Gymnast injuries and prevention strategies

Exercise and Gymnast Injuries

Injuries to Gymnasts & Prevention

Younger athletes are particularly vulnerable to injuries, and in the case of gymnasts, because of the great physical, stamina, and balance-related demands, extra pressure is placed upon them that is particularly challenging. According to Dr. Lyle J. Micheli (www.nyssf.org) of the Division of Sports Medicine at Children's Hospital in Boston, MA, growth tissue is localized at three particular sites on the bones. Those three places are the joint surfaces, the growth plates, and the sites of major muscle-tendon insertions. And what is also necessary to understand is that growing cartilage tissue is fairly soft in younger people, softer than in adults, and hard training along with vigorous participation in gymnastics can put undue strain on the growth plate; in particular, "high velocity trauma" - the kind of activity that a gymnast goes through when landing - may be harmful.

Indeed, according to an article in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, "the vast majority of competitive participants" in gymnastics are children, and the reason why that is true is because there is a "widely held belief that to achieve success at the highest level," competition and serious training must be started "before puberty" (Daly, 2000). That timing is appropriate in the minds of coaches and parents, Daly continues, because pre-puberty is when a "small lean physique is likely to convey a performance advantage." Some young gymnasts actually begin training at age five or six years, and they train, Daly continues, "for between 20 and 40 hours a week all year around."

Meanwhile, all gymnasts, younger athletes and more mature athletes as well, can and do sustain injuries. Daly suggests that, "inconsistent strength training may explain the decline or plateau in gymnastics performance and high incidence of injury during the preparatory phase of training in some gymnasts." Another cause of injuries, Daly continues, is a loss of "concentration and inattentiveness"; in particular a loss of concentration can be attributed to inadequate rest (sleep) and to poor nutritional habits.

There is also evidence that "insufficient warm up may leave muscles and other skeletal structures unprepared for the forthcoming performance," the article points out. Daly comes to the previous conclusion based on the fact that a three-year study of female athletes found that "most strains in young elite female gymnasts occurred during the first hour of practice." Another point to mention in addressing the reasons for injuries - and hence, the solution to avoiding injuries is to learn from others' mistakes and shortcomings in training - is when an athlete has "poor and excessive flexibility or hyper-mobility." In proper warm-up situations, an athlete is embracing "both static and proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation stretching techniques."

The attention should be placed on "non-weight-bearing upper extremities," when warming up properly to avoid injuries. And further, when doing weight training, "poor spotting or no spotting," Daly writes, "has been suggested as a risk factor for gymnastics injuries." However, a study on gymnastics injuries reported that - according to Daly's research - some 65% of injuries happened in the presence of a spotter, which, it is suggested by the author, may be because "gymnasts attempt more difficult tasks when assisted by a spotter."

Yet another reason for injuries among gymnasts is "poor posture" during both dynamic and static movements; poor posture can result from the weakness of muscles, "skeletal deformity, carelessness, and general laziness," Daly writes. And a way to avoid injuries to the elbow, that is fairly obvious, is to use thicker landing mats, and to get expert training in how to fall properly. For males, injuries to the wrist have been identified as being caused by training on the pommel, because "the wrist is exposed to repetitive forces of up to twice body weight during this activity."

Exercises using the plyometric strategy are very useful for gymnasts; plyometric exercises are the "rapid deceleration and acceleration of muscles" that in turn help create a stretch-shortening cycle," according to www.specialolympics.org.These kinds of exercises train the muscles, and train the nervous system to carry out in an effective way the stretch-shortening cycle, which can improve the performance of a gymnast. Drills using plyometrics also help the athlete develop "rhythm, speed, power and even muscular endurance," the Special Olympics site explains. All plyometric exercises must be carried out on a flat soft surface, and for example, doing the "Exploding Harvards" plyometric exercise builds stamina and muscle strength by doing 10 jumps on each leg.

Juan Carlos Santana (www.performbetter.com)(Med, CSCS) describes plyometrics as an "explosive-reactive" kind of power training, involving "powerful muscular contractions in response to a rapid stretching of he involved musculature." The plyometric muscle contractions have an extremely high degree of central nervous system involvement; an example of a plyometric exercise that Santana recommends is the jump off a 6 to 12-inch box, and then a quick jump up to a 24-inch box. The smaller box "loads the legs quick enough," Santana explains, to "create the stretch reflex needed..." For this kind of training.