The Unique Demands of Mobility for the Gymnast

Gymnasts and tumblers require very unique demands on their bodies compared to the average person. The sport of gymnastics requires your spine to move in more directions than the normal person, and it asks a lot out of the mobility and stability of your upper body. A lack of mobility in one area of the body can lead to pain and issues in many other parts of the body. Your body is smart, and it will adapt for a lack of mobility in one area by  compensating somewhere else to accomplish the skill. Particularly in women’s gymnastics, the spine has to move a lot in all directions, and on all events. Often, gymnasts ask too much of their spines, which can lead to injuries and time spent out of their sport. That is when it is important to look at the surrounding joints, such as the hips and shoulders, to make sure they are moving as much as they can so the back does not have to work overtime. 

Breaking Down A Skill

A physical therapist has the ability to break down a skill to look at the biomechanics required to see the whole picture, rather than just the area that may be causing pain. Particularly a physical therapist that has experience in this sport. For example, looking at this first “before” picture, she was not coming in with shoulder pain, but when breaking down the skill of a back walkover, we noticed she was lacking mobility of her shoulders when she was reaching back into her back walkover. Using video analysis, we were able to show this gymnast how that lack of shoulder mobility led to her hands landing much further in front of her was contributing to her pain and difficulty with the skill. After working on upper back and shoulder mobility, you can see the improvements in this gymnast’s alignment in her back walkovers.

Not only does this make it easier to kick over, but it will save your wrists and your low back from having to work overtime to make up for what is missing at your shoulders. So if you or your gymnast experience wrist or back pain with skills such as back bends or back walkovers, check shoulder and upper back mobility to see if that is a limiting factor. There are many movements in the sport of gymnastics and tumbling that require shoulder mobility such as this, so this process is not specific just to back walkovers or back tumbling.

Takeaway

The takeaway from this example is that each skill or movement is multifactorial. Pain in one area of the body with a particular movement does not necessarily mean that part of the body is the main problem. Working with a physical therapist at Smith Physical Therapy that has experience in your sport means we have a better understanding of the demands required and we can breakdown and talk through skills in your language to address your pain or issues by looking at the whole picture. If you or someone you know is having pain with a skill in gymnastics or tumbling and would like someone to break down the mechanics or check overall mobility, come in to work with a physical therapist before it becomes a bigger injury!