Pain Tolerance

[gymgurl]

Ok, well i have noticed that some people have pathetically low pain thresholds. Some people will have the slightest problem and will whine about it constantly whilst others don't complain at all and have broken this and that etc. there is a few questions i would like to ask why is pain tolerance varied do you think its how someone is raised, or is it a technical scientific genetic make up sort of thing. Do you think that gymnasts generally have high pain tolerance or do you think it varies a lot because there are some people in my squad who fall over slightly but then i fall in every single way shape and form and just get up laughing

 

[gymnastjess]

Im not sure on whether it was how they were raised or genetics but I know at gym if i fall and thump the floor or fall off beam or run into things or land on my back or head etc. then I just laugh it off but if I sprain my ankle (my sprains are normally really bad - not being able to walk for 5 weeks) or if one of the little 8 or 9 yo girls jumps on my back from a distance it realllllly hurts so I guess it depends on the individual some hurt in ways that others don't.

 

[Gymnasticgrandkids]

I'm thinking it has a lot to do with spoiled children...I find that the one's who are less tolerant of any "issue" are also (usually) the ones who are given a lot of attention when they do so...but that is probably a very broad statement. The tough ones are consoled but not with the "oh poor princess" syndrome.

 

[MaryA]

I have fraternal twin girls, so they're the perfect nature-versus-nurture experiment. We raised them both (more or less) the same, and Kathy, my gymnast, has a way higher pain threshold than Tory, my dancer/artist (she hasn't gone on pointe yet, so she hasn't gotten to the truly painful parts of dance). AND it hasn't grown out of Kathy being in gymnastics because I knew that this was the case when they were babies. When Tory got an ear infection (typical symptoms... fussy, pulling on ears, etc.) I always made appointments for both girls because Kathy ALWAYS had one too... hers just had to be really bad before she'd show any signs that she wasn't feeling well. One time, when they were maybe a year old, I took them to Florida to visit my grandma. Tory was completely out of sorts... fussy, not sleeping, etc. So I made them an appointment at the pediatrician who saw my aunt's children. I was convinced she had an ear infection. He looked her over and declared her healthy... she apparently was only out-of-sorts due to the change in her location and routine. But since we were there, I had him look at Kathy and she had a raging ear infection and a ruptured ear drum, probably from the altitude of the plane ride. She had been just as happy and easy going as ever and had given us no sign that anything was wrong.

So, from my limited scientific study, my hypothesis is that some kids have a higher pain threshold than others and that these kids are more likely to stick with gymnastics than those who don't.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

it's in the biology...not psychology.

 

[10.0]

I think there are a few factors. People do have sensitive pain areas on their bodies, for me it is my shins, get hit in the shin and it is almost tears

I think A LOT of it is in how the child was raised, I would never advise telling a truly injured kid to suck it up but from the toddler age you can tell the kids falling on their behinds when starting to walk fall and cry then Moms who run over and hold and comfort the child for and hour tend to have less tolerant kids as they know they scored attention out of the deal. The ones who either "igonore" the fall or say you are fine and move on tend to have more tolerant kids. Same as they age. I can tell you from coaching there were kids who got "hurt" every class, cried threw fits, needed ice for mere scrapes or nothing at all just attention.

I also taught a Parent and her kids whom in each and every class would have some pain or something go wrong and have to sit out or get ice several times during class, the Parent did it and sort or encouraged the kids, instead of saying you're okay they would be told to sit out, get ice, rest etc. and it was mainly for things that happened before gym, an itchy bug bite (no joke) a stubbed toe. There is also the other end of the spectrum, we just had a girl working on a broken arm for several weeks never telling anyone cause she wanted to go to regionals so bad.

In general I think most gymnasts are more pain tolerant, at least at the competition levels. I remember my coach when I was young. "If it aint bleeding and you can still move it, i don't want to hear about it."

 

[jenniffir]

My brother and i where always thought of as twin but he was actually 21 months older than myself, even still i find it interesting that i can bear so much pain whilst doing gymnastics (Nerve problem in my shoulder, messed up ankle, damaged back, and horrendous knee problems from hyoer extending my knees everyday without fail) anyway, if something of mine hurts i just bear with it and grind my teeth, i also perfer not to take pain meds because they usually dont work for my level of pain anyways. My brother on the other hand conmstantly complains about little aches in his knees. It is incredibly annoying when my mother drives all over town trying to find the right doctor that will find a reason his knee hurts so "bad".

