Conventional wisdom is that NCAA female gymnasts are amongst the world’s most injured athletes.
… I once read an article claiming that only professional bull-riding produces more major injuries than gymnastics. While I don’t know if that is really true, I feel fairly comfortable saying that gymnastics is the most injury-prone of all non-contact/non-collision sports. …
GemGemz.com: Injuries common in gymnastics – focusing on NCAA Women’s Gymnastics
Professor Keith Russell from the University of Saskatchewan has tracked the research for decades. He often presents on the topic of injury prevention at FIG Academy events.
And Keith Russell agrees. Female gymnasts are close to NCAA male football players in terms of injury rate. It’s a very high risk sport.
Recently I posed to Keith the possibility that College injury statistics might be skewed. Last season after winning Championships, many of the Georgia girls were booked for surgery. That surprised me as they looked “perfect” during the competition. I speculated that whole teams are block booked for surgery immediately after the last competition of the year in preparation for the following season.
Am I right?
Much is minor surgery that a club based gymnast would not undergo. Club kids would “heal naturally” from such “injuries” as sore ankles at the end of the season.
But College programs have a lot of money invested in their teams. And access to the best sports medicine facilities.
Leave a comment if you think my theory is crazy. That College gymnasts really are more injured than club gymnasts as the statistics seem to indicate.
Gymnastics Coaching.com 