Palms raw and red, quarter sized blood blisters, the hands of an old fisherman, but she is young and bright. Falling, again and again, like the encore no one asked for, where her dignity and pride she willingly surrendered as her mother handed over hundreds at the heavy glass door. An aching body, treated crudely with ice baths, and heating pads, and still, she laughs and babbles incessantly. This is a spitting image of a true gymnast. It is unlike any other sport, on the mind and the body. Training as a gymnast at a high level, can cross the line from being beneficial to unhealthy because it may hinder growth and can lead to many injuries.
*Supporting the aforementioned argument, that the negative effects of gymnastics surpass the benefits, is a study conducted by the University of Melbourne. In this study, scientists measured the sitting height and leg length of 83 active female gymnasts, 42 retired gymnasts, and, as a control, 154 healthy individuals. They found delayed bone …show more content…
Although, the intense training through critical years of growth and development can have bad long term effects on one's health. It is extremely common for gymnasts get injured through years of training and competing (Caine, Nassar 1). To prevent this, in recent years gymnastics has been altered to be safer: Equipment now has more padding, is more stable and a few dangerous skills have been banned. On the other hand, as gymnastics progresses and develops throughout history, overtime the skills become more advanced and new, dangerous skills are invented, this leads to more acute and traumatic injuries. It is a give and take process as gymnastics equipment and rules have changed to increase difficulty, but also increase safety, as it has become a big concern (Caine, Nassar 2). The safety must begin increasing at a faster rate as difficulty catches up, and puts gymnastics back to where it