Gymnastics

Hi Everyone,

I am so excited to have found this site. My eight-year old daughter has had a pacemaker since she was 11 days old and you'd never know it. She takes full advantage of all life has to offer and enjoys every minute of it.

Her biggest disappointment is that we do not let her do gymnastics. She is currently in summer camp that has given her a taste (in a safe way) to all that she has been missing and she is proving that she would be great at it if we let her go at it full-force.

So I am wondering if anyone has had experience with this issue. Are there parts of the sport that can be done safely? And for those higher risk activities (like the uneven parallel bars), are they easy enough to avoid?

(I do not know much about the sport as you can tell) Any insight would be appreciated!

2 Comments

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by mike thurston - 2013-07-30 08:07:04

Not sure how much gymnastics would be considered o.k. What's the Doctor say. I am a 61 year old guy and mountain bike, lift some weights, rock climb etc. Gymnastics would seem to be a very huge range of motion activity that might cause lead issues. Best of luck.

knowing your own limits

by karries4 - 2013-07-31 02:07:53

I was told by my doctor that I would just have to know my own limits. I started back running 3 month after my pacemaker was put in. I found that laying on my side with my left shoulder down sometimes can "feel" weird, but it doesn't do anything to hurt me. I always have layed on my left side against my husbands shoulder, I have found that I have to just adjust.

My doctor also told me that I could do anything I wanted to do. But I also don't have any condition with my heart that would limit that. I am 38 years old and got my pacemaker at 37 because my heart would sometimes just stop for 30 seconds at a time. I ended up with a nice scar on my chin from the last episode. So to stop my fainting and the chances of having a stroke when my heart stops and starts, I got the Accent MRI pacemaker.

I asked about scuba diving and karate. He said that one of his patients had just come back in to check out his pacemaker because he does karate and kickboxing and got kicked directly in his chest over his pacemaker. Everything was fine, he told him to "TRY REALLY HARD" not to get kicked in his pacemaker again! I had to laugh.

My daughter did gymnastics for 12 years and went to state. I can't think of anything that your daughter would be doing that would injure her site or pacemaker. DOCTOR would be who I would speak to about it though.
BUT just letting you know that at my daughters gym, they start them off slow and easy. I'd say inquire with doc and let her be a kid! She'll love it if your doctor approves of the sport for her!!

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