also the pains i get when i do any quick movements are sharp stabbing pains in my lower back, this pain is also chronic. no pain-killer works, they dont even ease the pain. so i really need help with this one..
please

What are your parents saying to you about the pain in your spine? Do they feel you are just a complainer?

I suggest that you talk with your parents first, and ask them to take you to a sports medicine orthopedic surgeon that specializes in spines and deals with pediatric and adolescents as soon as possible.

You shouldn't be in this kind of pain and for it to last 2 months says that you did do something to your spine.

Can you describe your pain for us? Do you have any burning, tingling numbness with your pain?

Where is the pain located?

That may help us to give you some possible ideas as to what is going on.

If you did something to a disc, you need an MRI to see that clearly, not an x-ray.

Good luck, and please try and have your parents take you to the kind of doctor I suggested.

Usually you can find them at a children's hospital. If you are not that close to one, you could call the sports medicine orthopedic department of the hospital and see if they can give you a doctor's name that is near where you live.

Fran

My parents pretty much said to me that if i complain anymore, then i will have to quit gymnastics :/ and gymnastics is like my life so i can not quit it.
I do not complain to anyone about injuries and stuff, i just keep my mouth closed and hide it. i have done that ever since i was a little girl.
but now its to the point were i need to talk to someone about it.
at first my parents brought me to a chiropractor and i was going 2 times a week, for about 2 weeks, and it did absolutely nothing for me. so i stopped going. the pain has been going on for a year and a half. and no type of painkiller works, they don't even ease the pain.
my pain is sharp stabbing pains, i get them whenever i do any sudden movement, but mostly when bend anyway, there is no burning or tingling feeling, and it is in my lumbar spine. at gymnastics when i have to do bridges and stuff, when i do it, i usually have to lay down and just sit there for a bit and wait till it goes away. i was thinking of an MRI but i dont know.. i dont think i can talk to my parents about it anymore, so i was hoping maybe u guys could give me some kind of diagnosis.
cause if i have to put up with this for the rest of my life... then i would at least want to know what is wrong with it.
i really think that it is a stress fracture. i have all the symptoms and i have all of them except for the pain going into my legs. and i was researching it and it says that it is very common in gymnasts.

oh my goodness gymnastics was very painful tonight. i struggled with everything. and now it is hurting so much

I'm so sorry that you are in even more pain tonight and that your parents sound like they are not listening to you.

Their comments though, that you would have to "quite gymnastics" may no be that far off.

At least for the time being, it sounds like the worst thing you can do is to continue with gymanstics. continuing that is, until you are diagnosed and find out what is going on with your spine.

The fact that you have hidden your pain and injuries since you where a little girl is not good.

Pain is not normal. It is the bodies way of telling you that something is not right and it needs to be investigated as to why you have the pain, no matter what or where the pain is located.

I think you should do the following.

Talk to your parents and tell them that you are willing to stop gymnastics for now and you want to see a sports medicine orthopedic doctor that specializes in spines for adolescents so that you can find out what is wrong with your spine.

If they are still unwilling to take you to a doctor, then is there a family member you can talk to that would talk to your parents?

Maybe they would listen to your guidance counselor at school or your gymnastics coach.

Come to think of it, have you told your gymnastics coach about your pain and the spine problem?
If not you should do that right away as well.

You do need to see a spine specialist that deals with teens and you do need an MRI to find out what is wrong.

A chiropractor is not the way to go.


Good luck

Fran

"A chiropractor is not the way to go. "

I agree. Problem sound more like instability not lack of motion. Core work can be good AFTER you get diagnosed. Soft tissue damage like ligament and muscle damage will only show up on an MRI. X-rays only show bones.

Don't fall into the trap of "tucking under" and flattening the lumbar curve in your back. You can really hurt your back that way. Especially when landing from jumps. You need to keep the curves in your back to absorb the shock when jumping.

its not my muscles though. but thank you for the help i will c what i can do.
but if i dont end up getting the help that is needed? what can i do at home to ease it at least? or do know of any strong medications that i could take?

Without knowing what is really wrong with your spine, there is not a lot that you can do at home to ease your pain.

You can try ice to the area that hurts you, to see if it will numb the pain for a while, and if that doesn't help, you could try moist heat.

tylenol or ibuprofen for the pain may or may hot help. ibuprofen is an anti-inflammatory and might decrease any inflammation that is causing your pain.

Beyond those idea, there is nothing we can advise you to do.

We are not doctors, just others with spine problems, and even if we where doctors, without knowing what is wrong with your spine, there isn't anything that a doctor on line could advise you to do but what has already been posted.

