All-Star Lasting Cheer Injuries

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Jan 16, 2011
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This question goes out to all the cheer alum out there! I have recently graduated into the "alumni" category (who knows, maybe ill make a surprise appearance one day) but i wanted to know from others: do you have any injuries that continue to affect you today? (for instance: a knee injury at 15 makes bending the knee at 25 painful).

Although i havent had years to deiscover what still hurts and what doesnt, i have an inkling that i know what will. I have a few bones in my wrist that do not stay in place very well (too much pressure on my wrists when tumbling) and sometimes they will slip out of place and it hurts to move my wrist certain ways. Also, i will probably have about a 20% range of motion for my back by the time im 50. not even kidding.
 
My right knee is still entirely numb to the touch and it's difficult to bend it past 90 degrees due to nerve damage from a bust on a hard mat when I was 16. I'm 20 now.

I had bad wrists too and sometimes if I'm pushing myself up out of a chair or leaning on a table or something I get a sharp shooting pain in them. Sometimes it's unbearable and it literally feels like I broke it. But I move it around and it's usually ok after a minute or two.

I blame high school cheer. Those dead mats were not my friend. I don't ever think I had an injury in allstar other than minor bumps and bruises.
 
i have really bad scar tissue in my leg from when i broke it 2 years ago. it was supposed to heal 6 months to a year after i broke it some im really starting to worry, cause my leg is always in pain when i tumble.
 
Not I, but I work in a physician's office and we see plenty of ex-athletes who participated in sports that required flexibility. Once a lot of these kids age out, they stop working out so hard and lose their muscle strength, which in turn causes joint pain due to instability. Then they end up here.
 
my knee, i tore my patellar tendon. i think i would rather have broken a bone then torn a tendon. i didn't let it heal, got tendinitis, and now it is so weak that my tracking is off and it pulls on my knee cap. so my femur and knee cap grind. its lovely.
my back too. even though thats a combination of cheerleading, a car accident, and treating a torn muscle as a knot in my back. big oops.
my hamstrings. biggest regret right here. i've torn them both. 2 words. scar tissue.

i'm not retired yet though. still live and kicking! lol well, note quite... like i said my body=square peg, round hole.
 
I am only 18 currently (not entirely retired), but my body is a hot mess to say the least. My lower back (lower lumbar L5) apparently did not fuse all the way together-which I could've been born with or it just happened over time due to overstimulating causing chronic lower back pain and tenderness. My left thumb was broken and torn earlier this past season and according to the doctor even surgery won't allow it to function/move properly :rolleyes: It pretty much is permanently jammed and if I accidently hit it on something it hurts like a you know what and feels like I re-injured it!

Sending everyone who posts on this thread lots of prayers! Clearly, we literally gave it everything we had on the mat for many years! Ha the crazy things we do for this sport...4 casts, 5 x-rays, a bone scan and a few twists & tears later...
 
I'm about to be 19 and I hurt BOTH my knees when I was 15 (I have loose ligaments around my knees) they hurt everyday and swell all the time, they pop and crack when I walk or stretch. Its sad and my ankles pop and make cracking sounds all the time, my physical therapist said I have air pockets in my ankles and its an early stage of arthritis.
 
My left elbow. I hurt it once tumbling and it hasn't been the same since :(
 
Oh the list! Mid-thirties now (over 20 years of cheer logged, 10+ in all-star) and thanks to tumbling on gym floors, flat (non-spring) mats and competing on wrestling mats, I have two ankles that sound like Rice Krispies (snap, crackle and pop?) for about the first 2-3 minutes every morning. They also still get really sore if I sit with them tucked under for lung periods of time. It's so fun to walk like a 90yr old every morning.
 
Speaking for my CP, I won't list all the injuries and what still hurts now, but I will say she finished last season and isn't cheering this year. It's a year earlier than planned, to hopefully avoid surgery on a bad shoulder. It will last and never be right but if it doesn't get worse we consider that a victory. I spent many hours over the last season wondering if I was a terrible parent looking for a Dr. that could/would not just say stop and would give her a plan to keep her cheering for the full season. But I do believe there is a lot to be said for what a sport that you all obviously love so much does for you as a whole person. You can get hurt doing pretty much anything (although the list above is pretty scary) but you all gave your heart and body to something you love and hopefully are better for it. I know she would say she is.
 
I had my first knee surgery at 13, and my second at 17. I'm 22 now and my knee continues to be fairly swollen at all times. It swells more or less depending on activity and I still have pain depending on activity and humidity.

I had a stress fracture in my back and if I am sitting too long or in an awkward position on a hard surface it gets "stuck". I don't know how to describe it, but it's still painful.

Wouldn't take any of my cheer years back though!
 
Well, I'm no cheer alum, but an old gymnast. Bad elbows, right one had to have surgery. Not a specific injury, just overuse which tore my cartilage apart.....pretty messy in there! Anyway, I still can't straighten the right elbow (the one that had surgery), and now, years later....its quite painful for no good reason on occasion and it pops in and out every now and then. LOVE GETTING OLDER!
 
I'm not an alumni and still have 3 years left but i got a hairline fracture on my growth plate going into 7th grade and it still hasn't healed. i've been in physical therapy for 3 years on and off and was in it for 1 hour twice a week all summer. right now i'm currently in a boot :eek: I have so many body injuries that have refused to heal
 
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