Gymastic Injuries & Treatment

Land Strong - Preventing and Recovering from Gymnastics Injuries

Gymnastics is more popular than ever. An ancient sport that featured in the Olympic games of ancient Greece, Gymnastics has remained one of the most popular Olympic sports ever since. And these days, people love to do gymnastics even more than watch it on television. By some counts, there are nearly five million gymnasts nationwide, with thousands more joining the sport every single year. The sport requires an incredible amount of strength and coordination, and many people view gymnasts as the most fit athletes in the world. And competitive or not, it is an excellent pastime for kids to challenge themselves and stay in good shape. While all of this is a seemingly positive trend, there is one downside: injuries.

The intensity of gymnastics puts an incredible strain on the body and can lead to a host of injuries. Athletes who train and compete hard in the sport, particularly the young people who make up the overwhelming number of gymnasts nationwide, can be especially prone to injuries. Overuse injuries due to the high intensity and repetitive nature of gymnastics are relatively common.

Rotator cuff injuries are most common in other sports, can afflict gymnasts as well. Wear and tear from intense gymnastic workouts can lead to numerous other soft tissue pain and injury, too. Fortunately, none of these injuries have to keep you out from tumbling for too long. There are new and innovative techniques to treat common gymnastics injuries, alleviate pain, and get you back on the bars in a relatively short amount of time.

The Graston Technique: Tailor-Made for Gymnasts

One of the newer treatments for typical gymnasts' injuries is the Graston Technique (GT). GT is a form of soft tissue mobilization. GT involves a trained practitioner using a specially designed set of stainless steel instruments to manipulate afflicted soft tissue. The GT instruments allow clinicians to identify injured tissue, and then are used to break down scar tissue and other restrictors. The technique facilitates increased blood flow to problem areas, alleviates pain, and can speed up the recovery process. While still a relatively new medical innovation, several clinical trials have affirmed the Graston Technique's effectiveness at addressing soft tissue injuries.

GT therapy is great news for the sport of gymnastics. Competitive gymnasts often experience strained muscles and tendons, or adhesions, which keep muscles painfully tight and limit range of motion. Additionally, the repetitive nature of many gymnastics routines can leave athletes with a myriad of body pain and injures, all of which are extremely difficult to address with a foam roller or by stretching your limbs after a workout. GT can immediately address the buildup of scar tissue, alleviate lingering pain, and promote soft tissue healing.

The Graston technique can be especially effective at addressing injuries before they become serious and debilitating, so it is worth checking with your physical therapist to get treatment as soon as your aches and pains start adding up.

Active Release Treatment Therapy (ART) for Gymnasts

Active Release Therapy, or ART, is another relatively new non-invasive technique to treat injuries commonly seen in serious gymnasts. ART is a patented technique that involves hand manipulation of soft tissue by a trained practitioner. ART's 500-move treatment protocol is exceptionally effective at identifying damaged soft tissue, and then treating it. These carefully designed, precision movements, like GT, can help increase blood flow, alleviate pain, and restore range of motion. All of this, again, is great news for swimming enthusiasts.

ART can help address the type of repetitive motion injuries that are endemic to gymnastics. Specially trained ART practitioners are adept at identifying the source of soft tissue injury or pain, then breaking down the scar tissue causing it. Active Release Therapy is also used as a preventative measure to keep muscles and tendons primed for workouts, thus avoiding injury altogether.

Don't Let Injuries Slow Your Roll

Gymnastics is a great activity to get yourself in the best shape of your life and stay that way. It is also a phenomenally challenging endurance sport. The intensity of competitive gymnastics, like any other demanding activity, can frequently lead to recurring pain or injury. The Graston Technique and Active Release Therapy offer gymnasts innovative ways to keep muscles and tendons in good shape, and prevent injury altogether. They are also extremely effective at treating soft tissue injuries and rapidly getting athletes back into their workout routine in no time. So don't wait until it's too late. Do your homework, find a clinician who offers GT or ART, and keep yourself injury and on the balance beam.

Our Chandler Chiropractic and Physical Therapy clinic treats patients with a variety of muscle, tendon, joint, and ligament injuries. The clinic provides treatment for runners, tri-athletes, and weekend warriors in addition to common headache, neck, and back patients traditionally seen in Chiropractic, Physical Therapy, Massage Therapy clinics. We work with all ages and abilities of the residents in Phoenix, Tempe, Gilbert, Mesa, and Chandler AZ.