All-Star Cheer Injuries

[Dr. Travis Owens]

We all know that cheerleading is a physically demanding sport that can leave our athletes sidelined due to complex injuries and overuse issues. After 10 years in the sport, I became a sports physician and one of my passions is giving back to the sport by helping our athletes to prevent injuries (or rehab one they may already be dealing with).

I was hoping to hear from you guys about common injuries that you have seen or that your athletes have struggled with...

If you are interested in learning easy ways to keep your athletes pain free or how to prevent common injuries, I have created a free resource called "The Cheer Doc". Check us out on Instagram.

Thanks and I look forward to your feedback!

 

[JayySoFierce]

the most common "injury" i've seen most in my coaching career is a rolled ankles and weak wrists.

 

[Boughetto]

my cp sprained her ankle a few seasons ago and to this day she will not practice nor compete without her ankle brace. Even though she's not in pain she still wears it.

 

[alpaca]

This season we have seen hand, leg, back and knee issues. Some were the result of randomly 'landing wrong' accidents and others were the general 'overuse' diagnoses. Luckily no concussions and the gym has never needed to call an ambulance.

 

[FullUpFierce]

After 13 years of cheerleading, I have only ever sprained by ankle twice and broke and dislocated my left thumb at the same time!

 

[SL&AM]

CP struggled with pain in her elbow when throwing her BHS; nothing broken and no tears.

Concussion would be another common injury.

 

[cheermomforever]

I think most common ones are finger and ankle. My daughter dislocated her finger at warmups at Worlds and popped back in, taped and competed on it. Was fractured too we found out when we got home.

 

[cheermuse]

Concussions.
continuous sprained ankles that lead to hip issues.
Overuse injuries

 

[luv2cheer92]

We all know that cheerleading is a physically demanding sport that can leave our athletes sidelined due to complex injuries and overuse issues. After 10 years in the sport, I became a sports physician and one of my passions is giving back to the sport by helping our athletes to prevent injuries (or rehab one they may already be dealing with).

I was hoping to hear from you guys about common injuries that you have seen or that your athletes have struggled with...

If you are interested in learning easy ways to keep your athletes pain free or how to prevent common injuries, I have created a free resource called "The Cheer Doc". Check us out on Instagram.

Thanks and I look forward to your feedback!

Definitely interested in hearing about all this from the perspective of a sports physician. I have a website from the PT perspective, also with some sports psych since I have a background in that as well. There's really a need for more education to coaches/parents/athletes on this.

 

[ScottyB]

my issue as a coach is that I receive athletes from middle school and all star programs where their previous coaches were not aware of being proactive to avoid injuries. No focus on ankles/wrists/core/back growth and development, just a bunch of weak kids that all want tape.

And as well, parents and kids that don't understand rehab-ing an injury correctly. Old injuries keep hurting, kids come off IR too fast, etc

 

[mncheerqueen]

my issue as a coach is that I receive athletes from middle school and all star programs where their previous coaches were not aware of being proactive to avoid injuries. No focus on ankles/wrists/core/back growth and development, just a bunch of weak kids that all want tape.

And as well, parents and kids that don't understand rehab-ing an injury correctly. Old injuries keep hurting, kids come off IR too fast, etc

"just a bunch of weak kids that all want tape" made me laugh a bit too hard. That could be a slogan or really interesting band name.

 

[ScottyB]

"just a bunch of weak kids that all want tape" made me laugh a bit too hard. That could be a slogan or really interesting band name.

Hahaha that's great

 

[cheermomforever]

Definitely interested in hearing about all this from the perspective of a sports physician. I have a website from the PT perspective, also with some sports psych since I have a background in that as well. There's really a need for more education to coaches/parents/athletes on this.

I think the main problem with injuries is the rush to go back, result usually is injured again! My daughter had 2 knee surgeries in months of Dec and March....cleared August and coach wouldn't let her twist again until Nov. she still competes 3 years later and injury (knees anyway) free. Great coaches will not rush someone.

 

[Adrirocks]

For me its mainly ankle and wrist sprains that never truly healed. A back injury and a knee injury that may or may not have been directly caused by cheer but was definitely exacerbated by it. Almost forgot I had a concussion

 

[WinstonsGirl]

I've been lucky - no major injuries in a few years. But I do tend to toast at least 1-2 fingers every season stunting. I'm always jamming them catching something wrong