Parents Gymnast Wrist

[Yuenling]

Question for you all:

How many of your gymnasts complain about pain in the wrist? Does she just push through it and it goes away, or does she take a break, and for how long? Does the pain come and go or does it progress until she takes a significant break.

I heard that gymnast wrist affects a large percentage of gymnasts, so I wanted to hear your stories.

 

[gymjunkie]

True gymnast wrist is not common. Other wrist pain is common though. I don't let kids push through it because if it really is gymnast wrist, they will need surgery if they ignore the pain. "Regular pain" can resolve with as little as 2 weeks wrist rest if it's addressed promptly.

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

My gymmie has fairly frequent, reoccurring wrist pain. Her coach has a really good idea of WHY and her chiro/PT works with the fixing of it. She is pretty prone to overuse pain/spraining it. It's not something her PT has expressed great concern over. Her coach admonishes fixing the reason behind the wrist pain (incorrect technique) rather than using aids (like tiger paws etc) for it. She is allowed to tape if needed.

 

[MILgymFAM]

I've never heard of gymnasts wrists, but my YDD has painful wrists. We've seen her dr, had X-rays, and done months of pt. The pt says her one wrist will just always hurt as there is some scar tissue and cartilage that gets tweaks when she tumbles. She wears tiger paws, continues her home pt, and just deals with the pain.

 

[Yuenling]

I've never heard of gymnasts wrists, but my YDD has painful wrists. We've seen her dr, had X-rays, and done months of pt. The pt says her one wrist will just always hurt as there is some scar tissue and cartilage that gets tweaks when she tumbles. She wears tiger paws, continues her home pt, and just deals with the pain.

Hello, does the pain progress or pretty much feel the same the whole time? Has she experimented with taking a brief period of complete rest of her wrists?

 

[MILgymFAM]

Hello, does the pain progress or pretty much feel the same the whole time? Has she experimented with taking a brief period of complete rest of her wrists?

It gets better and worse. She took three whole weeks off her wrists a couple of months ago and it helped the pain but not really the issue- the pain came back when she resumed training rod floor (she does t&t).

 

[profmom]

DS's coach says that occasional wrist pain is common when they are growing, but anything persistent (for more than a few weeks), anything severe (enough that they don't want to do wrist-heavy events), or anything involving point tenderness should be checked out by an orthopedist. You don't want to mess around with this. Pushing through can buy you several months off.

 

[Flounder]

When my gymnast had wrist pain, we went to see the Dr. when it hadn't resolved after 2 weeks. It turned out her growth plate was irritated and she was put on rest.

 

[scanlri]

My dd has gymnasts wrist. It could be seen in the X-ray and extent confirmed by MRI. Rest is a must.

 

[lhmom]

My DD has tendonitis in one wrist that flares occasionally (doing more reps on back step outs on beam is usually the culprit). When it flares, we usually ice it and she gets advil. She also knows to restrict herself on tumbling, etc until it improves. That comes and goes. However, this past summer both her wrists started to hurt badly and instead on impacting one event (beam), she had trouble doing all events. After about a week (and DD finally telling me how badly it hurt), we went to the ortho MD. We found that she had stress reactions in both wrists (beginnings of stress fractures in growth plates). She had to go to total rest of both wrists for 6 weeks. However, it was better to rest it those 6 weeks instead of up to 6 months (which can happen when they have fractures in the growth plate).

 

[profmom]

And getting a diagnosis from an orthopedist is critical here because treatment is different. If it's a tendon issue, ibuprofen is good. If you're looking at a stress reaction or heaven forfend, a fracture, you don't want them to be taking ibuprofen because it can inhibit bone growth.

 

[Yuenling]

When my gymnast had wrist pain, we went to see the Dr. when it hadn't resolved after 2 weeks. It turned out her growth plate was irritated and she was put on rest.

@Flounder - how long was your daughter put on rest, and how long did it resolve the issue when she came back?

 

[IreneKa]

http://www.hybridperspective.com/20...buting-factors-and-tips-to-increase-mobility/

 

[Yuenling]

My DD has wrist pain and the xray is normal, but because of a widening of the gap where the growth plate is and the symptoms, the orthopedist says it is suspicious of a stress fracture in the growth plate. She has been put on rest for 2 weeks and has missed her first meet. I just hope 2 weeks is enough rest, but any longer and she'll miss more meets, perhaps unnecessarily, and go backward in skill. She tends to lose skills easily, and she's trained all year for them. =(

The good news is that after 3 days of rest and ice, the lumps in her wrist no longer hurt when I presss on them. The orthopedist says that is a good sign. Her wrist still looks a little deformed though, but the x-ray shows no dislocation so the orthopedist isn't worried about the ugly bumps on her wrist.

She hasn't put weight on her wrist yet, so that's probably the only thing left for us to tell if she is really getting better. But we'll delay that for 2 weeks.

She does wear Tiger Paws.

 

[profmom]

What you describe sounds like what DS's orthopedist diagnosed as a stress reaction -- no visible fractures but widening at the growth plate). He pulled him from all weight bearing work for a full month. He warned the big guy sternly that he could rest and heal, or he could come back and get an MRI to diagnose fractures later and be off for three months (which, by the way, is what happened to his teammate). DS grumpily took the time off and returned to training in August.

