Simone is out of the AA, VT, UB and FX

[arabiandoublefront]

I had never heard of the term before either, but I was never on a team where anyone trained anything more than a full.

 

[RedBirdie]

Never heard the term “twisties” either and I’ve been in gymnastics pretty much my entire life. Mental block, yes.

 

[makam]

Weird, I’m not in gymnastics and never trained it but I’ve heard of twisties before. Can’t remember who was talking about it but as soon Simone said she has a bit of the twisties, I immediately understood what she meant. The childish sounding name might be the athletes trying to downplay the “disease” so as to overcome it sooner.

 

[MaryClare]

When I trained in RG we had a term called “oil hands” which I guess is similar to butterfingers. When you drop everything. We all have days like that in every day life where it seems we are dropping everything or being especially clumsy. I wonder if it’s similar, except with the risk of serious injury

 

[Stacey]

Absolutely nailed it.

 

[Milgymfam]

We had always called twisting when you didn’t want to the twisties. Not being able to twist we called being lost in the air. There seems to be multiple terms for many things in gymnastics, depending on where you are.

 

[JaJa]

Because it is a condition caused by stress / anxiety. Remove those factors and the situation rights itself . Either by relearning the skills in a safe environment or by reducing the anxiety by easing off the pressure and slowly rebuilding the difficulty .

How do you know that though? Can you point us to some studies? Some actual medical evidence that the twisties are purely stress/anxiety induced? Or is this just a guess you are making? What exactly are you basing this on? I get that you are a psychiatric nurse but i do not see how that qualifies you to make this assessmen.t Unless you happened to work in a hospital where they had a significnat number of patients admitted for the twisties or the hospital had run or you otherwise read actual scientific or medical studies on twisties.

 

[L_R]

You seem determined to want to make this about something other than what this is . I worked in mental health for a long time but I also trained as a gymnast from the age of 11 to the age of 20 . I experienced those symptoms first hand I know what the fear of a skill can do to you and how it can make you fuck up and the more you try to correct it the more you make it worse . We barely had pits when I was training except at Lilleshall National sport centre so it was hard work at times getting skills back . Additionally I’ve seen the many ways that mental health conditions can manifest themselves . I’ve never seen someone hospitalized with the twisties that would be ridiculous but I’ve seen people paralyzed by anxiety and that anxiety developing into psychosis even . The narrative here seems to be to discredit Simone’s assertion that her mental game is not there and that she’s using this as some sort of excuse because whatever . When she’s actually highlighting an issue that has resulted from a culmination of different factors that has lead to this .

 

[JaJa]

You seem determined to want to make this about something other than what this is .

au contraire. I am just questioning some people’s insistence, based on no evidence or actual medical opinion, that this is a “mental health” issue.

 

[L_R]

An eating disorder is a mental health issue , so is a panic attack , so is a phobia , so is amnesia . I’ve even nursed people who have lost their voices just because they think they have . Just because it’s something you’re not familiar with it doesn’t make it any less serious .

 

[JaJa]

Huh??? Twisties is not an eating disorder, or a panic attack or a phobia. So none of that is relevant. And amnesia actually can have various causes. Moreover, I did not say twisties were not serious. They clearly are. I am merely saying there is zero evidence that it is caused by a “mental health” problem or that they are fundamentally a mental health problem. And you having been a gymnast and now a psychiatric nurse does not qualify you to render a medical opinion on their causation or the fundamental nature of the problem. I personally suspect it is a parietal lobe issue, because that is the part of the brain that mediates body awareness. But I do not pretend to have any expertise or qualifications with regard to this opinion.

 

[Kara]

I don’t think anyone can give you a concrete answer here. Scientifically there is zero evidence on this being a mental or physical issue, or some combination of both. Likely because there just is little to no incentive for a scientist to do research on the issue. Personally, I believe it’s a combination of mental and physical issues, but this is just due to personal experience as a gymnast.

 

[JaJa]

I don’t think anyone can give you a concrete answer here. Scientifically there is zero evidence on this being a mental or physical issue, or some combination of both. Likely because there just is little to no incentive for a scientist to do research on the issue.

Totally agree.

 

[L_R]

Huh , I’m not qualified to speak on a condition that I’ve personally suffered from and 30 plus years of psychiatric inpatient care yet you can diagnose a parietal lobe disorder which miraculously appeared after she’d completed team prelims ?

 

[JaJa]

No. You are not. Having a specific condition does not qualify you to render an expert opinion on its causation. Neither does being a psychiatric nurse. And I VERY expressly stated that I had no “expertise or qualifications with regard to [my] opinion.” We are all entitled to speculate about what we suspect or think may cause twisties. But I have a real issue with anyone who has not got any real credentials to diagnose claiming they do. That’s all.

 

[irichluck21]

Well. I guess we can all say now that Tom picked the right team.

First Grace for the AA in team finals and now Skinner for vault!

He deserves a raise!

 

[PeakePups]

I was thinking this kind of justifies Skinner. I always said we should bring her as backup for vault but that’s because I felt Jade was a risk having not seen her compete.

 

[rlayt]

Rhys’ tweet about a mental block:

It’s referenced in this article.

https://apple.news/AGRVwuYuXR_-tdc_KFMBaYw

 

[L_R]

 

[gymskatefan]

I love Rhys. His Olympics behind the scenes videos have been so interesting, and he seems like such a calm, lovely guy. His last video before pommel horse finals spent a long time talking about and explaining mental blocks. This was really nice since his jumping on the beds video went viral.