Not a gymnastics parent, but the parent of a 13 year old competitive tennis player who had a shoulder injury last year.

Is she able to work on other things at this time while her shoulder recovers?

For example, when DD was injured, her coach focused fully on footwork since she could not swing. As a result, her movement got significantly better once she got back to competing. She also did a lot of plyometrics work that did not involved her moving her shoulder and her speed improved significantly as a result.
A good coach will be able to work around an injury if given the OK by the medical team.

Not gymnastics but my kid had a pretty bad injury this year.

I was afraid that they'd never be the same or have long lasting effects from it. ie will always be kind of sore depending on the weather, never regain the full range of motion or mobility, etc.

And it kind of annoyed me that it seemed like the orthopedist was just going by the book rather than looking at our kid's specific case and progress.

But it's like I told my kid, be smart about it, don't do anything stupid and let them fully heal before getting back to it. For their activities, there's examples of players who try to come back too early and worsens their injury are either never the same or can't ever play again. So I was able to point to those examples.

My kid does multiple activities and they seem to be doing okay in the activities they resumed so far. Will have to see how they do in the others.

It did help that my kid's coach still encouraged them to attend team events and still feel like part of the team while they were sidelined.

So I'm along the same lines as the previous poster in having your daughter maybe stick to basic things that won't stress her shoulder while it recovers.

When I was researching rehab for my kid, I did come across a video of a gymnast with a similar injury that my kid had and it seemed like she recovered okay:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZCV4fjcq90

So am wishing your daughter a speedy recovery and hope she will be back to the same level she was competing at before soon!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is she able yo compete because she’s getting cortisone shots or other meds? You’re setting her up for arthritis or worse. Her health should be the priority not college gymnastics.

Ortho and PT ok'd competition.

You didn’t answer the cortisone/meds question

My kid is across the country at a gym with national team members and D1 prospects. There have been more than a few girls with injuries at key times (8th-10th grade, level 8-10) who recovered and are now top recruits, already committed, or competing d1. Some of them took more than a year off and were only doing conditioning and mental training.

You need a PT and a doctor who understand gymnastics and the PT needs to work with your coach to put together a plan, especially once she is fully returned to practice.

Our gym has a PT in-house who coordinated with outside doctors and PTs to develop return-to-gym protocols.

Returning to full routines and competition while still injured is raising big red flags for me. I think you might find better advice on a place like chalk bucket or the Facebook groups specifically restricted to parents of upper optionals.

I am a former D1 gymnast. I had a severe injury at 15 (level 10/ jr elite at the time). It’s frustrating and in a mental sport like gymnastics can be extra challenging. Take this time to get back to basics. It will be boring and tedious but so helpful for college gymnastics and their scoring system. Also, diversify conditioning. I took up swimming which helped my endurance levels. Also necessary for college when you are competing weekly.

Encourage her to take this time to get stronger and not just increase difficulty. Easier said than done, I know!!

I’m sorry, an injury always sucks but especially when it feels like a critical recruiting time. To allay that stress, maybe have your daughter spend some of her forced down time cutting competition and practice video together into appropriate length recruiting video? Narrowing lists of schools and finding coach emails?

Does she have a therapist? They can be helpful in navigating the mental side of injury.

Best wishes for a strong, rehabbed shoulder in the near future!

Anonymous wrote:Is she able yo compete because she’s getting cortisone shots or other meds? You’re setting her up for arthritis or worse. Her health should be the priority not college gymnastics.

Ortho and PT ok'd competition.

Is she able yo compete because she’s getting cortisone shots or other meds? You’re setting her up for arthritis or worse. Her health should be the priority not college gymnastics.

My DC is dealing with a shoulder injury and is a gymnast. She is able to continue practicing and competing through it while doing PT and rehab, but is not competing at her normal level. Obviously, this is really hard for her mentally. Any advice for making it through? DC has dreams of continuing her sport in college and is really scared that this injury has ended that dream, which it may have, who knows? It's so competitive out there.