How To Stick the Landing: Landing Mechanics Training for Gymnasts
The Olympic Games have a special way of bringing increased interest, awareness, and excitement to the sport of artistic gymnastics. With Simone Biles’ recorded floor tumbling pass height at the summer 2024 Paris Olympic Games achieving over 12 feet, it is imperative that she and gymnasts of all levels land safely. There are approximately 4.57 million artistic gymnasts in the United States1. As gymnasts progress through the sport, the difficulty of the skills increases, and the skills become more dangerous. Gymnastics has one of the highest rates of injury in any girl’s adolescent sport2. One recent study reported that 91.4% of elite gymnasts sustained at least one injury per season3. Another study reported that approximately 70% of gymnastics injuries occur during landing tasks4.
Hip Impingement In Gymnasts
Gymnasts require a lot of hip mobility to perform their amazing skills. These advanced and dynamic skills can lead to pain in the hip joint that is more than just muscle soreness. Both male and female gymnasts can suffer from hip pain. One common hip condition is hip impingement, and we will discuss what that is as well as important details for gymnasts with hip pain.
Treating A Broken Back In Tumbling Athletes
Tumbling activities put a lot of force through the spine and can put more stress on the lower back in certain circumstances. Tumbling athletes occasionally have an injury and report a “broken back.” What does this really mean? For the purpose of this blog, we will focus on the lower back or lumbar region only. We’ll dive into what a broken back is, and how recovery may look with a goal of returning to tumbling sports such as cheerleading or gymnastics.
What To Watch: Gymnastics Summer 2024 Olympics
The summer Olympics are fast approaching. Gymnastics for the Olympics includes artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, and trampoline events. If you plan to tune in to any Gymnastics coverage from Paris, here is some information on how gymnastics is scored and who to look for on Team USA.
Foot Injuries in Rhythmic Gymnasts
Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which gymnasts perform on a floor with an apparatus: either a hoop, ball, rope, ribbon, or club. The sport combines dance and gymnastics and requires strong, flexible, coordinated athletes. Due to the nature of the sport and the repetition during practice and performing, the most common area of injury for rhythmic gymnasts is the foot.
6 Tips For Practicing Safe Stretching In Dance And Gymnastics
Dance and gymnastics are two sports that require an extreme amount of mobility and flexibility, as well as strength, power, and endurance to be successful. Mobility is different from flexibility and flexibility is not an indicator of good mobility. Flexibility is defined as the muscles’ ability to stretch temporarily. An example of flexibility would be a rubber band; it can temporarily lengthen but returns to a normal resting rate. Mobility is a joint’s ability to actively move through a specific range of motion. To simplify this explanation of flexibility versus mobility, flexibility is related to muscle length and mobility is related to a joint’s ability to move.
Self-Care for Gymnasts During Competition Season
Gymnasts have a very long season- they usually practice year-round with the main bulk of the competition season occurring during the winter and spring for many levels. Due to this type of training schedule, gymnasts need to make sure they are taking care of themselves during and after practice. Here are some tips for self-care for gymnasts to keep them healthy and on track for a great season.
Is A Rip Ruining Your Grip?
If you’re a gymnast, you know the pain and inconvenience of sustaining a rip. Rips are a common and painful occurrence in gymnastics, caused by separation of the upper layers of skin in the palm of the hand or around the wrists from the lower layers of skin. Rips can happen from an excessively tight grip, or a callus buildup which causes the skin to bunch as the gymnast swings around the bar. The force of the swing pulls the upper layer of skin away from the lower layers which can lead to a blister or cause it to fill with blood. Rips can also form near the wrist if rubbing occurs against a wrist brace or the gymnast’s grips. Callus formation is also extremely common, and gymnasts most often get calluses on the palms of the hand from repeated friction on the bar. The good news is that rips can be prevented, and the most effective way to do so is by focusing on overall hand and callus care.
