Gymnastics Physical Therapy in Brookfield & Mequon

One of the hardest parts about being the parent of a young gymnast is knowing when pain is simply part of growing up and when it’s your child’s way of telling you something isn’t right.

It usually starts with a casual comment after practice.

“My knees were kind of sore today.”

“My wrists have been bothering me on bars.”

“My heels hurt after vault.”

At first, it doesn’t seem like a big deal. They’re still going to practice, still landing their skills, and still doing the things they love. Then someone says the phrase almost every gymnastics family has heard at least once:

“They’re probably just going through a growth spurt.”

Sometimes that’s exactly what’s happening.

But sometimes it isn’t.

At Breathe in Motion, we work with young gymnasts throughout Brookfield, Mequon, and the greater Milwaukee area, and we often meet families who waited longer than they wish they had because they assumed the pain would disappear once their child finished growing. While growth spurts absolutely change the way a gymnast’s body moves, they don’t automatically explain every ache and pain.

In fact, periods of rapid growth are often when young athletes need the most support.

Why Growth Spurts Can Increase Injury Risk

As children grow taller, their bones lengthen quickly while their muscles, tendons, and nervous system work to catch up. A gymnast who felt balanced and powerful just a few months ago may suddenly feel awkward, less coordinated, or like skills that used to feel effortless now require much more work. Parents often notice that their child looks different when they move, even if they can’t quite explain why.

None of this is unusual.

It’s part of growing.

The challenge is that gymnastics doesn’t become less demanding simply because a child’s body is changing. The hours of practice, the repetitive landings, the impact through the wrists, and the forces placed on growing bones all stay the same. If the body isn’t adapting well to those changes, small problems can begin to develop.

When Pain Is More Than “Growing Pains”

That’s why we encourage parents to pay attention to patterns instead of isolated moments.

If your gymnast tells you they’re sore after a particularly hard practice but wakes up the next morning feeling great, that’s very different from pain that keeps showing up every time they tumble, every time they swing on bars, or every time they land a dismount.

Pain that consistently returns during gymnastics deserves attention.

It’s also worth noticing whether your gymnast has started changing the way they move without realizing it. Maybe they hesitate before skills they used to perform confidently. Maybe they avoid putting full weight through one leg, or they seem to land differently than they did a few months ago. Sometimes the biggest clue isn’t what they say. It’s how their movement has changed.

Looking Beyond Where It Hurts

One of the biggest misconceptions we hear is that flexibility is the answer during a growth spurt. While maintaining mobility is certainly important, most young gymnasts actually benefit even more from learning how to control their rapidly changing bodies.

As arms and legs get longer, balance shifts. The muscles around the hips, core, shoulders, and feet all have to work differently than they did before. Building strength during this stage isn’t about making an athlete stronger for the sake of performance alone. It’s about giving their body the stability it needs to safely handle the incredible demands of gymnastics while it’s growing.

This is why our evaluations look at much more than the area that hurts.

If a gymnast comes in with knee pain, we’re also looking at hip strength, landing mechanics, ankle mobility, single leg balance, and how they control movement throughout their entire body. If they’re experiencing wrist pain, we’re asking whether shoulder stability, core control, or technique might be increasing the amount of force traveling into the wrists.

Pain is often just the final stop in a chain of events that started somewhere else.

Helping Your Gymnast Stay Strong Through Every Stage of Growth

Our goal is never to tell a young gymnast they have to stop doing what they love. Instead, we want to understand why their body is struggling so we can help them continue participating safely while building the strength and confidence they need to keep progressing.

The families we work with are often relieved to learn that addressing these problems early doesn’t always mean taking months away from gymnastics. More often, it means making thoughtful adjustments before a small irritation becomes a more significant injury that truly does require time away from the sport.

Growing up as a gymnast comes with enough challenges already.

Wondering whether every ache is something to worry about shouldn’t be one of them.