Last fall, after his strenuous efforts to get in shape for Future Stars, he had another flare of persistent wrist pain. His coach and I dialed him back and he went back to the orthopedist, who ordered an MRI. While we were waiting, he was off most event work for another three weeks. Fortunately the MRI came back clean, but we are all on the same page that when they start hurting, he needs to lay off. It will slow down his training a bit for the next few years as he's growing (agree both his orthopedist and his coach), but if we are cautious and proactive about this, he won't become that guy who ends up having to leave gymnastics as a second year L9 or a L10 because he's trashed his wrists.

Take the necessary time to let it heal. I personally know three kids (two boys and one girl) whose wrist problems put them out of the sport.

 

[Yuenling]

What you describe sounds like what DS's orthopedist diagnosed as a stress reaction -- no visible fractures but widening at the growth plate). He pulled him from all weight bearing work for a full month. He warned the big guy sternly that he could rest and heal, or he could come back and get an MRI to diagnose fractures later and be off for three months (which, by the way, is what happened to his teammate). DS grumpily took the time off and returned to training in August.

Last fall, after his strenuous efforts to get in shape for Future Stars, he had another flare of persistent wrist pain. His coach and I dialed him back and he went back to the orthopedist, who ordered an MRI. While we were waiting, he was off most event work for another three weeks. Fortunately the MRI came back clean, but we are all on the same page that when they start hurting, he needs to lay off. It will slow down his training a bit for the next few years as he's growing (agree both his orthopedist and his coach), but if we are cautious and proactive about this, he won't become that guy who ends up having to leave gymnastics as a second year L9 or a L10 because he's trashed his wrists.

Take the necessary time to let it heal. I personally know three kids (two boys and one girl) whose wrist problems put them out of the sport.

Wow! Great story.

@profmom - I guess I'm trying to strategize. She just started her meet season and hasn't even competed one meet yet. While I am going to listen to the orthopedist, I am going to do my best to try to convince him at the follow-up appointment to give her the minimum required rest now such that she can compete the maximum amount of meets this season. After that, I am convinced to let her take as much time as she needs to heal her wrists.

Her pain apparently begin in August, but I didn't know. She just asked for Tiger Paws, and that was it. She apparently has been pushing through it for the past 4 months! But I think it progressed last week.

I really hope that with 2 weeks of rest (feeling better already!) she can can get back to her shape in August and just push through at least a couple of meets. If she takes 6 weeks off now, she's basically done for the season in terms of competing.

Does this make sense?

 

[scanlri]

Wow! Great story.

@profmom - I guess I'm trying to strategize. She just started her meet season and hasn't even competed one meet yet. While I am going to listen to the orthopedist, I am going to do my best to try to convince him at the follow-up appointment to give her the minimum required rest now such that she can compete the maximum amount of meets this season. After that, I am convinced to let her take as much time as she needs to heal her wrists.

Her pain apparently begin in August, but I didn't know. She just asked for Tiger Paws, and that was it. She apparently has been pushing through it for the past 4 months! But I think it progressed last week.

I really hope that with 2 weeks of rest (feeling better already!) she can can get back to her shape in August and just push through at least a couple of meets. If she takes 6 weeks off now, she's basically done for the season in terms of competing.

Does this make sense?

My dd took four weeks completely off wrist (and wore a brace). Followed by two weeks with nothing causing wrist extension or weight bearing). This calmed it down. She had another flare up and we immediately pulled her back for a week and she was ok again. Coach worked her lower body conditioning quite a bit and modified gymnastics. It's amazing what they can still do without hands. Long story short, she was strong enough to come back in two weeks and compete all but floor (l10). Be patient and all will be good.

 

[Yuenling]

@scanlri - how "bad" were her wrists when she first took 4 weeks off? What might have cause her next flare up? How bad was that one?

Glad to hear 2 weeks was enough for the 2nd flare up. I really hope that is where my DD is at.

Interestingly, the ortho hasn't insisted on an MRI. He said the treatment would be the same regardless.

 

[B&M's mom]

As a parent who has been there (though with different injuries), please don't push it. It's so not worth it. Meets will be there but their wrists/knees/ankles/backs... have to last a lifetime. My DD ignored injuries and rushed back once they were addressed just so she could compete. Without fail, she ended up worsening them and having her seasons cut short. I understand the mindset of wanting them to compete because we've invested so much time and money into the sport but watching my daughter struggle now makes me regret letting her do so. Doctors, unfortunately, cannot give you a hard and fast amount of time that your child will be out. Each child heals different. Let her heal before pushing her to compete or she may end up like my poor kid whose achilles has been flaring for an entire year even with significant periods of rest (months at a time).

 

[scanlri]

@Yuenling. She had significant widening at the growth plate. The doctor ordered the MRI to be completely sure there was no actual fracture. We believe it flared back up because she was coming back too hard/fast. She wanted to compete in the first meet

Rest and modified routines helped. The DR has insisted if it flares back up again that she will go in a cast for a minimum of six weeks. That threat has helped everyone's perspective.