Entries Tagged 'sport medicine' ↓

Recall Aaron Fotheringham, the kid from Vegas who did back salto in a wheelchair at Woodward?

I was scared for him that time, back in 2006.

Now … terrified

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

… On August 26, Aaron “Wheelz” Fotheringham became the first person in a wheelchair to land a double backflip. …

… I’ve also been working on a front flip. I’m gonna have to say that one’s scarier than the back flip. In the front flip, you’re trying to get around without your head digging into the ground. …

Outside

If Aaron keeps upping the difficulty, he’s going to get badly hurt. That’s obvious.

Mainstream media love to do these stories. This one is more balanced than usual.

Mail Online:

It’s enough to make any parents grimace as these Chinese children are contorted into the most uncomfortable positions.

Aged between four and seven, the young gymnasts are put through a rigorous stretching routine by their coaches during a training session. …

Read more: Hang in there: How children as young as four are stretched in training to be China’s future gymnasts

I was happy to see coaches doing handstand on a floor bar, rather than flat-handed. This will help prevent overuse injury to the wrists later in the career.

Thanks Jeni.

His first meet back from major knee surgery.

Good luck! … But simply getting back to that level of competition I’d call a win.

Sho with Horton

Sho’s blog – Game Time

Having graduated Stanford, he’s now now training with Chinese-born Zhang Jinjing, a 1996 Olympian and the 1997 world champion on parallel bars, at Champions Academy in Morgan Hill, Calif.

Canadian gymnast Brittany Rogers is back in the gym, still recovering from her foot injury suffered competing in Australia.

But what gym? Rumour has it that she’s switched from Omega to Phoenix.

Brittany posted this photo of her wrist under the caption – Bars love me.

Not too bad. Yet.

But recall it was an infection of the wrist that took Nadia out of the 1979 World Championships All-around.

Do you have a strategy for treatment / prevention of Bar wrist rip?

My best advice is to use vasoline under a neoprene wrist band. Often with a cloth wristband overtop.

UPDATE: Sara wraps electrical tape around her wrist, then wristbands as normal. … Any duct tape solution sounds good to me!

Crystal sends us a link to an an interesting study that seems to indicate that landing barefoot on soft mats causes more “distress” on the feet than on harder mats.

Certainly many higher level gymnasts prefer stiffer mats for landings for many reasons, especially as the risk of ankle sprain is lower.

Sport Science geeks should click through:

Orthotic effect of a stabilising mechanism in the surface of gymnastic mats on foot motion during landings

Dr. Bill Sands tells us that Sport Science research in gymnastics is dying. … If so, why don’t they make their reporting documentation and language more accessible?

The format and unnecessarily complex wordusement of that abstract makes me want to burn my most recent issue of the Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology.

World Gymnastics posted an exclusive interview with Canadian gymnast Brittany Rogers, slowly recovering from a foot injury at Pacific Rim Championships in May.

If you follow Brittany on twitter @brittyrogers, you know she’s been frustrated.

The interview is much more upbeat. After the most National Team Training Camp:

… I think Canada has a great chance of making the Olympic team. We are so determined and so ready, and are all working towards it. Every little bit counts, and no matter who is chosen to represent Canada in London, everyone’s effort helped. 2012 is still one of my biggest goals. I haven’t lost sight of it, …

World Gymnastics – Catching Up With: Brittany Rogers

I’m surprised there’s no discussion regarding her coach Vladimir Lashin, resigning as National Coach, and returning to her gym full-time.

Sports Girls Play has a good post – Tips for Dealing with Gymnast’s Hand Rips.

Great content, as always.

But it mentions using tea bags to “reduce the pain and speed the healing of the rip“.

This was common with War wounds decades ago, especially when medics had nothing else.

Some tea (green and black) has tannin, not tanic acid.

The two terms are often confused. There’s a clarification on Wiki Answers.

My question to the great gymnastics blog-o-sphere:

Does tannin from a wet tea bag actually do anything for a gymnasts hand rip?

Does it reduce pain?

Does it speed healing?

Or is this another “gym legend”? … A useful placebo?

Five minutes exhaustive research on the WWW couldn’t answer this question conclusively.

From a coaching clinic hosted by Calgary Gymnastics Centre.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

One of the coaches never did gymnastics. We asked him to look at all of these variations as simply double leg circles.

flank forward > rear support > flank backward > front support … REPEAT

The most important talking point of the session was wrist pain. It’s ended the career of many good gymnasts.

Cut back even at a young age for those kids who suffer a lot of pain. Consider splitting training into two 15min sessions each day, early and late.

