises were changing the way she was using her back. But then she threw her back out today doing a split jump?

I mentioned to her today that maybe it’s time to consider a new sport and of course she lost her mind... But when is enough enough? I feel like I‘ll let it go until the end of the season and then we’ll see if things have improved and go from there.

Can anyone think of a reason she’d lose certain strength elements she had (toes to the bar for enough time) while doing PT and continuing conditioning at gymnastics? At the same time, she finally mastered her kip and her form in many areas has improved.

It’s maddening. Back to the PT next week.

 

[gymnastmom05]

Has she seen an ortho and/or had an MRI on her back? I would look that route if she hasn't just to make sure you aren't dealing with something more major. I've known of too many girls that have been treated by a chiropractor for back pain only to finally see an ortho and realize there is something more serious occurring. The few I can think of off the top of my head both had stress fractures but delayed treatment for weeks/months because they were just having adjustments.

 

[Eleven sol]

Has she seen an ortho and/or had an MRI on her back? I would look that route if she hasn't just to make sure you aren't dealing with something more major. I've known of too many girls that have been treated by a chiropractor for back pain only to finally see an ortho and realize there is something more serious occurring. The few I can think of off the top of my head both had stress fractures but delayed treatment for weeks/months because they were just having adjustments.

 

[GymDadWA]

How is her diet, is she getting enough macro/micro nutrition to heal her body and support her activity?

She also might be growing.

 

[Eleven sol]

Thanks for the ideas. My daughter thinks she is still growing and this is why she’s having continued issues. Growth has caused so many issues for her in the past couple years. She loves gym so we’ve been trying to get through it so she can continue through high school in xcel; that is her goal. She is a vegetarian so it’s worth looking at diet. The PT really doesn’t think it is a stress fracture; but I’ll ask her about the ortho again.

 

[GymDadWA]

She is a vegetarian so it’s worth looking at diet.

For a lot of vegetarians getting enough protein and calcium can be hard, lacking enough of those two things alone can make recovery difficult, not to mention not having enough magnesium, iron, etc. or other micro nutrients that that are commonly found in meat protein sources. Without logging food this is a total guess, just going by some common nutritional issues many vegetarian/vegan athletes can have.