Parents First real injury

[ParentalWisdom]

DS is level 8 and has 2-4 week recovery period for MCL sprain. Very tough while we are in middle of season. I wanted to get other peoples take on dealing with this type of injury. DS is pushing to get back to it after one week of ice/ Motrin.

 

[skschlag]

Oh poor guy. What has the doctor said he can do? Can he do upper body work? Can he condition his core? Any bike work?

I would go with what the doc/pt says he can do. What level is he?

When DS hurt his back, he went to gym every day with his approved exercises. Did what he could, and then we left. It kept him connected with his team, and kept him motivated.

Good luck!

 

[profmom]

Don't rush it. He needs to listen to his doc. There is no L8 boy who doesn't need more core strength in the meantime.

 

[e'smum]

i advise to take your time. it may feel ok but if it's not healed, it will be easily re-injured. dd sprained her ankle at the beginning of last season (she was 8). broke into tears at the dr's office when i asked about the first meet just 5 days away. she competed beam and bars and we taped her ankle up. she took it easy in practice and only competed beam and bars the 2nd meet. so we had a full 1 1/2 mos of limiting what she did in the gym. it sucked but in the end, worth it. so this year when she pissed off one of her knees somehow, there wasn't an issue with her taking it easy at the gym. luckily we were not going to the next meet and she took 4 days off in a row from the gym. she learned to listen to her body and back off if the knee started to hurt. she is 9 now and already such a smart cookie when it comes to injuries. i think it was a good lesson to learn early.

 

[duyetanh]

I am so sorry!
And he really does need to lay off it a bit. Goodness knows, he doesn't want anything worse to happen to it, or delay the healing process further. I hope he heals quickly!

 

[Madden3]

My older DS (level 8) hyperextended both knees in practice about 6 or 8 weeks before first meet of the season. We never got a diagnoses of anything in particular, just a knee sprain, both knees but way worse on one side. It was so frustrating because when he was a level 6 he had patellar tendonitis for months and that muffed up that season too.

Anyway, this time, doctor said no gym or any other physical activity (aside normal every day) at all for 2 weeks, and then limited practice only, no impact, for at least another 2 weeks. He patiently explained to my son that these types of injuries can take a really, really long time to heal and feel better and it is not a good idea to try to rush it. And in fact DS, who was desperate to get back into the gym, found he really did need that long to heal. He was actually not able to start training tumbling or dismounts etc. for about 3 weeks after going back for limited training. But by the time he started training with impact again he and my husband and I really thought his body could handle it and were not worried the whole time something worse would happen. And so far, so good. He is competing now, but not all events.

 

[raenndrops]

I agree with the above - take the time. Follow Dr orders. Get a list of approved exercises and have him do them.
As a kid, I never took proper recovery time (played an entire baseball game two weeks after cracking 7 ribs and mildly spraining a wrist and ankle... I thought Tylenol and tape was my friend) and now I am falling apart. I am lucky I didn't get hurt worse.

 

[Outlast]

MCLs are nothing to mess around with, take the time off. There will always be another meet.

 

[ParentalWisdom]

Thanks everyone for the advise. We are doing no impact work in the gym and modifying dismounts for competition. At the end of 2 weeks we will meet with Dr again and take it from there. I can't believe how hard it is to shut it down. But we are doing it.