All-Star Cheer Injuries

[mhgirlymom]

Sever's and Osgood-Schlatters can be a cause of ongoing heel and knee pain in growing athletes. My daughter struggled with heel pain from Sever's disease for over a year during a major growth spurt.

 

[Michael White]

2 sprains and a break, in that order on the right ankle. Broken knuckle, broken finger (middle knuckle), shoulder issues from a very old football injury.

 

[cheermomof4]

My cp, due to cheer, has broken the growth plate in each wrist, rolled several ankles, popping her hip out of joint, whiplash/ concussion, and dislocation of several joints. The most ironic thing though....... she trips over a vacuum in the middle of the night. Instead of hitting her face on the wall, she braces herself and then breaks her scaphoid and the radial bone in her arm, knocking her out for an entire year. During this time, her dr runs a vitamin D test and she was severely deficient (how I have no clue since we live in the extremely sunny PNW ;)) so now she takes supplements and feels better than she has in a long time. She was just given the go ahead by OT to start getting back to cheer, just in time for our move :)

 

[Dr. Travis Owens]

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.

That isn't atypical for an athlete to want to rely on something that helped them get through an injury. Unfortunately, once an ankle sprain happens, there's an 80% chance that they will injure it again (usually during practice). For long term success, she'll need to strengthen the ankle. I've posted some videos about improving ankle health on our instagram, @thecheerdoc.

 

[Dr. Travis Owens]

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.

Overuse and speedy progressions are what I see most in practice. We've added some videos to help reduce the effects of overuse injury and how to prevent them on our instagram page, @thecheerdoc

 

[Dr. Travis Owens]

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

Definitely agree with you there...so common and one of the easiest things to prevent. Check out @thecheerdoc on instagram...we have some posts that address these issues. Thanks for your feedback!

 

[Dr. Travis Owens]

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.

Thanks! I look forward to getting to work with you all and being a resource for the health needs of your athletes. Thank you all for being so welcoming :)

 

[Dr. Travis Owens]

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

Couldn't agree more. We demand such fast progressions from our athletes, we must provide them with the resources to prevent injuries that come with higher physical loads.

 

[Dr. Travis Owens]

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

Wrists and ankles...all too common. I hope to be able to answer any questions you may have about these injuries.

 

[MakeYourMark]

Oh injuries... how I (unfortunately) have a list that would shock many.
My main ones/things I see often include

• sprained ankles
• ACL tears
• Knee pain (usually in the patellar tendon)
• Because I'm so flexible my joints shift and 'pop' a lot. I experience this most in my hips, knees and wrists
• Lower back pain

 

[luv2cheer92]

Oh injuries... how I (unfortunately) have a list that would shock many.
My main ones/things I see often include

• sprained ankles
• ACL tears
• Knee pain (usually in the patellar tendon)
• Because I'm so flexible my joints shift and 'pop' a lot. I experience this most in my hips, knees and wrists
• Lower back pain

Just pointing this out because it is a huge misconception that I hear all the time, may not necessarily be your case though. Joints popping are not (usually) bones shifting, a very high percentage of the time it's just air bubbles popping that you hear/feel. Its incredibly common. If the bones are actually moving then I would be concerned.

 

[Adrirocks]

Wrists and ankles...all too common. I hope to be able to answer any questions you may have about these injuries.

Any advice for strengthening them? Its been years since I cheered competitively and I still have really weak ankles. The wrists don't flare up as much because I am not usually putting pressure on them but the ankles are bad.

 

[ScottyB]

Couldn't agree more. We demand such fast progressions from our athletes, we must provide them with the resources to prevent injuries that come with higher physical loads.

Got to!!

 

[MissCongeniality]

Sadly my retired CP (who is now working in the PT clinic at her college and will head to med school upon graduation thanks in large part to her injuries) suffered more than her fair share in her cheer career.

• Repeated ankle sprains- required ligament reconstructive surgery after one particularly nasty incident
• Broken arm (though technically this was in gymnastics)
• Broken leg
• Spinal fractures (both sides)
• Dislocated knee
• Broken hand/finger
• Broken nose
• multiple concussions

Her orthopedist was an adolescent sports specialist and said that he had a couple of theories... Girls during (and just pre-) puberty seemed to suffer certain injuries more frequently. Also those of northern European descent seemed to be more prone to them as well.

The injuries definitely propelled my daughter on her career path (and it is amazing how much she learned as a kid going to her md and just asking questions... the pt center on campus was stunned and she is the first freshman they ever hired)

That said... I think the number could have been a lot less if she was given the appropriate amount of time to heal/recover from each. Her ortho even knew --- he would ask "When is your drop dead to be back for competition?" The best thing she ever did was quit following the back fractures and ankle surgery. When she did end up returning (her senior year after more than a year off) she was healed and strong (She also had a coach who --- for the first time ever in her career--- told her to just do what she could, not push it and let him know if it hurt!) Needless to say that last year was awesome!

 

[MakeYourMark]

Just pointing this out because it is a huge misconception that I hear all the time, may not necessarily be your case though. Joints popping are not (usually) bones shifting, a very high percentage of the time it's just air bubbles popping that you hear/feel. Its incredibly common. If the bones are actually moving then I would be concerned.

Oh it definitely was not just a sound! Is almost like a verge to complete dislocating. in my hips there is often a sound, but definitely movement with the joints. Its awful. Unfortunately for me, my ligaments are just extremely loose so its hard for them to keep bones in place. SUCKS!
How much I wish it was just a "popping" of air bubbles...