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 2nd 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:
- Know and follow all safety guidelines set forth by ACCAA as well as any additional rules your particular program may have in place.
- 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).
- Know the physical limitations of each member of your team.
- Do not let an injured cheerleader return to activity until a doctor or a school trainer has released them.
- Leave enough time for proper warm up and conditioning at each practice.
- 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.
