All-Star Ama Designates Cheer A Sport.

[King]

It's so true, I remember learning about Beighton a couple semesters ago and doing it in class, myself and the former gymnast in my class were the ones who met the criteria for hypermobility. I'm so excited to see the medical field getting more interested in cheer, it makes me really look forward to my future in it, especially PT.

Cheerleading is probably super interesting from a PT standpoint.

 

[CheerBank]

So, yesterday I decided to ask the PT why the sudden interest in cheer. His answer, "The high amount of injury and the lack of knowledge in the sport medicine world as to what cheerleaders are actually doing." The PT asked my daughter to take her thumb and see if she could bend it back to her forearm. She could. He asked, "Did you know kids with Hyper Flexibility Disorder gravitate to cheer, dance, and gymnastics?" My response, "WTH is hyper flexibility disorder?" Evidently, there is a difference between acquiring and being a freak of nature when it comes to flexibility. My youngest has been dislocating body parts left and right for years and I had no idea she had this disorder. More important, he said certain exercises used to gain flexibility and strength can be detrimental to those with this disorder and increase joint dislocation. If kids that have this disorder naturally gravitate to cheer where it is beneficial to be flexible, then this cross information between sport and sport medicine is incredibly valuable to both sides in reducing injury and developing stronger athletes. This group is inquiring about surfaces, coed, all girl, level progression, stunting, tumbling, etc. and the PT said much of this information will be used in developing conditioning geared toward reducing injury specific to cheer and by it being deemed a "sport" they will be able to get funding for research. If this joint effort between cheer and sports medicine helps reduce concussions, stress fractures, sprains, and dislocations then cheer has made a colossal step in the right direction. Respect from outsiders? Pssshhh, who cares.

Read this to former-cp and we found the whole hyperflexibility fascinating, particularly because she absolutely has that (and just bent her thumb to her forearm :D). After her second ankle surgery, when she complained about how less flexible her ankle now was compared to her good, non-injured one, the orthopedist told her that she now has "normal" flexiblity in that ankle as opposed to the hyperflexibility in her other ankle.

 

[CheerBank]

Cheerleading is probably super interesting from a PT standpoint.

My sister is a PT, and it is. Especially my cp's injuries. I keep telling cp that she should become a PT and open a practice near one of the larger gyms.

 

[vannahlexis]

I have hyper extended knees and my ankles have more mobility than they should or something like that. I tore my MCL and screwed up my meniscus tumbling and they told me that because of my hyper extended joints I'm more prone to injury especially while cheering. I'm so happy that people are becoming knowledgeable so preventable measures can be taken!


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[luv2cheer92]

Cheerleading is probably super interesting from a PT standpoint.

Oh it definitely is. I still have a couple more years of school left, but I plan on incorporating cheer into my career because it is so interesting and I feel like there isn't much knowledge and experience out there with people who know the sport and it's effects on the body and function.

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