Consider bracing the wrists. Take long breaks (e.g 2wks) off pommels if wrist pain gets bad. But continue with all other apparatus.

Mushroom and Floor are hardest on the wrists. Avoid those if you have wrist pain.

Leave a comment if you have other strategies on how to deal with that problem.

Killer choreography.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Recommended by Valérie Oudin. Merci.

The 1992 Olympian from Bulgaria, Silvia Mitova, was famously underscored. Despite that, she finished 11th AA in Barcelona.

In 1993 Silvia was nearly paralyzed training double twisting double back on Floor. That was the end of her career.

She has her own gym in Zieglerville, PA, Silvia’s Gymnastics.

… ACL tears are 4 to 8 times more frequent in females than males …

I’m still trying to get my head around that statistic. It’s simply not what I’ve seen in gymnastics knee injury over my lifetime.

Update – Commenters quickly pointed out that female gymnasts are far more fit than the average female athlete. These statistics are for all sports. Our stats are likely quite different.

Perfect 10 Physical Therapy and Personal Training has launched a program oddly named:

Cincinnati DNA Plyometeric and agility program

… increase jumping height, improve jumping and landing efficiency, improve landing mechanics for a perfect stick and in the process decrease the risk for injuries including ACL injuries. …

It’s a a 6 week program, 3x/wk plyometrics and agility, 2x/wk weights geared to physically prepare the female gymnast.

Click through to see a 7min video on the program.

And contact Perfect 10 if you want to know more. We might get some ideas of drills to include in our own injury prevention conditioning programs.

Larry Nassar, DO is the USAG National Medical Coordinator working out of Michigan State University Sports Medicine.

This is a guest post by the good Doctor.

Return to gymnastics after a gymnast has a stress fracture in their back: Spondylolysis

(use this program at your own risk)

My treatment plan for spondylolysis is very complex because it is customized to the individual gymnast.

First, I conduct a biomechanical evaluation of the gymnast to determine what the predisposing risk factors may be that created the stress fracture. I review all of their skills on each event to determine if there is a skill set that contributed to their stress fracture. The goal I set is to correct any of the risk factors found so that when they return to gymnastics they have a better body then what they had prior to the injury. I explain to them that they either need to change their body or change the activity or the back pain may return. If they only rest from activity until the pain resolves and then take the same body and return them to the same activity, chances are the same problem will return.

Brace Protocol:

If the gymnast does not have pain with normal life (activities of daily living) then I do not place them in a brace for their back. If the gymnast has pain with normal life then I place them in a Criss Cross Warm and Form back brace. The goal is to relieve them from pain with normal life activities. This then allows the fracture to heal quicker since the gymnast is not irritating the fracture site. It also helps prevent muscle spasms. Most gymnasts do not want to be in the brace, but after they use it to sit in school and they notice that they can sit much better with less pain, and then they are more compliant with wearing the brace. If after 2-3 weeks in the back brace and they still have pain with normal life, then I place them in an Aspen Contour LSO to try and relieve their pain with normal life. This is a more rigid and motion restricting brace. They wear the brace 24 hours a day. They may remove it to shower and do therapeutic exercises.

Once in the Aspen Contour LSO, they remain in that brace until they can arch without pain. They now can remove the Aspen brace and return to the smaller more flexible warm and form brace.

After 4 weeks I reassess them. If their exam is significantly better and they have full pain free range of motion, then I place them on the fast track and they wear the warm and form brace only 12 hours a day for the next 2 weeks. At 6 weeks I recheck them and if doing well, the brace is then only used in the gym. At 8 weeks the hard plastic is removed from the back pouch of the warm and form brace and then by 10-12 weeks they progress to full gymnastics. The brace is completely removed once they have been able to return to full gymnastics.

After 4 weeks if their exam is improved but they still have pain with trunk extension then they are on the standard track. They then use the back brace for 12 hours per day for the next 4 weeks and I do not recheck them again until week 8. If they are then able to arch fully pain free then they wear the brace only while in the gym. If at 8 weeks they still have pain with full extension then they stay in the brace 12 hours a day and I recheck them again at 12 weeks. If they are able to arch pain free then they only wear the brace in the gym. By week 14 they then remove the hard plastic back out of the warm and form brace in the gym and when they are back to full gymnastics then they remove the brace completely. By wearing the Warm and Form brace without the hard plastic insert, the soft elastic corset helps to remind the gymnast to keep their core muscles engaged.