Even trying to give you some core exercises to do is a bad idea. Depending on what is wrong with your spine, they could right now, make your spine problem worse.

You really do need to stop the gymnastics right now before you make anything far worse in your spine than it already might be.

To get some moist heat you can do this to make a rice pack for moist heat.

Take a long tube sock and fill it about 1/2 full of the cheapest rice you can get, but do not use any kind of instant rice.
Once you have the rice in the sock, tie the open end in a knot, right at the top.

Then microwave the sock on high for about 90 seconds. Then wrap in a towel and place on the area that hurts.
You can reuse the rice sock many, many times. Remove the rice, wash and dry the sock and replace with more rice.

If you find that filling the sock 1/2 full isn't enough, then you can add as much rice as you need to. Just be sure to spread the rice out in the sock after heating it up so that you have as much surface of the sock with rice in it.

You might try having you parents read this thread that you started here and the responses that you have gotten. This may help them to understand that you have a very serious spine problem going on and you need to get to a spine specialist right away.

Good luck

Fran

hi and sorry you are in such pain. i am not a dr but have heard that stress injuries like yours take time to heal if there is swelling or inflaimation drs will sometimes have you wear a brace and rest till it recovers. you got some great advice from posts above especialy idea of printing this out and showing parents. dont get down...your gymnastic days will continue into the future but the main thing is to get some medical advice and begin the healing process before more damage is done...best to you....pete

thanks for the help everyone

Glad to try and help you out. Have you been able to get your parents to take you to a spine specialist?

Fran

no i havent said anything to them...

You really need to talk with them about your pain and your spine.

Something is not right and the longer you let it go, the worse it will get.

Fran

i know... but i really dont want to have to quit gymnastics, and it isnt the best time(financially) to have to go to a chiropractor or anything either..

You don't want to see a chiropractor at all.

You need to see a sports medicine orthopedic surgeon that specializes in spines and teens.

I know how much you love gymnastics and don't want to quit right now. But and this it the big BUT and it's important.

You can't continue with gymnastics and have this severe back pain at the same time.

I'm sure you realize that every part of your skeletal, muscle, ligament and tendons are all connected to each other.

When you have a problem with one part of the skeletal system, you put extra strain on other parts of the skeletal system, the ligaments and the tendons.

By doing that, you then risk, not only further injury to your spine, but also to other parts of your body; especially your knees, legs, ankles and feet.

I've known people who have just gone on and on with spine problems and the end result was permanent nerve damage and the pain doesn't go away, or they've injured other parts of their body. Things like torn meniscus, hamstrings, and the pain has weakened their leg or legs to the point that they fall and break bones.

Had they taken care of the spine problem at the beginning, the other problems wouldn't have occurred.

You are very young to have spine problems, which is why you need to get it checked out as soon as possible, before you do any kind of permanent damage to your spine or any other parts of your body.

A temporary stop of the gymnastics is what you need to do, so that you can find out what is wrong with your spine, get it taken care of and then get back to what you love so much, gymnastics.

It's not fun to have to stop, I know that.

My daughter had to do that when she was in HS and the star varsity soccer goalie. She broke her wrist and wanted to try and play with the cast. No way could she do that and lost the season.
She worked hard all winter to get back in shape, rehab her wrist and was ready to go with lacrosse in the spring and back to soccer in the fall.

My son shattered his ankle his sophomore year in HS. He had to have in reconstructed and was out of sports for a year.
Mom, here thought she'd lose her mind listening to him complain about how he would be out of shape, never run cross country again or long distance track or soccer. One day, I bought a dog muzzle and threatened him with it.

He got back on his feet, was back to sports the next year, went off to college and ran the Boston Marathon, 4 years in a row, went on to NYC to law school and ran NYC marathon 3 years in a row.

The important thing was to get the treatment needed, not worry about the gymnastics for now, get that spine diagnosed and treated, then go back to gymnastics after that.

If you don't do that, you may end up with serious injuries and find that you will be forced to quit gymnastics forever.

You wouldn't want that to happen and I wouldn't want to see that happen to you either

Fran

you are def. right !
i also have bad posture, and another reason that my parents wont help me out with this is because the way my posture is... i am working on making it better, but i dont see how that would make it hurt.. because it is my spine and not my muscles... but i dont know, maybe it does play a part. at gymnastics my coach is definalty not supportive at all, she was making us to front limbers their called, its were u do a handstand and fall to a bridge and then u stand up out of it. it is very painful for me, so i asked her if she could spot me through it, and she said "no, it has nothing to do with your spine, its because you have no ab muscles" but the funny thing is that i have ab muscles, not meaning to brag or anything but i have a 6pac, so how do i have no ab muscles is what i was thinking? so she def. is not helping with this whole pain issue. i think i should have a talk with her, and tell her that when i ask for a spot, its for a reason..