When she finally found that doctor he said it was a minor contusion, gave him a brace and told him to stay off of it. He didnt like the way the brace looked so he took it off and did whatever he pleased. His knee hurt 2 weeks later so they went back, same result. He played footbal and rough housed again so it continued to hurt, so they went back once more. Now they want to send a scope in his knee to explore what might be wrong, its and expensive surgery that i would never even let my parents consider. But yet they are and i just dont understand, pain hurts but your not going to die because you have a little tingle in your knee.

 

[MaryA]

In spite of my belief that pain threshold is mostly "nature" I will say that I made a concerted effort NOT to be one of those moms that make a big deal out of every boo boo. There was a book I read when the girls were young (Growing A Girl), which I highly recommend (good gift for new parents of a girl, for sure). It talked about how we often treat girls differently than boys from the very beginning of their lives and that often they are more protected... not letting them climb as high on the jungle gym as you might a boy, scooping them up to coddle them after every fall, etc. I made up my mind that I was NOT going to do that. So neither of my girls are whiny (mostly) or afraid to climb or afraid to fall. I hope this has helped to create two strong, confident young ladies. But still, their pain thresholds are, and always have been, very different.

 

[Gymnasticgrandkids]

10.0...my husband used to just shout...."don't bleed on the rug"...and that was about it.

 

[thefellowsmom]

I have two kids and generally think of myself as down the middle as far as comforting/concerning myself with there falls and ouches. We do have a strict no blood no bandaid rule and I encourage them both to move on.

With that said, my son is very accident prone and falls multiple times a day. I swear that one is going to give me a nervous break down. But he can take a pretty big fall and bounce right back up. "Fine Mama" he says. Too cute.

The fellows is kinda a drama queen at home, throwing quite a fit at the smallest thing u til she realizes no one is listening. But she will come home from the gym talking about crushing he chest into the beam, laughing at what a crazy fall it was.

I just think every kid is different and that it is combined factors. All in all I think I land more to the biology side of things.

 

[Aussie_coach]

There is no evidence that the way a child is raised affects their pain tolerance. In all area's of life people have varying tolerance levels. Some people are more sensitive to the weather, while others rarely get sick. Some people react to various foods while others do not. Some people get asthma and hay fever when seasons change while others don't. Some people have such a strong sense of smell that they can't be in a room where someone is wearing too much perfumes, while others barely even notice.

This is the same for pain tolerance, some people will feel it more than others.

However, the way you were raised does have a direct affect on a child's reaction to pain. If a child has had a parent that tends to panic and fuss over small injuries then the child will do the same. If the child is usually lavished with attention when they are hurt, then they will react more to being hurt. But if a parent just picks them up, brushes them off and sends them on their way, then the child will learn to do the same with themselves.

There is a fine line between what is good and what is not good. On one hand we praise a high pain threshold in our gymnasts, as they work hard through conditioning and stretching despite the discomfort. As they don't let little injuries stop them from working out and we deplore the whiny child who wants an ice pack every 10 minutes.

But on the other hand a child who injures themselves and refuses to stop and let it get better will injure themselves more.

 

[mndl]

I really think a lot of it is " biology" too. I have four kids, oldest DS is pretty stoic as long as no blood is involved;2nd DS is a hypochondriac, something is always hurting or injured, seriously everyday he comes home telling me how he got hurt at recess. Drives me batty; it never stops him from doing things though. I think it is mostly an attention getter, though as I normally tell him he is fine, I'm not sure what he is getting out of it.
Now 6yo DS has a very low pain threshold, much weeping and wailing when he gets hurt and Heaven forbid if it is bleeding, hysterics will in sue. Finally 3yo DD seems to have a pretty high pain tolerance, and she most definitely does NOT like to be coddled if she is hurt; it offends her. If she falls or bumps into anything, she'll quickly say I'm okay and moves on. If she is really hurt and crying, she gets very mad if you make a big deal about it. She will accept a hug and a kiss on the hurt part, but much more than that and she'll yell "I'm fine, leave me alone". It's actually kind of funny.

