Load-dependent wrist pain from repetitive weight-bearing. Point prevalence among adolescent gymnasts sits at 88 percent — this is not a fringe problem.
In gymnastics the wrist carries what legs carry everywhere else: handstands, supports, vault, floor. The damage follows accordingly — point prevalence of wrist pain among adolescent gymnasts is 88 percent, lifetime prevalence 92 percent, with age 10 to 14, an early start and high training hours as risk factors. In athletes who are not yet skeletally mature, the mechanism is stress on the growth plate of the distal radius. The classic mistake is waving it away because everyone's wrist hurts anyway. Load-dependent wrist pain is a stop signal, not a phase. For your next session that means: wrist prep before every practice, raise support volume slowly, and get persistent pain looked at. And the common misreading: more weight-bearing does not toughen the joint here — that volume is precisely the risk factor.