Improving concussion protocol may lower gymnasts’ chances of ACL, Achilles tears — Livvy Dunne says goodbye to gymnastics

An interview on GymCastic this week with Dr. Abby Baldwin, DPT, revealed that female athletes are more susceptible to concussions and thus are more susceptible to the Achilles and ACL tears that have plagued gymnastics in recent years. 

Repetitive head impacts leave professional athletes up to 11% more likely to sustain a lower body injury, Baldwin told GymCastic host Jessica O’Beirne. For women, that risk is heightened because they have a higher head-to-neck ratio, smaller necks, and smaller vertebrae than men. Those factors make whiplash from an impact more serious. Strengthening the neck muscles can help.

Baldwin has developed protocols that can help reduce the impacts of concussions for female athletes and thus help prevent the devastating knee and Achilles injuries that keep gymnasts out of competition for entire seasons. 

Gymnasts, Baldwin said, do not sustain contact injuries in the same ways that, say, ball sport players do, but they do come in contact with their equipment in a far more impactful way than even a soccer player running at full speed would when crashing into another player. A gymnast falling off the balance beam mid-routine might hit both the beam and the floor in ways that impact her head and neck; even if concussion protocol is conducted and she passes, she remains vulnerable to Achilles and ACL tears.

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O’Beirne noted that one thing that might keep gymnastics coaches from implementing Baldwin’s protocols are the fear that it would either add more time to a gymnast’s prehab and rehab programs, which are already substantial, or keep them out of competition longer than their coaches would like.  Baldwin said that in working with the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), strength and conditioning coaches tweaked their routines slightly and were able to incorporate the right exercises, and it did not add significant time to the athletes’ days. 

In gymnastics, Baldwin noted, there is a very quick turnaround to decide whether a gymnast can resume a routine — just 30 seconds, typically. Baldwin said that it isn’t fair to ask an athlete whose adrenaline is already rushing to make that call in such a short window, or even to coaches and trainers who are pressured to come up with fast answers, but may need second or third opinions in the heat of the moment. Baldwin suggests having one person on staff who is a concussion expert to make that call.

And finally, Baldwin said everyone involved in an athlete’s case needs to let the athlete rest and recover long enough for the increased chances of lower-limb injuries to pass. 

I hope you’ll give this episode a listen. I was really surprised and impressed by the research as well as the interview itself. 

Other gym news

College Gym News gives us 2025’s most-improved college gymnasts and teams, an update on NCAA roster limits (part of a settlement agreement that will allow colleges to pay athletes directly), and their annual awards.

The Gymternet has the results of the Cairo World Cup.  

It’s Leanne Wong’s world and we’re just living in it. 

Helen Hu got a tattoo of her national championship-winning beam routine and it’s amazing.

Three Arkansas gymnasts will return for their fifth years. 

Five at The IX: Livvy Dunne

Watch Livvy Dunne’s farewell to her gymnastics career.