L9/10 gymnast with Sever's

[justanothergymmom]

Any words of advice for helping a young L9/10 gymnast who is battling a Sever's flare-up? (...and doesn't want to slow down...)

She has been plugging along with Sever's on and off for 3 years and it definitely hinders her progression on vault and floor. She has been told by her dr to stop when it hurts a lot (before she gets to the point of limping), but it is tough at this level when the skills need more repetition and refining. Certain types of running/tumbling aggravates her pain and others don't ...

She will be going back to icing 2 times a day and stretching 4 times a day. She has Tuli's heelcups but doesn't like the way they feel when she is running/punching/landing (they are a little slippery.) We will head back to the dr if the pain persists any time other than at or right after practice. We have been checking in with her ortho about every 6-9 months due to flare-ups from this condition, just to make sure she doesn't have any other injury. I don't know how many girls at this level are affected by Sever's, but I would guess some girls have outgrown it by the time they get to L9/L10. I would estimate that she may have at least 3 years before she is done growing.

Thanks in advance for any advice or tips. I sometimes wonder if this is nature's way of pacing her in this crazy sport!

 

[gymjoy]

Did you adopt my dd, lol.

She is a rising L10 and has been dealing with Sever this past year. It has just flared up again. Good timing though being the end of the season. She is resting, stretching and icing. She does what she can in the gym, when it starts to hurt she sits down to ice. Then she concentrates on more conditioning and stretching. (oh, and she does a lot of bars!!) Each day is a little better.
She also sees two chiropractors. One is a general chiro, the other is more sports injury related and does more fine tweaking. This seems to help her a lot as well.

Good luck.

 

[bogwoppit]

For the heel cups my DD also found the cheetahs slippery when sweaty. Perhaps she could tape heel cups to her feet as then they wouldn't slip, more of a pain for sure but might give a better fit/feel.

Has she tried the selenium and vit e supplements that many people find helpful?

Most gymnasts grow out of severs when they finish growing, it is not about level so much as physical maturaity. The icing and stretching is the best thing, along with rest when it hurts too much, ultrasound and massage are both helpful too. Beyond that not much.

 

[kevchriswilli]

We are in your same boat....DD has battled with it from level 4... she is now 12 and now a level 9 and we have westerns this weekend. She has been hurting the past month..all we can do is ice it and stretch it out everyday. Who knows when it will actually stop. We go through heel cups every couple of weeks to a month...getting quite expensive. I hope to be able to rest it more after this weekend. If you do find something that helps please let me know...

 

[bookworm]

My daughter had Sever's when she was a second year level 10 from the front tucks on beam...cheetah paws for 2 years and icing but the thing that really "cured" it was when she broke that same foot (doing something else) and ended up casted for 2 months! After coming out of the cast, she had no pain ...and she never went back to doing front tucks on the beam because she felt that really aggravated it (does a side aerial and a front aerial instead) and never had to use cheetah paws again (and in retrospect said she didn't feel like they ever really helped) ...so I would look at what skills she is doing that aggravate it and see if a substitution (like my daughter did) can be made...it's been 4 years since she came out of the cast and changed what she did and (knock on wood), heels still good!

 

[justanothergymmom]

Thanks so much for your responses! It is nice to know she is not alone in this. It stinks because she wants to do so much more than she is able to. She will undoubtedly repeat L9 because it will be very difficult to upgrade her tumbling and vault if her pain continues. She is also very young so we are not in that much of a rush to reach L10 next season...She is mostly reaching for a very solid 2nd L9 season next year and would love to stay injury free and make it past states...

@gymjoy~your daughter sounds similar to mine. We have never tried chiro but may need to if this pain continues.
@bog~I never really considered supplements because she has a very healthy diet. I guess it couldn't hurt to look into them...
@kevchriswilli~best of luck to your dd at westerns!...and I hope her heel pain subsides. My dd has had the same heel cups for a year--why do you replace yours more frequently?
@bookworm~Thank you for posting! It is nice to hear that there could be an end to this painful condition!

 

[justanothergymmom]

So, things got better for awhile and then she had another flare-up. She has begun her regular stretching regimen once again, but refuses to wear the heel cups-she can't stand how they make her feet feel slippery and unsteady, and she doesn't feel they provide any pain relief anyway. UGH! The heel cups are supposed to help by raising the heel slightly and thereby shortening the achilles. Is there any other type of support that can help with the pain? I found an achilles strap (Cho-Pat?) which is supposed to provide pain relief for Achilles tendonitis by providing a slight pressure against the achilles...just wondering if anyone has ever tried using this type of strap for Sever's and if it helped with the pain.

 

[gymnastics123]

Our DD is a level 8 and does TOPS and has Sever's. She had gotten to the point of constantly limping and struggling to tumble and beam. We iced regularly and then found a supplement called Oscon. The Oscon definitely helped. Did it take all the pain away not 100% sure because unfortunately, she fractured her growth plates and ended up in a boot cast for 8 weeks and after that she has not had any pain. We still continue to do extra stretches and ice her heals so hopefully will not flare up again. I not sure if Oscon will work for everyone but it definitely helped our DD. I think it is worth a try.