Thursday
September 28, 2006
sports.michigandaily.com
sports@michigandaily.com
Se RicTigSn tily
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By Colt Rosensweig ( Daily Sports Writer
WV' T %7! T
Sophomore gymnast Joe Catram-
bone was trying to add difficulty to
his parallel bars routine during last
season's spring break when his left
shoulder began to hurt. He fought
through it to compete in the NCAA
championships, where he quali-
fied for the individual competition
on high bar. The shoulder didn't
improve, and he knew something
was wrong.
After the season, tests con-
firmed that Catrambone had
not only torn his left labrum,
but also partially torn the
biceps in the same arm.
At that point, most people
would have undergone sur-
gery to repair the arm and
then spent six months or
more rehabilitating.
But gymnasts, includ-
ing Catrambone, are not
most people.
"I'm not going to get
the surgery until after
next season," said
Catrambone, add-
ing that he con-
siders this the
worst injury
of his career.
"I'm able
to do most
skills. I just
haven't been
doing rings
and some
other
skills that
hurt it."
Gymnas- tics injuries tend to be
more difficult to define and detect because
the majority of them are minor, and gymnasts
will often compete without complaint, even if the
injury is more than minor.
"It's different than a football player who gets
whacked in a football game and dislocates his
shoulder," said Dr. Allan Mishra, a graduate of
the Medical School. "It's easier to define an inju-
ry in football or soccer than it is in gymnastics,
because, from what I understand, a gymnast will
play through the pain more than other people."
Being the worst injury of Catrambone's career
is something of an honor in the world of hurt.
Like most gymnasts, he has an impressive list of
breaks, sprains and other mutilations.
He has degenerative discs in his back and stress
fractures in his right wrist. Once, falling off the
high bar, his knee went into his eye requiring
thirteen stitches.
The worst injury before this year came at the
USA Championships in 2004.
Catrambone landed "really short and bad" on
his vault, spraining both ankles. Four months
and multiple MRIs and X-rays later, doctors told
Catrambone that he had broken his left ankle and
sprained his right. The left ankle needed surgery,
and both still bother him occasionally.
Pain is a normal part of gymnasts' lives. Every
day, they practice and compete through a mul-
titude of small aches, and, sometimes, through
more serious injuries. But for the love of the sport
and the team, it's worth it.
Catrambone uses his teammates as motivation
to battle through injury.
At last season's March 4 meet against Stanford,
he initially decided not to compete on rings after
falling off during warm-ups. But in the end he did
the event - for the team.
"(The team) is just as important (as the adrena-
line rush of competition), because sometimes
your body might not be feeling 100 percent,"
Catrambone said. "But when the team is pushing
you and cheering for you, somehow and some way
you find the energy to compete and do the very
best that you can."
"From what I
understand, a gymnast
will playugh
the ain more th
i
other people.
Dr. Allar
Orthop
in
ness to compete when hurt
may sometimes seem like
reckless devotion to a sport,
Dr. Mishra believes that
this tendency actually helps
doctors develop better and
faster remedies for their
injuries.
"I actually enjoy tak-
ing care of those kind of
patients, because if they're
good, they'll do whatever
they can to get back in
their sport," Dr. Mishra
said. "The athletes help
us hone our skills as
doctors to get them back
as soon as they possibly
can."
Senior Aaron Rakes knows
that despite his general luck
in the area of serious injuries
- just a torn biceps tendon his
junior year of high school -
the soreness from this sport
may never quite go away.
"I have a feeling ... that
when I'm much older, my
shoulders will limit the
amount of weight that I can
lift and may also limit the
activities that I may par-
take in," Rakes said.
But according to Dr.
Mishra, gymnasts may
actually finish their careers
in much better shape than
athletes in other sports like
football or hockey.
Gymnasts tend to injure
their feet, ankles, wrists
and spines most often, said
Dr. Mishra, who works as
an orthopedist and practitio-
ner of sports medicine at the
Stanford University-affili-
ated Menlo Medical Clinic
in Menlo Park, Calif. He has
treated athletes at all levels,
including pro football players,
Major League baseball players
and Olympians.
The demanding sport might
even benefit athletes in the long
run. Dr. Mishra cited studies
that have shown female gym-
nasts have better bone density
than control groups.
"They do have a higher risk
of injuring their growth plates,
but their bone density, because
they do such impacting loading
exercises, is actually better," Dr.
Mishra said.
The same holds true for
male gymnasts. They are,
however, at additional risk
for serious shoulder injuries
because of the still rings.
"There's no perfect evi-
dence of this, unfortunate-
ly," Dr. Mishra said. "But
when they go on the rings,
especially, they're putting
huge stress on their shoul-
ders. ... You're basically
trying to dislocate your
shoulder and stay in posi-
tion."
