All-Star Returning To Cheer After A Trumatic Injury

[Creatvmom3]

Hello Cheer friends,

Have questions and need advice. My daughter broke both the radial and ulna bones in her right forearm this past summer tumbling while at camp. She had to have surgery where they inserted 2 rods and pins. She was in a cast for a total of 10 weeks and has been out of the cast for 4 weeks next Thursday. The Orthopedic Dr. says the rods will be removed this coming Feb. since she is only 12 years old, and then weeks of sports Rehab.

Has anyone ever had this type of injury and returned to cheer/ tumbling? She has been cheering since age 6, and loves cheer and tumbling so much. She has been very down seeing her cheer friends preparing for the upcoming season and she has to sit out and watch. Any advice with getting back into it and suggestions on how to try to keep her from mental blocks? All advice is greatly appreciated!

Thanks

 

[NJ Coach]

I had an athlete with this exact injury. She missed the rest of the season, but she was able to return the following. I remember she came to the gym and did strength and conditioning so that her body was ready once she was cleared. Lots of stretching etc. She had absolutely no issue tumbling and stunting after that (she was younger than your daughter is now). My biggest piece of advice is really focus on strength, conditioning and stretching. This keeps her involved, and keeps her body ready to go. Once she's cleared, her biggest fear may be that it's going to hurt, but once she realizes she'll be ok, hopefully she'll be fine. Kids are resilient.

 

[WinstonsGirl]

I broke both those bones when I was 10, doing a prone fall. Can't do those anymore. It also killed any competitive gymnastic career I had (not a huge one, but still). I was tentative going back at first, and actually focused more on swimming at the time to help strengthen it in a non-scary way. There wasn't physio/sports rehab/etc. back then for random kids.

Get her involved in something to help strengthen it and no pressure to get back in the gym. If she broke it tumbling, she may have that mental block no matter what you do. Let her get back to that when she's ready (and cleared of course). Start her back in lower level classes if she wants to take them to get her more comfortable with the basics again, and she may be able to translate that into fewer mental blocks. On the other hand, she may have no issues and jump right back in. But let her judge what she is ready for. As I said, to this day, I can't do a prone fall and even failed that component in my University gymnastics class cos I couldn't do it.

 

[Mo' Bettah]

Hello Cheer friends,

Have questions and need advice. My daughter broke both the radial and ulna bones in her right forearm this past summer tumbling while at camp. She had to have surgery where they inserted 2 rods and pins. She was in a cast for a total of 10 weeks and has been out of the cast for 4 weeks next Thursday. The Orthopedic Dr. says the rods will be removed this coming Feb. since she is only 12 years old, and then weeks of sports Rehab.

Has anyone ever had this type of injury and returned to cheer/ tumbling? She has been cheering since age 6, and loves cheer and tumbling so much. She has been very down seeing her cheer friends preparing for the upcoming season and she has to sit out and watch. Any advice with getting back into it and suggestions on how to try to keep her from mental blocks? All advice is greatly appreciated!

Thanks

 

[njallday]

I had a similar injury, not from tumbling, just clumsiness, but I broke one and had to have the other surgically broken in multiple places to straighten it since it seriously bent on impact.

I cannot stress enough to listen to the doctor. Show him videos of similar leveled routines. Show the rehab docs. Do NOT push to get her cleared before she's ready. I went back to cheer when cleared, re-injured the forearm, and ended up in a cast for 6 months. It wasn't pretty. I know it's hard to see her sidelined but don't push it. Please.

Also, I second @NJ Coach 's suggestions. Conditioning is a great idea. Kids are so resilient.

 

[quitthedrama]

My CP broke her elbow while tumbling and needed surgery and pins and was completely out of cheer for about 7 months. Physically she healed fine, but when she came back she had a huge tumble block and would not do anything more than a ROBHS. That tumble block lasted for a full year, and it actually took a new coach to help her through it, and then she had the exact same injury about two months after she regained her tumbling (this time not cheer related) but was only out about 4 months.
I agree with the conditioning, but just as important have her stretch regularly. There is really no way to know where she will be mentally when she is ready to go back. Some kids go right back to the skills they had, and some don't ever tumble again. Sending good thoughts to her!

