Parents Soreness

[Kristie]

Is it normal for your gymnast to be sore all the time? And by all the time I mean, 5 or more days a week. She’s not hurting unbearably but she mentioned that her arms, legs and back almost always hurt.

She’s newly level 3 JO after having been in a pre team program that didn’t stress proper form enough.

Is it possible the lack of proper form has been causing her this soreness?? Or is this the name of the game and a completely normal?

Thanks!!

 

[skschlag]

It can be. If it is just soreness it will come and go. They are probably conditioning more, and working on that form. It does come and go, but my son (L10) says that he is sore a lot. Nothing bad...just things are sore from working so hard. (he will actually say, everything, always hurts, but he is a teenager and well a bit dramatic). But yes, as long as it is just soreness it can be ok. Make sure she is stretching and drinking enough fluids.

 

[gymbeam]

Mine’s sore all the time and has been for years (she’s training level 10/age 14).

Most of the time it is just soreness, but there’s also pain in the mix every few weeks when a certain spot gets really inflamed. I think it’s unfortunately part of it.

 

[mommyof1]

If the move happened within the past several weeks, I wouldn’t be at all surprised. My daughter is always sore for a couple of weeks when they ramp up the conditioning at the beginning of summer training, even in years when she hasn’t moved up a level. I would expect a move to a program with a bigger focus on conditioning to cause even more soreness and for a longer period of time. A foam roller and/or one of the various massage tools available at your local specialty running store can help.

I would keep a close eye on the back soreness and err on the side of caution if you even suspect that it might be time to have a doctor look at it.

 

[Aussie_coach]

Soreness is very normal. But can she determine the difference between muscle soreness and injury related pain?

 

[CLgym]

Mine is sore a lot of the time now too. However, mine did not have regular, daily soreness until she was training 20+ hours per week. I definitely do not recall regular and ongoing complaints at Levels 3/4/5. Every once in a while, after some new or particularly tough conditioning, there might be soreness for a couple of days. But certainly not weeks/months of daily soreness. How many hours is she training? If it continues, I think I'd ask the coaches about it. Also, as others have mentioned, particularly monitor the back soreness. Mine has a tight thoracic spine, which causes back pain/discomfort. PT has helped, and we saw a pediatric sports medicine doc (who ordered an MRI to rule out any kind of stress reaction).

 

[Kristie]

Thanks everyone!

She’s in the gym 9 hours a week. I think she knows the difference between soreness and pain. I’ll check with the back...I worry about permanent damage since you hear all the time how gymnasts bodies are so beat up later in life. I certainly don’t want that for her. 10 years of gym isn’t worth a lifetime of pain.

We did just switch gyms and they train and coach differently so maybe after a bit with them the soreness will subside. I feel like our last gym was very lax on proper technique and form and maybe contributed to her soreness.

Again thank you!!