WAG Finger injuries from back handspring on beam

[k-dog]

My daughter has been working on bhs on the beam for a few months now and can usually do it quite nicely. She has unfortunately fractured fingers twice in the last 3 months doing this skill. (First time in early December was a fracture of her index finger and the second time happened a couple days ago with an avulsion fracture of her middle finger - right hand both times). She tends to put her hands side by side (bwo placement) despite the coach trying to get her to change to one in front of the other. She is quite small and has never had an issue with missing the beam. I was wonderng if this is a common injury with this skill. I don't know if it is just bad luck or a technique issue. Any thoughts on why this injury may be happening? She says that she never lands one hand on top of the other, so that is not the issue. Getting tired of broken bones and trips to the ER

 

[windydays]

Following this. How do you break gymnasts of these bad habits? My daughter puts her hands on top of each other on her BHS BHS on beam, despite the coach's trying to change her.

 

[gymdog]

It definitely happens but twice in two months is odd. I'm a little confused on how she's doing this though if she puts her hands like a bwo. Usually it happens from the heel of one hand landing on top of fingers, or hands slipping. Maybe she is putting some fingers straight on the beam and some (pinky and ring) around the side.

 

[iwannacoach]

Over the years there have been several "correct" hand placements that have all been replaced by the next "this is the right way" technique. History tells me our fingers can be kept out of harm's way in nearly any hand position, and he problem is likely a contribution from your dear child.

I got a feeling she's reaching for the beam and is extending her fingers to increase her reach. Sure, you want to reach for the beam...kinda...but only in the context of getting into the posture and alignment to arrive at the beam. Making that action a finger's length longer isn't a good idea.

 

[my4buffaloes]

My dd did it a couple of years ago. Got her finger folded up under her. Broke it the first time she did this. Did the same thing a few months after coming back but it didn't break that time.

 

[gymdog]

Over the years there have been several "correct" hand placements that have all been replaced by the next "this is the right way" technique. History tells me our fingers can be kept out of harm's way in nearly any hand position, and he problem is likely a contribution from your dear child.

I got a feeling she's reaching for the beam and is extending her fingers to increase her reach. Sure, you want to reach for the beam...kinda...but only in the context of getting into the posture and alignment to arrive at the beam. Making that action a finger's length longer isn't a good idea.

I can think of one specific technique that has been predominant since before and when I was a gymnast doing back handsprings on beam. I've done a lot of back handsprings, missed the beam plenty of times even, I don't really understand what you mean about reaching for the beam. Not sure about that. But nothing is foolproof. The benefit of the preferred hand placement is in squaring the body off on completion of the handspring, not really avoiding finger injury.

The problem could be from landing too hard on her hands. This will of course increase the likelihood of elbow, wrist, and finger injuries. That generally comes from poor technique (incorrect takeoff) or tight hip flexors, not hand placement.

If her technique is mostly good or okay but she puts some fingers parallel to the beam and some hanging off, then that could cause issues. The kids of course make all kinds of technical errors on their hand placement and performance of the back handspring but like almost anything some kids make things amazingly work despite all odds. So I'll agree on that point.

 

[iwannacoach]

...I don't really understand what you mean about reaching for the beam....

The idea is that kids will reach further than their arms allow because they want to re-establish contact with the beam as early as possible during the end of their flight phase. To get there they will sacrifice alignment, get completely out of square, and point their fingers straight to the beam as if they were praying with their hands a few inches apart. The same thing happens in landings of all sorts, such as reaching down to the beam with the lead foot during a split leap, or taking a reaching stab at the beam to finish a bhs.

 

[gymdog]

Maybe. Usually when they land too hard on their hands their hands contact later than they should.