 

[mischiefmanaged]

Last year my CP broke her arm in the same place doing a back walkover. They put the bone back in place put a cast on and when her cast came off the doctor cleared her. Exactly one month later it broke again while doing a back walkover. That time required surgery and they put in a temporary rod then surgery again to take it out. Long story short her doctor shouldn't had cleared her, that time I showed a video and he hadn't really understood what she was doing. She sat out most of last year, but she went to practice and stretch the entire time because she missed being there. We also took her to competitions and she went with the team in the back to warm up and walked out and sat with the coaches, she wanted to do this so we let her. When her second cast and the rod came out she was told no tumbling or stunts. Her coach gave her the option to nugget during tumbling and stunts and to do jumps and the dance or to keep sitting with the coaches. She choice to nugget just to be able to go out there.

She is 9 and got cleared in July to tumble again. No one pushed her and she had a spot for her back walkover for about 3 months before she said she was ready to do it on her own. She says the back walkover still terrifies her but if she does a standing one its less scary so her coach has worked her tumbling pass to be a round off some fancy looking back roll (no idea the name) then a backwalkover because having to stand up from the roll CP says takes a lot of the momentum away and gives her the split second she needs to prepare for her back walkover. She is on a level 1 team but when she works other new skills it doesn't scare her, just the back walkover does.

 

[mischiefmanaged]

I want to add, I try very hard to not let my CP realize that her tumbling scares ME right now. But I can't watch practice anymore and I spend the whole time wondering if I'm going to get a call from her coach that she broke her arm again.

 

[cheermomforever]

As with any big injury, dr clearing her does not necessarily mean go back 100% all out. Sometimes athletes get scared or nervous returning to the skill they injured it on and over compensate or bail on it due to fear. Take it slow have coach spot her to get her confidence back at first.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ncmomx2]

As with any big injury, dr clearing her does not necessarily mean go back 100% all out. Sometimes athletes get scared or nervous returning to the skill they injured it on and over compensate or bail on it due to fear. Take it slow have coach spot her to get her confidence back at first.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So true! My daughter was cleared after her 2nd concussion, went full out but wasn't completely healed. Now she is completely out of competitive. High school is up in the air.

 

[myprincesscheers]

My daughter fractured her elbow, radial head fracture as well as a fracture of the humerus where it meets the elbow. She did that on October 5. It was non-displaced, very simple fracture. She was in a private and tripped going into a rbhs, so she hyperextend while trying to catch herself. She got her cast off on 11/16. We're now doing range of motion exercises and light weight to build strength. She goes back on 12/9 for another x-ray and will likely be cleared then. She's missing her first comp but hopefully she'll be good to go for the second one, at the end of January.

 

[myprincesscheers]

My daughter goes in 2 days for her x-ray and hopefully she'll be cleared. She has done a few things out of boredom at the gym. She told me about it afterward. She's done her level 1 skills but not that many times. We've done range of motion exercises at home, working with can goods and then a small weight. She has almost complete range of motion back and no pain or stiffness anyymore. So, we'll see what the dr says on Friday.


But going forward, how should proceed? I just wonder how long she may need to be spotted on bhs and once she's doing it, how many times she should do it. Know what I mean? Also, our gym doesn't have a tumble track. I wonder if I should take her somewhere that does to begin working on them.

 

[cheermomforever]

My daughter goes in 2 days for her x-ray and hopefully she'll be cleared. She has done a few things out of boredom at the gym. She told me about it afterward. She's done her level 1 skills but not that many times. We've done range of motion exercises at home, working with can goods and then a small weight. She has almost complete range of motion back and no pain or stiffness anyymore. So, we'll see what the dr says on Friday.


But going forward, how should proceed? I just wonder how long she may need to be spotted on bhs and once she's doing it, how many times she should do it. Know what I mean? Also, our gym doesn't have a tumble track. I wonder if I should take her somewhere that does to begin working on them.

Follow her Drs orders exactly, take it slow and make sure her coach knows from YOU not your daughter what doc says! Kids will want to rush. Even if she's cleared a good coach will do what is right so she doesn't get injured by going too quick.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Spazz]

Honestly, since she is so young, she'll probably bounce back faster than she realizes! I had a shoulder surgery and was out for an entire season, and there will be mental blocks, but I'm sure she can overcome them. Tell her it's okay to go slow, and not to get discouraged if she's rusty. Going back to basic drills will help her gain confidence and strength back as well. The hardest part will be doing skills again for the first time, but once she's over that hurdle, she'll do great.

Encourage her as much as you can! I wish her luck!