Common Gymnastics Shoulder, Elbow, and Wrist Injuries

Last week in part 1 of this blog/podcast series, I talked about some common issues surrounding the lower body and hip, knee, and ankle injuries in gymnastics. In this follow up part 2, I will be chatting on the upper body. More specifically, I’m going to cover concepts related to the shoulder, elbow, and wrist.

Through this episode I cover

Why the weight-bearing joints of the lower body are so different than the upper body
How workloads with proper loading/unloading cycles are so important
The role of new school hybrid strength and conditioning models can reduce rates of upper body injuries in gymnastics
Shoulder Injuries
- Rotator Cuff isssues
- Labral or SLAP tears
- Instability and subluxation
- Muscle ruptures
Elbow Injuries
- OCD (osteochondritis dessicans)
- stress fractures and growth plate injuries
- ‘Forearm’ splints
Wrist Injuries
- Breaking down ‘gymnast wrist’ into better subcategories
- Radial growth plate overuse injuries
- Ulnar variance and TFCC tears

Lots of information in here that I hope will help medical providers, coaches, parents, and gymnasts themselves. You can check out the podcast below on iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher