Little Links 27/2/2010

Do swimmers sweat?

Sports MD on The Role of Balance in Sports

Blog of Sport on how Gymnastics Equipment Creates Balance

Barefoot Running Biomechanics Expert Casey Kerrigan, Hopes to Develop a “Naturally Compliant” Shoe

Little Links 17/2/10

Become a fan of British Gymnastics on Facebook

New Shawn Johnson leotards for spring – opinions?

Sports MD has an article on ”Healing after a Traumatic Event”

Blythe is running a poll – Which US gymnast do you want added to the American Cup line up?

The TV Chick has a review of the latest episode of Make It Or Break It – what do you think?

Coping with Injury

As gymnasts, we all succumb to injury at some stage. Whether it’s a bruise, a bump, a scrape or break, we all suffer with an injury somehow. The question is, how do you deal with it? For those who are told they can’t attend training for a week or 2 weeks, it’s upsetting but what about those who are told that they can’t train for a longer period of time?

Last year, a mother of one of our gymnasts came to me asking me for advice. Her daughter had been complaining of back pain and also leg pain.  I referred her to a Podiatrist explaining that her daughter had very flattened arches and as she walked, her feet showed a very prominent inward direction. Despite the cost, €80 for the first consultation (the majority of which could be claimed back on health insurance) I advised that it would be best to have a proper assessment done so that structural problems could be fixed now as opposed to in years to come when the child will more than likely suffer knee, hip and back pain. I also suggested some light massage work to loosen the muscles out and also to offer her comfort. She thanked me but they never made an appointment.

Later during the year, I was approached by the same mother who said that her child was suffering direct knee pain. It is always best in these situations to talk to the child about how they are feeling as opposed to their parent saying they feel X and feel Y – when they might not. As Therapists, we are trained to choose our words carefully so I asked her to describe what she felt and when this feeling occurred as opposed to putting words in her mouth. She told me that she felt pain under her knee, often a dull ache when resting but a sharper pain when running, jumping etc. At this stage I had an idea in my head of what the problem was but waited to decide until I saw her knee. Quite a prominent bump was visible when the gymnast revealed her knee. It wasn’t too big but it did indicate the beginnings of Osgood Schlatters disease, a very common injury in gymnasts. The gymnast had all of the factors local pain, swelling and tenderness over the tibial tuberosity which was exacerbated by exercise. I advised her to take some time off training, complete rest for 2 – 3 weeks and see how it is and to ice it at home.

A month off training made no difference to this poor gymnast’s knee; in fact the lump had become sizeably bigger. I referred her to an excellent Therapist who has treated me and some former team mates for this injury and others. In August he told her to take 2 months off and return each month for a check up. The recovery to the leg was slow but progressive. By November she started to feel better until her right leg then became far worse affected than the left.

Those who have suffered with Osgood Schlatters will know that there’s very little you can do. Rest is the key factor. You must stop all running, jumping, bouncing.  Osgoods is a injury that has a very slow recovery period. It can be exhausting and draining having to wait for the pain to subside all the while watching your team mates progress and move on ahead of you. It can also be somewhat lonely.

 The gymnast is still out of full training, she trains mainly on bars, doing some light beam work and a lot of conditioning work. She has missed many competitions so far this season. I spoke to her last week about how she is feeling and getting on. I was surprised at how positive she is about her injury. She said that she has been watching her team mates over the last few months and can see the mistakes they are making when performing moves and she can’t wait to get back to full training when she will train harder than she ever has before and put all of her noted points into action. I commended her on the strength and determination she has shown throughout the last few months. She said that while she knows she has fallen behind her team mates on vault, floor and beam, she knows that it will take time to catch up and that she can do it.  It made me think, this girl has a great attitude towards injury, an absolutely superb attitude. I suffered with the injury briefly  (yet still have the lumps to show for it!) and can admit that I, in no way had as positive an attitude as this gymnast.

So how do you cope with injury? How do you deal with being out of training for a couple of weeks or months? For coaches, how do you keep gymnasts in this sort of situation motivated? How do you keep their spirits up? I’d be very interested in hearing from you all, from any readers of any sport!

