Essay about Gymnastics

Gymnastics is one of the most watched sports in the world today. This could be because of the amazing and high-flying skills that the gymnasts are performing. The sport is absolutely beautiful if done correctly. These girls are throwing themselves in ways that no one can understand and that are extravagant to the viewers. Little does anyone know how physically demanding this sport is? The girls that are throwing themselves in the ways that they are had to practice these skills every day. No one is perfect, so these girls have to learn these skills by failing over and over again. Soon, they will get the skills, but at what cost? Children are still growing and falling on these skills increases the risk of injury to these small girls. In an article written by Lyudmila Dimitrova, it mentions “The difficulty of the sport and the increased amount of practice starting at an early age are likely to be the leading factors for the increased risk of injury” The girls should be more careful and consider the risk factors before joining this sport.

Gymnastics believe it or not has always been as safe as it is now. Gymnasts in the past used to do a lot more dangerous skills because it would result in raising their scores more. However, this was putting them in a lot of danger without them even knowing. The event Vault was one of the most dangerous events in gymnastics. Imagine running full speed at a stationary, beam-like object and having to flip over it. There were no mats that kept the girls safe so if they fell, they were hitting almost concrete from at least six feet above the ground. When mats were introduced, they were kept at the very minimum, and the girls were still in danger but were in less than they originally started off. Some coaches would still not let their gymnasts practice with mats because they wanted to “motivate” them to not fall on the skill, or the coaches explained that it looked “too unprofessional.” Later on, the USAG (United States of America Gymnastics) realized that these girls are still not completely safe with the tricks that they were throwing so a number of rules were made to keep the gymnasts safe. For example, there would be no more throwing of hard skills that the USAG deemed were too dangerous and there would be more mats provided for the gymnasts. So, when the gymnast is not perfect and falls, they land on a softer surface. These new rules are in place now but the rate of gymnasts that get hurt is still very high.

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The USAG nowadays thinks that the sport is entirely safe now and does not need to be changed anymore. They have done many things that have made sports a lot safer; however, the number of children that are getting hurt is still more than there should be. Things have been done to help the safety of the gymnasts but adding a few mats does not help that much when the gymnast is falling from a bar that is ten feet in the air. The USAG has banned some skills that some more experienced gymnasts have been doing because it is not safe for them to throw. This helped the gymnasts not put themselves in danger just to obtain some extra points. The change also helped gymnasts not land on mats that are four inches, they now land on thicker mats so that they are able to fall more safely. They are also offered mats to slide under the event when they are performing harder skills so that if they miss the skill and do not catch, they are able to land on a thicker mat that does not hurt as bad. However, even with these rules in place, the rate of gymnasts that get hurt is still high. Also, the way that gymnasts land can increase the injury rate, if the gymnast lands short or sideways a mat is not going to save them.

The number of gymnasts that are getting hurt is astronomical considering the rules that have been put in place to help them stay safe. A study has shown that the gymnastics injury rate has been close to or the same as the injuries that occur in women’s basketball. The journal by Brennan J. Thompson says that “Two sports which have received little attention in this regard include women’s gymnastics and basketball. These sports show relatively high ACL injury rates, with women’s basketball showing a rate of 0.22 per 1,000 AE and gymnastics a rate of 0.24 per 1,000 AE in comparison to women’s softball which demonstrated a rate of only 0.06 per 1,000 AE”. (Thompson) This study shows that gymnastics and basketball have higher injury rates but have had very little attention brought to them. The study also explains that the ACL injury rates of gymnastics and basketball are both higher than women’s softball. Gymnasts are constantly landing on their legs and if they were to be a half second too late or too early, they do not quite catch it. If they are slightly too slow or too fast, they might not make the tumbling pass and end up hurt. Gymnasts have skills that both twist and flip so the chance that they are going to land crooked on the skill is high especially when first learning the skill. When gymnasts land crooked or haven’t finished the skill all the way the risk of injury increases dramatically. Most gymnasts hurt themselves in this way because they are tired, or they are trying to throw a skill without properly warming up. This is sometimes the gymnasts’ fault; however, some gymnasts are being pushed too hard by their coaches or outside factors. The lower body is constantly taking a beating in the sport of gymnastics, so the injury rate is higher on the lower parts of the body which is why small children should consider waiting to start the sport.

Injuries that happen to the upper body are not impossible, they happen all the time but not as much as lower body injuries in gymnastics. A journal that was written by Roman Farana says that just hand placement can increase the possibility of an injury. The article deals with only one specific skill which is the roundoff and how the hand placement that happens during the skill can increase injury. The article says that “Significant differences observed between wrist joint kinetics highlight and reinforce that the T-shape technique reduces bio-physical load and consequently may protect the second contact limb wrist joint from overload and biological failure” (Farana) The study goes over two ways that a gymnast is taught to put her hands down in the roundoff skill. One is parallel to one other which the study has proven is not a good way to do the skill and doing it this way increases injury. The second way is the T method where the gymnast puts her hand turned so that the two hands make the letter T. The study has proved that the T method is the best method to use when using this skill; however, coaches can teach it either way. The danger in this is the fact that the coaches really do not normally care that much about how the gymnast puts her hands, they just want the student to learn the skill. Most coaches do not take the time to fix this issue until later on when the gymnast begins to have issues with her wrists. Some people start their child very early though, so they do not catch this issue until it becomes something that hurts the gymnast so much that she cannot continue. This is why parents should consider waiting to put their child into the sport of gymnastics.

Wrist and ankle injuries are not all that come with the sport of gymnastics, it also includes the spine and with the bending that occurs, injuries to the spine are not uncommon. Injuries to the spine are not something that happens during one fall but instead develop over time until the gymnast cannot function without extreme pain. In a study by M.L. Harringe, it says, “Twenty-four gymnasts (47%) reported low back pain during baseline.” (Hardinge) The baseline during this experiment was four weeks, and the gymnasts were already in so much pain doing the sport. This likely occurred to them over time, but the children pushed through the pain that was being put on them. Children that come into gymnastics are told that if the injury does not affect their gymnastics, then it is fine, and they should brush it off. Most gymnasts will push through the injury because of the fear of possibly being made fun of, the coaches being upset with them, or the fact that they want to compete, and they will not be able to if they are injured. Small children should not have to make up their minds or be embarrassed when they have an injury.

Not only are the gymnast doing the sport of gymnastics being affected, but the sports that have gymnastic-like skills in them are also being affected by the skills. The skills that are originally done in gymnastics, that the other sports have adopted have also caused injuries to the children. A study by Xavier Grafton gives all the places that gymnasts might get hurt it explains, “Accident characteristics, level of expertise and training, injury location (upper limb, spine and lower limb), type of tissue injured (bone, cartilage, muscle, ligament, and tendon) and provoking factors (intrinsic/behavioral and extrinsic).” (Grafton) This study, explains all the different places where gymnasts get hurt the includes lower body, upper body, and spine. Gymnastics is a very popular sport but the things that these gymnasts are putting themselves through so that they can do this sport are too much. Parents are told that if they do not start very young, there is no hope for their children. Their small bodies do not need to be going through the harsh beatings that are occurring when they fall. Parents should consider waiting to put their children into gymnastics until they are older and more mature so that they are not putting their children at risk for injury.