Club gymnastics

In summary, we came to the conclusion that gymnastics as performed at the club level has an injury rate that is compatible with other athletic endeavors and follows logical expectations. As these data are augmented in the future, and further refined and analyzed, we hope to be able to offer meaningful suggestions for avoiding injuries. Probably the most important single piece of information that we have gleaned so far is the major discrepancy between the injury rate in those students being spotted during a trick versus those not being spotted. Our data show that there is a definite value in spotting, and we highly recommend a student-to-instructor ratio that allows spotting for the vast majority of tricks. That recommendation holds regardless of the degree of difficulty or the level of experience that the individual has with each maneuver.     

Injuries in Club Gymnastics

In brief: There is relatively little information about injuries to club gymnasts. Therefore, the author conducted a statistical prospective study of the epidemiology of this group, following 873 club-level gymnasts for a nine-month season to establish injury incidence and related trends. Although the number of subjects was too small for statistical validity, many trends were identified. It seems that club gymnastics does not have an excessively high injury rate and that further data should make it possible to decrease the number of injuries.