Sports Injury Rehabilitation & Performance Training

Cheerleading Injury Prevention: 

The Background

By Nami Stone, Physical Therapist and College Cheer Coach

Cheerleading started in 1898 when a few male college students formed the first “pep club” to lead the crowd in cheers during one of the first American football games. It wasn’t until the 1920’s that women started cheering, and skills such as tumbling, fight song motions, and other acrobatics started to emerge to help lead the crowd.

Training camps and the National Cheerleading Association (NCA) emerged in 1961, spurring cheer to be one of the fastest-growing youth activities in the nation. But it wasn’t until the Universal Cheerleading Association (UCA) was formed in 1974 that cheerleading started to look like it does today with partner stunts, pyramids, and routines choreographed to music, culminating in the first ESPN-televised UCA Cheerleading National Championship in 1982.

At the collegiate level, the KU Cheer squad’s primary purpose hasn’t strayed far from the intent of the original pep clubs: to support our athletic teams and energize the crowd. But like most modern squads, we also entertain the crowd by performing difficult and physically demanding stunts, pyramids, basket tosses, and tumbling – the same skills we perform in a routine trying to win a UCA College Cheer National Championship.

But with the advent of modern skills, the physical demands and risk placed on cheerleaders have grown so much that from 1982 to 2008, over half the catastrophic injuries in female athletes involved cheerleading, and was 2^nd overall only to football. The good news is, there has been a marked decrease in cheer injuries over the past several years, probably due to the emergence of the American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Administrators (AACCA).

The NCAA partnered with AACCA and Varsity Brands (the leading provider of cheer camps, and parent company of UCA and NCA) to create new high school and college cheer rules to decrease injuries. AACCA made major changes in the skills allowed based on the performance surface. For example, basket tosses can’t be performed on any hard surface, and only limited basket tosses on grass surfaces. From a coaching perspective, all college cheer coaches must be AACCA certified and present in order for their cheerleaders to perform skills. Although it is not mandatory at the high school level, it is highly recommended.  If a coach does not follow the rules and regulations set by AACCA, their certification can be revoked and they cannot coach at the collegiate level. ACCAA certification can also provide some added liability coverage to the coach in the case of injuries.

So how can a cheerleader or parent of a cheerleader keep a participant safe from injury? My most honest answer is that you can’t. Just like all other sporting activities, you can follow all the rules and safety guidelines but there is always a risk of injury. However, there are ways you can decrease your chance of injuries. Below are the recommendations I give to coaches at our summer camps:

1. Know and follow all safety guidelines set forth by ACCAA as well as any additional rules your particular program may have in place.
2. Know the proper progression of skill advancement (i.e. cheerleaders should not be attempting the more advanced skills if they have not mastered the intermediate skills).
3. Know the physical limitations of each member of your team.
4. Do not let an injured cheerleader return to activity until a doctor or a school trainer has released them.
5.  Leave enough time for proper warm up and conditioning at each practice.
6. Make sure your cheerleaders are educated on proper nutrition and conditioning to be in the best physical shape possible.

Also, when choosing a cheer program, try to find one whose coaches are properly trained to ensure that injuries are only a risk, not a probability.

In my next blog entry, I’ll provide exercises and conditioning to help cheerleaders of any age or skill level maximize their performance and minimize their chance of injury.