ABOUT
Mission
To educate female aesthetic athletes of their risk of spondylolysis,
empower them to take preventative action in a partnership with their support networks,
and understand the possible role of motor control exercise in managing or preventing
lower back pain due to spondylolysis
empower them to take preventative action in a partnership with their support networks,
and understand the possible role of motor control exercise in managing or preventing
lower back pain due to spondylolysis
Authors
Siobhán Kibbey, BS
Public Health graduate and McNair Scholar at the University of South Carolina Arnold School of Public Health and South Carolina Honors College. Dr. Max Jordon, PT Licensed physical therapist and doctoral (PhD) student at the University of South Carolina. |
Dr. Paul Beattie, PhD, PT, OCS, FAPTA
Clinical professor in the Doctoral Program in Physical Therapy in the Department of Exercise Science at the University of South Carolina. Awarded the Jules M. Rothstein Golden Pen Award in 2012 by the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) for excellence in scientific writing and the Catherine Worthingham Fellowship in 2010 for outstanding service to APTA. Author of over 40 peer-reviewed articles and Army Veteran. |
History
As a trampoline and tumbling gymnast and diver, many of my teammates and I spent a large portion of our athletic careers fighting lower back pain. For the most part, we were underweight, hyperlordotic, flexible, and strong individuals bothered more by the performance and practice reductions brought on by our lower back than the moment-to-moment pain exacerbated by handsprings, loaded take-offs, and other hyperextension skills.
Given the statistics I encountered in my research, it appears more than likely that a significant percentage of us were suffering from spondylolysis. Spondylolysis is a stress fatigue defect of the pars interarticularis correlated with clinical instability, mechanical lower back pain, and sciatica. This condition is present in ~ 1 in 5 aesthetic athletes -- athletes participating in strongly appearance-contingent sports such as diving, gymnastics, skating, and dancing. |
I was deeply concerned by how many people are affected by this condition, which I had never heard of and could hardly pronounce (it's spon-dee-LO-ly-sis). Furthermore, it was very hard to decipher which interventions were relevant and evidence-based. Consequently, I dedicated my senior thesis to understanding this condition and to form an accessible resource (this website) for others to understand what it was, what they could do, and the stance of the current literature.
I hope that my website can serve as a useful starting point for an open dialogue between the athlete and his or her support network to take prevention-oriented steps. I also hope that this website can provide a source of empowerment by clearly explaining this condition and what peer-reviewed scientific research (each # redirects to the corresponding reference) says about exercise therapy. |
Acknowledgements
|
Disclaimers
|
Confidentiality
- Currently we are using Google Analytics and Weebly to analyze the audience of the website and improve our content. No personal information is collected from Google Analytics or Weebly. For further information on the privacy policy concerning Google Analytics, please go here, http://www.google.com/analytics/learn/privacy.html. For further information on the privacy policy concerning Weebly Statistics Analysis, please go here, http://www.weebly.com/privacy/.
- Contact form submissions will be directly emailed to Siobhán Kibbey. Required fields are merely for direct response purposes and will not be shared with third parties.