, , ,

Combatting Wrist Injuries in Men’s Gymnastics: 5 Tips For Training

Wrist pain and wrist injuries are unfortunately a huge issue in men's gymnastics. I personally suffered from a lot of wrist pain towards the end of my career, along with many of my teammates. In the last six months or so I have treated 5 male…
, , , ,

5 Tips To Reduce Shoulder Injuries In Men’s Gymnastics

Although I work with a lot of female gymnasts, I also work with a handful of male gymnast and many have shoulder problems. Unfortunately, I know from personal experience and through college teammates that shoulder injuries run wild in men's…
, , , ,

New Overhead Weight Bearing Shoulder Stabilization Exercise

Here is a stabilization drill I have started to use a lot to help weight bearing overhead athletes train dynamic stability. Many times the forces of handstands, impact, or other axial loads are very high and as a result injuries come up,…
, , , ,

Building Off Aly Raisman’s Comment on Increased Ankle Injuries – 5 More Reasons To Consider

Aly Raisman said in an interview recently that she hopes the landing rules may change, so that the next generation of gymnasts may not suffer so many ankle injuries. She noted almost every athlete on the national team now tapes their…
, , , ,

Applying Hip Strength Drills For Reduced Pain and Increased Flexibility

Over the last year, I have shared a lot of my thoughts related to how I have drastically changed my approaches to hip and shoulder flexibility training. The "Gymnastics, Please Stop These Stretches" series I wrote (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) were…
, , , , ,

Don’t Feed The Fire: Modifying Strength To Increase Flexibility

This is something I have been thinking about as I continue to treat a lot more gymnasts who come to me with injury or performance issues. I'm always trying to break down the problem to help the athlete, but also find the "spark" that created…
, , , ,

How To Track Growth and Development In Youth Athletes

Tracking growth and development is something that I have written about before. I think that regularly tracking growth from a young age, as well as monitoring other aspects to athletes (resting heart rate / heart rate variability, perceived…
, , , , , , , , , ,

Why Gymnasts Must Change How They Land

The topic of how a gymnast should land continues to be controversial for many coaches, gymnasts, and judges. I'm not the first person to bring this up, as my good friend Dr. Josh Eldridge as well as Rick McCharles have written on this up before.…
, , , , ,

Rehab Tips For Clinicians To Treat Gymnasts with Extension Based LBP – Part 5: Return To Training

Over the last two months I've been outlining my thought process for the rehabilitation of gymnasts with extension based lower back pain. The acute phase, sub acute phase, intermediate phase, and advanced phase of rehabilitation were Parts 1…
, , , , ,

Rehab Tips For Clinicians To Treat Gymnasts with Extension Based LBP – Part 4: Advanced Phase

Over a few different posts in the last month, I have been offering my thoughts behind the rehab progression of a gymnast with extension based low back pain. In Part 1 I first covered the acute phase, then in Part 2 the subacute phase, then in…