Physical Therapy protocol:

As soon as the gymnast is diagnosed with spondylolysis, I place the gymnast in physical therapy to correct all the imbalances found and improve their overall core stability and function. The first 4 weeks they work with neutral trunk to trunk flexion bias. If they are on the fast track then by week 6 they start working into trunk extension in PT. If they are on the standard track, they start working trunk extension somewhere between 8-12 weeks. If they are placed into the Aspen Contour LSO then in general they are not able to start extension work until about 12 weeks. They must be pain free with normal life before starting to work into extension in PT. They gradually increase their trunk strength in extension. It may be easier to start to challenge the spine in extension by working the hips into extension first, then add trunk extension and finally add trunk and hip extension combined at the same time. They must be able to arch first In PT with their exercises before they are allowed to do arching in the gym.

The key generic points in physical therapy to be addressed:

1. Shoulder flexibility restrictions – If their shoulders are tight, then they over arch their back to compensate for the lack of the shoulder flexibility.

2. Hip flexor/quad/IT band/erector spinae flexibility.

3. Normal gluteus maximus firing pattern needs to be restored.

4. Gluteus medious strength, gluteus maximus inferior fibers strength, pelvic floor strength, and abdominal strength along with proper coordination of the muscle firing need to be restored.

5. Overall, the therapist needs to correct all the musculoskeletal imbalances that are risk factors for low back pain to prevent reoccurrence of the injury.

Gymnastics Training Protocol:

The first 4 weeks they only can do some simple dance moves on the floor, low beam dance and conditioning exercises that do not over stress the back. The key point is to avoid all impact activity and arching of the back. At week 4 if they are on the standard of fast track they are allowed to start some jumps on tramp and light jogging as part of a warm up in practice. At week 6 if they are on the fast track and week 8 if they are on the standard track, and they can arch with the therapy exercises without pain, then they can start some tumbling on the tumble track and bridging over a ball or barrel mat. If on the fast track between 8-10 weeks and at 10-12 weeks if on the standard track, they are able to do all gymnastics except for the more stressful activities to the back. The last things that are added back are those that create the most stress to the back: BWO/FWO, limbers, sheep jumps, ring leaps. Sometimes I have them stop these skills altogether. Some of the other skills that may stress the back and should be approached with more caution is piked landings (double pikes are tough on the back). Reverse hechts, hand front vaults, standing back handsprings on beam (it is easier to have them start with RO BHSP then to do Standing BHSP). Beam is always harder then floor since beam does not have the same lift as they get on floor and since the skills do not have the same run into the approach to get more power. Bar skills like casting, kips and tap swings can be more stressful to the back. Straddle back to handstand can create stress to the back if they do not hit the hand stand and over arch the back to save the skill. The skills are so varied over the spectrum of levels that I try to customize the skill progression per gymnast.

For more information, click through to GymnasticsDoctor.com.

Istvan Balyi said something very interesting at a recent coaching course.

He feels that of all the variables of “sustenance”, sleep is the most essential for athletes. More important than nutrition or hydration!

Teenage boys can sleep as many hours as a baby. A teenage boy who trains intensely needs even more recovery sleep than his peers.

Consider interviewing your athletes regarding their sleep patterns.

related:

Psychiatric News – Sleep May Be Athletes’ Best Performance Booster

European Journal of Sport Science – Nutrition, sleep and recovery

Ivan Cuk (Slovenia) has posted a new edition of (ScGYM®).

Click through if any of these articles look of interest to you.

A HISTORY OF USA ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS (PDF)

QUALITY OF THE TEACHING PROCESS AS AN EXPLANATORY VARIABLE IN LEARNING GYMNASTICS SKILLS IN SCHOOL PHYSICAL EDUCATION (PDF)

COORDINATION OF HANDWALKING IN GYMNASTS: A COMPARISON TO BIPEDAL WALKING (PDF)

JUDGES EVALUATION OF ROUTINES IN MEN ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS (PDF)

BASIC LANDING CHARACTERISTICS AND THEIR APPLICATION IN ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS (PDF)

Home page – Science of Gymnastics Journal vol.2, num.2, 2010

Ivan is looking for articles for future publication.

Related:

… The gymnastics community (FIG) knows that more knowledge leads to a lift in the level of gymnastics. At the end of June, the second symposium on artistic and rhythmic gymnastics, organized by the Faculty of Physical Education, Campinas University, will be held in Sao Paolo, Brazil. details.

We strongly support gymnastics conferences and would like to share information about all such scientifically orientated events. If you are planning to organize a scientific conference on gymnastics please let us know and we will publish the information on our pages. …