Upper Extremity Injuries in Gymnasts

Abstract

Gymnastics is a unique sport, which loads the wrist and arms as weight-bearing extremities. Because of the load demands on the wrist in particular, stress fractures, physeal injury, and overuse syndromes may be observed. This spectrum of injury has been termed "gymnast's wrist," and incorporates such disorders as wrist capsulitis, ligamentous tears, triangular fibrocartilage complex tears, chondromalacia of the carpus, stress fractures, distal radius physeal arrest, and grip lock injury.

Keywords: Carpal instability; Grip lock injury; Gymnast; Scaphoid stress fracture; Triangular fibrocartilage complex; Ulnar abutment; Ulnar positive; Wrist pain.