Even when a gymnast
finally has surgery to cor-
rect an injury, he'll fight
through the pain of rehab to
return to his sport as quick-
ly as possible - sometimes
even faster.
"When you are hurt, you
realize how much you miss
the sport and underappreciate
being able to do everything,"
said senior Andrew Elkind,
who had surgery on his ankle in
December of 2004 which forced
him to redshirt the entire 2005
season. "As soon as you can test
something out the least bit, you
do."
After his ankle surgery, Elkind
cut his cast off a week early and
switched from his crutches to a
walking boot, trying to speed up
his recovery.
That approach sometimes works,
but in this case, it didn't.
"Sometimes because you're in a
hurry to get back, you push the enve-
lope and forget about the simple rehab
exercises that are really crucial to a
total recovery," Elkind said.
Though athletes' general willing-
When Yogi Berra
said, "Ninety percent
of the game is half
mental," he was talk-
ing about baseball.
n Mishra, But he could have eas-
ily been talking about
ledist gymnastics.
"It's defi-
nitely harder
(to deal with
injuries) in
practice,"
Bregman
said. "I
" n just try
to focus
more on
fiP what I'm
doing
than how
it feels. It's' hard to
describe, but I just have to
keep in my mind that gymnas-
tics is a sport that you have to push
through pain a lot."
Sophomore Jamie Thompson competed his
entire eighth-grade year with two broken wrists.
After the season, the wrists required multiple
bone grafts, which took more than a year to heal
and rehabilitate.
Though he was unable to practice normally,
Thompson still came to the gym every day to par-
ticipate where he could. Additionally, he did men-
tal training, visualizing himself doing events and
skills until he could once again perform them.
"I did well that year and would never take it
back," Thompson said. "Now, was it smart not to
go to the doctor and see why (my wrists) were
hurting? Probably not, and I might have better
wrists today if I had gone to the doctor sooner.
But I didn't, and I can't change that now."
At this stage in their careers, the Michigan
gymnasts are adept at reading their bodies' sig-
nals and know how far they can push themselves.
This doesn't stop them, however, from pushing
themselves even beyond their own limits.
For most gymnasts, including those at Michi-
gan, collegiate gymnastics may be the high-
est level of competition they reach. Because of
this, the athletes want to get the most out of their
unique experience.
"Gymnasts often joke about feeling like (old
men) by the time they retire, but it's worth push-
ing yourself toward your ultimate goals," said
Elkind, who plans to continue training until at
least 2012.
Not surprisingly, Elkind feels that competing
through is worth the risk and pain in certain cir-
cumstances, especially in big meets.
"If it is a significant meet ... you have to deter-
mine which outweighs the other,"
Elkind said. "I can think of some
situations where I would have
to basically die before pulling
out of the meet."
... FILE POTO
TOP: Jam
Thompson
competes
on the
still rings.
BOTTOM:
Joe
Catrambone
conquers
the pommel
horse.
BEST OF
THE WORST
NAME: Jamie Thompson
INJURY: Broken wrists
"I had a surgery every
three weeks starting with
the left (wrist), then right,
then left again (because
the first bone graft to the
left wrist didn't take). In
these surgeries they were
taking bone grafts from my
hips. I was in a cast for nine
months and it took over a
year to get back. It changed
the way I did gymnastics
forever. ... Pommel horse
used to be my best event,
S and my favorite to do, but
I never really did it again. I
don't do (parallel) bars any-
more either. I also do not do
some skills on floor (exer-
cise) because my wrist do
not bend anymore."
NAME: Scott Bregman
INJURY: Lacerated spleen
"My coach set the vault board
wrong once and I jumped
completely over it and went
straight into the vault. I had
internal bleeding and spent
four or five nights in the hos-
pital.... They considered sur-
gery but I was young enough
at the time (12) that they
didn't have to operate. But I
had bed rest for a week and
couldn't do gymnastics/
sports for six weeks."
NAME: Andrew Elkind
INJURY: Broken ankle
"With some injuries, like
(my broken ankle), it is
hard for the doctors to tell
the exact problem. Then
comes the waiting game
and some trial and error
with rehab. After a while
when there's not much
improvement, surgery is
the only option. It's been
over a year (since the sur-
gery) and I still don't feel
it is 100 percent."
NAME: Joe Catrambone
INJURY: Torn left labrum
and partially torn left
biceps
"(Michigan coach) Kurt
(Golder) and I think that it
was from a (parallel) bars
skill that I did on spring
break. I was working this
skill to try and put it in my
routine so I could get my
difficulty up, and during
that spring break week
my shoulder was starting
to hurt pretty bad."
NAME: Aaron Rakes
INJURY: Torn right biceps tendon
"The only serious injury that I have had was a torn right biceps ten-
don my junior year in high school. I was only out about two or three
months and finished the year on a high note (performing well at the
USA championships)."
A