stargazer
Gymnast
I've been doing gymnastics for most of my life, and am dealing with a back injury that I've finally understood probably means the end of my gymnastics career (it's been going on for 5+ years but has gotten much worse recently) . I joined competitive relatively late at the ripe old age of 16, and that combined with being a hyper-flexible kid meant I developed a lot of bad movement patterns that have not been kind to my spine. I'm seeing a physiotherapist, osteopath, and sports medicine doctor and have found a few things via x-rays and MRIs to explain the pain I'm in, but none of them are convinced it's the full story (I can elaborate on this if needed). This means I'm in varying degrees of pain most days, and on the good days I can rock climb if I'm careful and on the bad days I can't stand up for more than 10 minutes - and none of the professionals I'm seeing have a clear idea of what's contributing to my pain.
Long story short, I don't know what to do without gymnastics and don't know how to deal with the chronic pain I'm in, and am wondering if anyone has any advice. I'm only 24 and I'm miserable when I think about not being physically active anymore. I swim occasionally and I don't like it that much but maybe I don't have much of a choice at this point. I do enjoy rock climbing but I just found gymnastics so incredibly fun, challenging, and satisfying, in ways no other sports I've tried come close to.
Thanks so much for reading this and for any advice or stories you contribute!
Long story short, I don't know what to do without gymnastics and don't know how to deal with the chronic pain I'm in, and am wondering if anyone has any advice. I'm only 24 and I'm miserable when I think about not being physically active anymore. I swim occasionally and I don't like it that much but maybe I don't have much of a choice at this point. I do enjoy rock climbing but I just found gymnastics so incredibly fun, challenging, and satisfying, in ways no other sports I've tried come close to.
Thanks so much for reading this and for any advice or stories you contribute!