Oh, Oh, you are really in the middle of this and it sounds like you are alone without some support to help you out and reason with the adults that need to help you.

Coming from a Mom, now; you really need someone to help intervene for you.

Is there a school nurse you could go to see and talk to about the pain you are having in your spine and maybe talk with your parents from a medical standpoint?

I know that the school doctors are not always helpful, but sometimes a school can have a good one to turn to for someone to talk to and intervene on your behalf with your parents.

How about your guidance counselor at school? Do you have a good one that you could talk to that could talk with the school nurse and then your parents?

I don't like the sound of your gymnastics coach. A coach is supposed to be supportive of their students under them, and I know that first hand as I've coached soccer for many, many years. When a player asks to watch them with something, I'm right there to do so, no questions asked and no doubts as to a reason why I should or shouldn't.

Your coach should be doing the same thing and if your coach isn't, and ignoring you and the pain you are having in your spine; Well if It where my son or daughter and I knew about that, the coach would get a long, loud earful from me and my kid would no longer be under the coaches direction anymore.

As for what your coach said, he/she has no knowledge of anatomy and physiology at all. What was said is 100% wrong, and a HS student in an anatomy and physiology class would apparently know more than your coach.

If, as your coach said, you have not ab muscles, then what you where doing would hurt your spine period. Forget about any spine pain that you have already. Without strong core (ab muscles along with quads), you pull on your spine and make it hurt.

The appearance of your abs has nothing to do with the strength of them.

What I do know, is that every time you do something in gymnastics, you are making your spine worse and worse. That is not good.

Poor posture also doesn't help either, but that is not a reason for your parents to ignore your need for help.

Just thought of this idea for you.

You are a teenager and have the right to privacy between you and your primary doctor.
Can you talk with your primary doctor without your parents there? You should be able to do that. Both of my kids where able to call and talk with their primary doctor without me present or even knowing about it if they chose to, and that never upset me to know they could or might do that.
My first concern was their health and welfare and if they wanted to talk with their doctor about something that they didn't want me to know about, I preferred they did that, than ignore the situation.

You need to be seen by a spine doctor ASAP, stop the gymnastics for now and get this problem under control.

There could be many different things going on with your spine, from the fracture you suspect to discs, to even scoliosis.

Please, do something, talk to someone who can help you sort this out and help you get the care that you need.

Fran

If you are in spine pain, then you are not using your core ab muscles correctly, and doing that can weaken them very, very quickly.

my school nurse is only there on tuesdays, but i dont know what i would say to her? what is she going to do about it... and my school counsellor wont be able to help me? will they ? i still honestly dont know what to do... my doctor is doctor leung, and he doesnt like me at all and he is not a good doctor he is like 80 years old, and he needs to retire.
i am probably annoying you and im sry .. but i am kinda alone in this situation?

Oh know, You are not annoying me at all. I'm concerned for you, as a Mom and someone that has spine issues myself.

You are alone in this, if your parents won't listen to you and take you to a spine specialist to find out what is wrong with your back.

By going to your school nurse with your back pain, you are demonstrating to her that you have a spine problem.

You go to the school nurse and tell her about your spine pain, what is going on and your parents won't listen to you and take you to a spine specialist to see what is going on and why you are in so much pain in your lumbar spine.
As her if she can talk to your parents and explain that you may have something serious going on and you need to see a spine specialist.

You guidance counselor could help as well Depending on if he/she gets involved with students and just isn't on of those that just do the bare minimum.

By telling your guidance counselor the same thing as the school nurse, between the 2 of them, you may be able to get them to intervene and talk with your parents.

Does your HS have an athletic trainer for the sports teams? Do you know the athletic trainer if they have one?
If so, that is another source to go to and talk with about the spine pain you are having and see if the athletic trainer can help you out with getting your parents to understand that you may have a serious problem going on.

Maybe your mother or father or both could look at this site and the thread that you have started here. Maybe by reading what I have posted and what pete has said will help them to understand.

If your parents are willing, they can PM me through e-health and ask me some questions and I can try and explain how important it is for you to see a spine specialist as soon as possible.
You may have a serious problem going on, but doing nothing about it is not going to help you.

Fran