How do injuries affect gymnastics?
By: Carlie Tesch
Intro
- Gymnastics is one of the most dangerous sports in the world
- It's so dangerous because of the amount of injuries it causes
- All of the stress on your bones from all the practice can break bones, and tear muscles
Most common injuries
- Some of the most common injuries that are caused by gymnastics are...
- 5. Spondylosis, which is a specific part of the vertebrate caused by a stress fracture or repetitive stress
- 4. Achilles Tendonitis, which is caused by repetitive stress
- 3. ACL injuries happen when you land short
- 2. Sprained ankles are caused when you fall or roll your ankle
- 1. Sprained wrists occur when there is constant strain or land on it wrong
Ways to help sprained wrists and ankles
Rest your ankle or wrist
Make sure to not put any pressure on it for the first 48 hours or so. Ice the ankle or wrist to reduce swelling.
Compress the ankle or wrist
Put a bandage or wrap around the ankle or wrist to help stable it and reduce the blood flow near the sprained limb
Elevate the ankle or wrist
By elevating sprained ankles and wrist you are moving the fluid away from the injured part so the swelling goes down
The different types of breaks and fractures
The 2 main types of fractures
- The 2 main types of fractures are stress and impact
- Stress fractures happen when stress/pressure is on the bone for a long period of time
- The amount of practice weakens the bone and it just starts to creak
- Impact fractions happen just like that
- These fractures occur when you fall or hit a bone
- Some examples are when you fall off of a trampoline or fall off your bike
- These are just the main types of fractures, there are many more
Ways to heal broken bones.
- When you break a bone, you may not always get the best care right away
- But when the doctor finds out you have a broken bone, you most likely get a spint or a brace, not a cast
- Casts and splints help the bone heal because it immobilizes the bone so that it can reform and make it stronger
- There are 2 layers of a cast
- The first layer is the padding, the white wrap that you see sticking out of the cast
- It is there to help the the skin be protected underneath the plaster top which is the second layer
- Wet bandages are placed on the top and take about 10-15 minutes to harden
- The top part helps the bone to not get bumped or broken again
Ways to prevent injuries
- Instead of just going to flip and tumble right away, you should always warm up and stretch
- If you don't you are more likely to rip or tear a muscle
- For a little sample warm up do some running, stretching, splits, arm circles and jumping jacks
- The main bones that you want to stretch are your arms, legs, backs, wrists, and your ankles
- Another way to prevent injuries is to dress appropriately
- Gymnasts wear leotards with their hair up and out of their face
- If you don't have a leotard, you can wear tight clothing with your hair up, no jewelry or socks
- Another way to prevent an injury is grips, wrist guards, and different kinds of braces to help stabilize bones that have already been hurt of broken
- Use the equipment correctly
- Don't use something that your not 100% sure how of it works
- Make sure nobody is around you so you don't hit anybody, or another piece of equipment
Make sure to stretch
This is one of the most known stretches that gymnasts do, splits!
Dress appropriately
This is what a practice leotard looks like. Most of them are short sleeve, and competition ones are usually long sleeve.
Use equipment saftely
This is some equipment mainly used a home, for little kids in the gym, or for drills.
How does physical therapy help broken bones?
- Physical therapy is meant to help you heal bones that you have broken or hurt
- It can also prevent further injuries
- Massaging your muscles helps the bone not to hurt as much
- Physical therapy also helps make the muscle's stronger, improve flexibility, and it helps you function the bone better and stronger than before.
Gymnastics fails
- Here are 2 video's of different fails
- Enjoy!!!
Gymnastics Fail / Accidents Huge Compilation
Girl Breaks Both Ankles - Gymnastics Fail/Injury/Accident
Conclusion
- In conclusion gymnastics is a dangerous sport
- By using equipment safely, wearing the right clothing and stretch will help prevent injuries
- When you break a bone, most likely you will be put into a cast to heal and immobilize the bone
- Ways to heal sprained wrists and ankles are to ice it, compress it, and elevate it
- Thanks for watching