Abbeyej...or other gymnast-injury savvy sorts

[Doran]

Right. I know Abbey's not the gymnast, it's her sis. But, I thought she might remember or advise. But, others of you are equally capable, I'm sure.

Dd rolled over on her foot a week ago at gymnastics -- during WARM UPS of all things -- and injured her ankle, foot, I'm not sure. She has not done a good job this week of staying still (as if..), and has re-tweaked it several times. She complains of pain intermittently. We attended karate tonight, and I thought she was planning to take it easy. But that expression's not really in this kid's vocab., kwim? So, after karate she says, "Mom, I can't go to gymnastics tomorrow. My ankle hurts too badly."

This kid's favorite thing in the whole world is gymnastics. So, if she's saying she can't go, it's a big deal.

I had her ice the foot/ankle when we got home from karate (can't remember when to do ice and when to do heat, but thought ice was best for the recent inflamation from karate..???). Is dd right? Should she not attend gymnastics tomorrow? We have an elastic wrap, ace bandage sort of gizmo that seems to help offer some stability. Or tape? Or is that stupid? There is NO NOTICEABLE SWELLING!! What to do?

Doran

[abbeyej]

Yes, ice was the right choice -- probably shouldn't have let her stop though. ;) The more ice the better, really...

Beyond that, I really can't say. I'm *so* not an expert in this area. I know I hurt my ankle in my early teens just slipping on the stairs, and I prolonged the injury by months by not icing and by not taking a break from ice skating / ballet / gymnastics for even a day. (It was actually a gymnastics coach who realized months later that it hadn't healed properly because I was unconsciously favoring it, and that's when I finally treated it and it started improving.)

So, while I really can't claim any expertise at all, if it were my child, I'd make them ice it a *lot* and yes, probably take a couple of days off karate, gymnastics, etc. (ETA: I hesitated to say it, but now that readwithem has mentioned it. sigh... I think taking her to a sports-injury savvy orthopedist wouldn't be a bad idea. ... But if it were my child, I would probably do ice and no activity for a few days before making a decision, assuming she's in no great discomfort and it doesn't worsen.)

[readwithem]

I hate to say this, but I would have it x-rayed soon (maybe tomorrow during her gymnastics time:) My dd hurt her ankle on a trampoline, xray was fine (or maybe questionable), she couldn't/wouldn't stay off it, and a week later she was in a cast with a hairline fracture.

[kRenee]

My dd recently sprained her ankle in gymnastics. We did ice and the chiro sold us a gel that is called IbuPro. It is an ibuprofin/arnica combination. You might call some sports chiropractors tomorrow to see if they have it. Otherwise I'd go to the health food store and buy Arnica gel or cream.

The chiro also showed me how to tape her ankle. An elastic bandage or a brace aren't good enough. You have to tape and use lots of it. It really does give a lot of stability to the ankle.

In fact, I might recommend a visit to the chiro. Her foot is probably "out" too.

[Margaret in CO]

Head to an ortho! We didn't after an injury. Dd continued gymnastics and running for two years on it, icing, ibuprofen, etc. She now gets to have fairly major surgery as she has a talar lesion and cartilage damage. She'll be out for 3 months, at least. An x-ray won't show the damage--you need an MRI for it.