Stress Fractures?

[Fo_Sheezy]

I wrote a post about a week ago about the bruises I have been getting as a result of collapsing my elbow (like you’re supposed to, or so I was told) on the inside of the pole. We only practice 2 days a week with about 2-3 meets a week. So that’s like 4 days of vaulting, 2 being serious practice days. Well, the bruises are getting really REALLY bad and I can hardly move my wrist without it hurting and I have a huge purple, red, and blue lump on the side of my wrist. With the continuous bruising should I be worried about stress fractures? Is this even heard of?
Oh yeah, I do wear a wrist brace thing to absorb some of the impact. Thanks ya’ll!

[OAKPV2004]

YOUR POLE VAULTING RIGHT! It's supposed to hurt! But you can put a wrist band on it or something and look like a wuss, be proud of the bruise.

[vaultguru6]

YOUR POLE VAULTING RIGHT! It's supposed to hurt! But you can put a wrist band on it or something and look like a wuss, be proud of the bruise.

exactly...and as i told you earlier, wait til it gets raw....

[TeddyVault]

A suggestion... When you are rocking back to inverted, try to bring your top hand, right hand for a righty, to your right hip. This will initiate an earlier turn, while still keeping you very close to the pole. This will still give you bruises, but might help to allievieate some of the pressure on your wrist. By doing this you won't get "Jammed" into a rocked back position, something that might cause excess pressure on the wrist when you try to pull through and turn. See, the turn is already there!
Also, what is the pad you use on your arm like? If it is very light you may want to try a heavier one. I use a hockey wrist pad that has a hard bit of plastic inside the cloth. It works very well.
Cheers

[Fo_Sheezy]

Thanks, no bruises today or yesterday...I don't know what I changed about my vault, but no numb wrists today which is great. Thanks for the advice guys!

[lonestar]

A suggestion... When you are rocking back to inverted, try to bring your top hand, right hand for a righty, to your right hip. This will initiate an earlier turn, while still keeping you very close to the pole. This will still give you bruises, but might help to allievieate some of the pressure on your wrist. By doing this you won't get "Jammed" into a rocked back position, something that might cause excess pressure on the wrist when you try to pull through and turn. See, the turn is already there!
Also, what is the pad you use on your arm like? If it is very light you may want to try a heavier one. I use a hockey wrist pad that has a hard bit of plastic inside the cloth. It works very well.
Cheers

I agree with moving the top hand to the hip, but I don't understand how moving to the RIGHT hip initiates the turn. I can see how moving to the LEFT hip would drop the right shoulder and initiate the turn and help the vaulter to wrap the top of the pole, but it seems like if the right hand is on the right hip that the vaulter's center of gravity would be stuck out in front of the pole and cause flagging while turning. Maybe you could explain the move better than I'm picturing it? Thanks.

[lonestar]

I can see how moving to the LEFT hip would drop the right shoulder and initiate the turn and help the vaulter to wrap the top of the pole,

WHOOPS, I just realized that I mispoke myself - what I meant to say is that if you move your top (right) hand to your left (opposite) hip, the LEFT shoulder drops back and initiates the turning/wrapping motion. To see what I mean, stand up, raise your right hand over your right shoulder, then bring your fist to your left knee while keeping your arm straight. Drops the left shoulder back, right? Now bring it to the right knee - what happens - nothing that I can see. Help?!?

[TeddyVault]

This is fun! Ever try to demonstrate/enact such things with a stubby in the middle of a non-polevaulting crowd? You get some VERY strange looks!
Ok Lonestar, thanks, you got me thinking. I'm going to ask a few fellow coaches who also do it this way and will get back to you. I use this as a novice/early vaulting stages drill and cue. When doing strait pole drills a vaulter (right handed) gets right up along the pole and lands with back on the pads, pole in front of them, right? From there, it seems hard to pull through and turn. So, I have my vaulters manage that first,(landing on their back) then, when they have that down well, I have them do the same thing, but have them concentrate on bringing their right (top) hand to their right leg/quadricep area. This starts them to turn a little. From there I can tell them to try landing on the pads on their left side, which is a half turn. (with the pole locked in to the body and the left hand between mid chest and chin.) Then, when they have that, it is a simply matter to have them push off from there. It's a progession, I posted it because the initial postee, on another topic, put something about not being able to get inverted/feet above head. This might help. It also does alleviate some pressure on the wrist because a vaulter won't get stuck pulling and pushing against their wrist locked/wrapped around the pole so much. I have seen success with this cue for slightly more advanced vaulters as well.
To get the idea, sit on the floor with a stubby over your head like you are planting. Now, bring it down towards your legs like you are inverting. Now lay back on it. This puts you into a rock back position with the pole at your front. If you try to pull through and push off the (simulated) pole from here it is difficult. But, if you turn over onto your left hip it seems like a more natural action. This also brings the right hand to the right hip... Does this make more sense?
Now, for really high vaults? I'm not sure, maybe the left hip would be more effective there, I'll mull it over and shoot it around. I did look at some video on Stabhochsprung just before this and they generally seem to bring right hand to right leg/hip, at least for right handed vaulters.
Let me know if this helps to clarify, and, if it helps to clarify, what you think. In the mean time I'll mull it over some more.
The more thoughts on here the better! How many different ways are there to teach the vault? Heaps!
Cheers, now I need to go write a ten to fifteen page paper on the evolution of the critical analysis of Long Day's Journey Into Night by Eugene O'Neill. Damn finals!