 

[Kiwi]

I think we are talking about two different things. One is how someone feels pain, the other is how they react. I believe how we feel pain is in our invididual biology, as someone said, some people are more sensitive than others. How we react is more in the psychology. Someone might be in a lot of pain but be very stoic about it and not complain. Another might have only a small pain but complain a lot to get attention and sympathy. I've been careful with my girls to not make a fuss over their scrapes and bruises. I apply creams and band-aids as appropriate, then tell them it'll heal up and off they go.

 

[10.0]

I think I should have been more clear in my first post. I agree with the fact that each person is different in how they tolerate pain and what degree of pain they can tolerate. Indeed that is biological. But the aspect we tend to see is how the peson reacts to the pain and it really is hard sometimes to see a kid go bonkers over a scrape that isn't even bleeding. Hey maybe it does hurt but you just want to say come on!

We have a huge overuse of our first aid kit and ice IMO. Most times it is some "injury" that is not and has never bled needing a bandaid or the school age child won't join class, yes we are taking like 4th graders. In reality it is because they want attention, and probably are trying to find a way to get out of class for a while. Also a lot of kids pipe up with various complaints about beam time, they were fine to tumble, do bars and vault but now the toe they stubbed at school is KILLING them and they can't possibly do beam. Anyways those tricks are learned not biological.

 

[Bella's Mom]

I will say this.... I don't know that my daughter has an unusual pain tolerance necessarily but she's a tough kid (until it's time to do her hair). She will come in with bruises, scratches, and bloody spots and shrug them off. She has split the beam and popped back up. She frequently pulls her groin but works through the pain.

My niece of the other hand, turns every bump into an excuse to shriek and cry. Quite frankly, the drama drives me a little crazy and I'm quite glad that my daughter doesn't do the same.

I don't know if my parenting style has anything to do with it because I'm a "walk it off" mom. As a result, Bella doesn't come to me with all of her typical childhood boo boos. I don't baby her when she's hurt or when she's sick. That's just my personality. But if she stays in gymnastics, I do realize that I will have to help her watch out and learn the difference between a minor pulled muscle that she can work through and a more lingering, serious injury.

 

[MaryA]

I will say this.... I don't know that my daughter has an unusual pain tolerance necessarily but she's a tough kid (until it's time to do her hair).

LOL... Mine too! The pain tollerance doesn't seem to carry over to hair. I think that maybe it's because she has to sit still to have her hair done! In fact, having to sit still may be the most painful part for her!

 

[Mack_the_Ripper]

I think I have a pretty low pain tolerance...I always feel my shins, ankles, and wrists throbbing after practice and the next morning, and I often get a little teary when I have a hard fall (esp. splitting the beam!). However, when I do have a hard fall, I just crawl off and sit for a sec, and then I get right back up and keep going. I hate missing stuff, so I try not to ice during practice unless it's really hurting. I do push through pain almost all the time, unless there's something seriously wrong like a broken foot. Even then...coaches had to stop me from running around in my boot. I'd take it off at night and practice turns, even though it hurt, because I was terrified of losing my turn for beam.

 

[Gymnasticgrandkids]

Ok, so this is exactly what I was trying to say.....I said "spoiled kids" but Nikki said it much better...but still add the spoiled kids to this, lol...spoiled kids/parents over-reacting...sort of goes together...

 

[bribri514]

I'm studying PE/Health Education in college and work with my school's athletic department, I've also started doing a bit of gym coaching on holiday breaks and this summer am interning at a different college run sorts program for kids. So I guess I've seen a huge spectrum of people, kids and adults, with a wide spectrum of pain. In general athletes have stronger pain tolerance. But I've also noticed there's different kinds of pain if that makes sense. The distance runners on our track team can run 20 miles at a time, and that'd put some athletes in pain. But if I ever got tackled like a football player, that'd be sooooo painful! But the football player could no way hack one of my gym workouts. Your body gets used to certain things. I'm one of those weirdos with pain too. I had many ear operations since I was very little and always getting into trouble so I have a crazy high pain tolerance. I think it runs in my family though, my mom, a teacher and ski instructor/raft guide, and my little sister, who just got a part dancing with a pretty good ballet company are tough as nails too.