Observations in gymnastics

As a way to burn some energy, interact with peers and participate in physical activity we enrolled my 4 year old in gymnastics. The facility runs classes for many age groups and as I was watching I noticed a few things based on my experience as an athletic trainer and strength coach. 

Some of the older girls were working on their springing and jumping and they struggled with landing appropriately. Typically, gymnastics and dance overload the patellafemoral joint based on the inherent movements in their sport, but landing with a valgus knee or overly externally rotated foot is easily corrected. 

The valgus landing is the mechanism for suffering an ACL injury and there are proven exercises to decrease that risk. The externally rotated foot is how the girls gained stability when they landed off balance and this is another easily corrected movement by working on balance. 

Based on my observations, I would recommend that the athletes do some lateral hip strengthening, core stability, squatting and lunging patterns as a way to activate the appropriate muscles and reinforce movement patterns. Then, during practice the instructors can make verbal cues to remind the girls how to land. 

As an interesting note, some of the girls were landing in poor patterns because they lacked the strength to pop up high enough to complete the maneuver before landing. Time spent on developing strength, power and spring would help them gain enough height so they weren't landing off balance. 

While gymnastics is full of grace and strength, the opportunity exists to improve the motion of the girls to lessen the force generated in joints and lead to longer, healthier participation.