Little Links 4/2/10

New tactics urged to fight female sports injuries

Salto Gymnastics Club – Irelands top gymnastics venue

Female athletes injured more than male athletes

Reduction in Irish Sports Council funding for Irish Gymnastics

FIG on “cracking down and easing up”

The current WAG World ranking lists

Which MIOBI character are you? I’m Payson “You’re talented and totally focused which makes you Payson. You’re the best of the best, you can afford to relax a little”

Running Barefoot – The Debate

Earlier this week Rick posted “Are running shoes causing injury?”, where he spoke about a book he reviewed on his own website and about whether shoes should be worn running. I’m very interested in this book; I think it’s another one that Rick has convinced me to purchase

There is a huge debate over whether as humans; running shoes are causing more harm than good. In general, it’s not just running shoes, it’s any shoes. Many women have problems with their feet, namely due to high heels and pointy shoes where they bear pain and discomfort for the sake of  style and fashion. Bunions would be the most common form of problem caused by ill fitting shoes – although this can also be down to genetic make up, as I have discovered. As I said, it’s any shoes that can cause problems - flip flops (thongs for any Aussie readers ) have no support for the foot. My podiatrist told me that the best form of shoes are those with laces that are properly tied – thus offering full and proper support to the foot. This being the reason why I shouldn’t really be wearing Uggs boots when I have serious feet problems as I have to wear very supportive shoes to hold my prescriptive orthotics in the correct place.

Personally I find it very difficult to source comfortable “runners”, I don’t find the standard Nike shoes etc comfortable and certainly will not pay through the roof for hi tech shoes that I won’t wear all too often.  I wear a hard prescriptive device in both of my shoes, I need a fairly flat shoe with a slight bit of a lift in the arch to accommodate the devices – these sorts of shoes are hard to come by and both the device and shoe are not suitable for running in. Luckily, I am not a runner. I enjoy running but unfortunately my feet and knees can’t take very much of it. I find I can’t walk around the gym when coaching or around the house barefoot, even just in socks. Due to the pain endured in my foot through the past few years, socks or comfortable shoes offer a physical and psychological protection to my feet. I’m afraid of anyone standing on my foot, especially the area that constantly aches so for me, they create a boundary between my foot and the world.  I know many people who wander around indoors barefoot – it’s not for me. Obviously when performing moves in the gym, I have my shoes off as it doesn’t feel natural. Running in the gym for a short while without shoes is fine but I couldn’t imagine running for longer than I would in gym.

I don’t have too much to say on the topic of whether running shoes are causing more hassle than good  as I find it difficult to tell what’s right and what’s wrong because each persons body is so different and unique (and my feet are such a huge pain in the bum) and no two people run the same way but I am open to all theories, thoughts and studies out there.  As always, I take all medical studies published with a pinch of salt. I found Ricks post very interesting, mainly because feet are an area of the body that I am truly fascinated with. 

I subscribe to The Sport of Science, a website run by Ross Tucker PHD and Jonathan Dugas PHD and this morning a great post popped into my reader about the debate of Running Barefoot VS Shoes. If you were interested in Ricks post, I suggest you have a read. It provides lots of links on the debate. You can also follow The Sport of Science on Twitter.

Little Links 12/1/10

Many thanks to Gymnastics in Europe for drawing my attention to this blog Coaching Gymnastics In The New Millenium. So far I have just skimmed through some of the posts but I’m so excited about reading the posts. The post content seems to be the exact type of subjects I like to read about when it comes to gymnastics. Biology, Anatomy and Physiology are a huge passion of mine so as you can imagine, I can’t wait to read some posts!

Speaking of which, Gymnastics In Europe has just started another blog since moving to the USA. Although I loved reading the content of a blog that was so close to home, I can’t wait to hear a European’s views on gymnastics in the USA, sometimes it seems so alien to me as the sport isn’t as big here.

I hope everyone’s 2010 season is going well so far!