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In a Growing Wrist, the Growth Plate Gives Way Before Anything Else Does
Gymnast’s wrist is a stress injury to the growth plate at the end of the radius, the forearm bone on the thumb side. It comes from repeated weight-bearing on the hands: handsprings, vaults, walkovers, handstands.
It shows up as wrist pain during weight-bearing that eases with rest, usually in gymnasts aged about 10 to 14.
Treatment is time off weight-bearing on the hands, often 4 to 12 weeks, guided by your doctor. Wrist pain that’s lasted more than 2 weeks of training needs a doctor’s look.
Where are you right now?
- Your child’s wrist hurts on handsprings or vault: read “Signs to look for.”
- The X-ray showed a growth plate problem: go to the timeline.
- Wondering if they can keep training: read “Can they still train?”
- It started with a fall: skip to the red flags.
What gymnast’s wrist actually is
Children’s bones grow from growth plates, soft layers of cartilage near the ends of the bone. In the wrist, the busiest one sits at the end of the radius.
Cartilage is weaker than bone. Load it thousands of times a week with the wrist bent back, and the growth plate gets irritated, then widened, then damaged. In an adult, the ligaments or cartilage would complain first. In a growing child, the growth plate does.
Simone Biles makes it look effortless. Her wrists were loaded thousands of times a week to make it look that way.
Signs to look for
- Pain on the back or thumb side of the wrist during weight-bearing: handstands, cartwheels, vault, floor.
- Pain that eases with rest and comes back with training.
- Tenderness when you press just above the wrist crease on the thumb side.
- Sometimes a little swelling, or the wrist won’t bend back as far as the other one.
- Often around a growth spurt, or after a jump in training hours.
Does my child need an X-ray?
Yes, if the pain has lasted more than 2 weeks of training. X-rays can show the growth plate widened or irregular, but early on they can look normal. If symptoms are clear and the X-ray isn’t, some doctors use MRI.
(Bring both wrists to the appointment. Comparing sides often helps the doctor.)
Gymnast’s wrist, week by week
Your doctor sets the timeline from the X-ray and the symptoms. These are typical.
- Weeks 0 to 4 (CLOSING): no weight-bearing on the hands. No handstands, vault, floor tumbling or push-ups. Legs, core and conditioning carry on. Some doctors add a splint for comfort.
- Weeks 4 to 12 (CLOSING): once pain-free, with your doctor’s go-ahead, weight-bearing comes back gradually: wall push-ups, then low-load drills, then skills.
- Months 3 onwards: full training for most, with hours built back over weeks, not days.
This injury runs on a CLOSING window. The growth plate is only there while your child is growing. Keep loading it while it’s irritated, and it can close early.
A sore wrist in a growing gymnast is the growth plate asking for time.
Can they still train?
- Yes: legs, core, flexibility, running, trampoline without hand landings, beam work without hands, if the coach can program it.
- Not yet: handstands, vault, tumbling, bars, push-ups and anything else that puts body weight through the hands.
- Braces and wrist supports: supports that limit how far the wrist bends back can help comfort on return. They don’t heal the growth plate, and they’re not a reason to train through pain.
Why it matters later
If the radius growth plate closes early, the radius stops growing while the ulna, the other forearm bone, keeps going. The ulna can end up longer than the radius at the wrist.
That can push the ulna into the little-finger side of the wrist years later, a problem called ulnar impaction, with pain and wear on the TFCC.
That’s why a few weeks off now is a good trade.
Is this normal?
Usually expected:
- Some stiffness in the wrist after weeks off weight-bearing.
- A little ache as weight-bearing comes back, settling by the next day.
- Frustration. Gymnasts hate time off. That’s normal too.
Check with your doctor if the pain is there at rest or at night, or comes back every time training builds up.
If it isn’t going to plan
They took 3 weeks off. The pain went. Back in the gym…and within a fortnight they’re rubbing the wrist again.
Pain-free at rest isn’t the same as healed. A growth plate that’s still irritated, loaded at full training hours, can be pushed toward closing early. That’s a change you can’t undo later.
Go back to your doctor, and ask for a return plan built on hours and skills, not dates. A hand therapist or sports physio can help the coach set one.
When can they…?
Typical ranges. Your doctor’s plan comes first.
| Activity | Typical timing |
|---|---|
| Legs, core, conditioning | Straight away |
| Wall push-ups and light hand loading | Usually once pain-free, often around 4 weeks |
| Handstands and tumbling | Often 6 to 12 weeks, built up gradually |
| Full training hours | Often 3 months or more |
Get it checked today if
- It started with a fall, the wrist looks bent, or your child can’t move it. See buckle fractures in children.
- The hollow at the base of the thumb is sharply tender after a fall. See scaphoid fracture.
- Numbness or tingling in the fingers.
Get it checked if
- Wrist pain has lasted more than 2 weeks of training.
- Pain at rest or at night.
- The pain keeps coming back as training builds up.
Give a gymnast’s growth plate weeks now, or it can take years of wrist later.
Written by Nigel Chua, hand occupational therapist in practice since 2005. Thousands of hands, wrists and elbows assessed and treated. My credentials are here. This article explains; it doesn’t examine. A young gymnast’s wrist pain that lasts more than 2 weeks deserves an X-ray.
Part of: Hand, wrist and elbow pain by job, sport and hobby
Every article on this site is written using the Closing Window Method: name the window your condition runs on, find where you are in it, and act while it’s still open.