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Running Head: INJURIES THAT RESULT FROM CHEERLEADING

Injuries that result from Cheerleading
Maya Lipscomb
University of North Carolina Charlotte











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Introduction:
Cheerleading when brought up in numerous discussions is thought of as a group of girls
in a crop top and skirt that yells Go! Fight! Win! whenever the football team makes a
touchdown or a basketball player shoots a free throw. The sport of cheerleading is now a days
associated with difficult tumbling, stunting and hardcore routines. The figured world I discussed
in assignment one was Cheer Nation and in this paper Im using this world as an example of how
cheerleaders can get injured in any environment. In my observation notes I talked about the
practice figured world, performance figured world and tryout figured world. In a practice figured
world, the rooms cheer nation occupy for these practices are standard with hard wood floors.
When cheerleading practice comes to mind a picture of blue bouncy floors comes to mind. But
being a student organization of the college does not come along with those perks. Hard wood
floors can cause significant damage to a cheerleading who is flipping and stunting due to the
force of the body on the wood. In the performance figure world, cheer nation performs mostly on
a small-elevated stage. Cheer Nation has a team of 15 people so spacing is really limited during
performances and the risk of falling off the stage or tripping is high. I myself have witnessed a
girl trip during a performance and roll her ankle. In the tryout figured world, rookies were given
the opportunity to flip if they wanted too but the only source of support that was offered to them
was a small mat that most flips cannot fit on.
My research project is on the long term injuries that result from cheerleading along with
other sports they cause long term complications. Being an active cheerleader myself in Cheer
nation I witness first-hand the lack of equipment and proper training that some cheerleaders
have. A big concern of mine is that a tradition of ill prepared cheerleaders and coaches will
start. The number one cause of accidents that lead to injuries are unskilled spotters (people who
make sure the tumbler do not fall), unprepared bases (people who hold a flyer up in the air) and
improper space to practice in as discussed before. My position on injuries is that they can be
avoided and reduced if proper precautions are taken.
Throughout the paper I will be referring to Coach Dina, the coach of Cheer Nation,
Variance, the captain of cheer nation and Amber the vice president of cheer nation. My selected
audience is cheerleaders and other athletes as well as people interested in this topic.

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Literature Review:
There has been an evolution in cheerleading that Hanson discusses in Go! fight! win!:
Cheerleading in American Culture (Hanson m.e, 1995). The development of cheerleading in
professional sports in the early 1960 and its relation to mass media entertainment and
advertising is a big topic that Hanson touches base on. Since cheerleading was acknowledged as
a professional sport the level of difficulty has increased over the years in particular the upcoming
of competition style cheerleading has increased the risk of injury. Professional is connoted as
being related to a job. Just as workers get compensated for incidents that take place at the work
force, cheerleaders need to as well.
Sprains of the ankle, wrist and knee from stunting. Torn muscles in the lower back, legs
and shoulders from tumbling. Broken backs and arms from the weight on another person landing
wrong on the body. These are all risk that cheerleaders take every day. This research project goes
hand in hand with my Assignment One paper on Cheer Nation. In my observations notes that I
discusses before, I wrote about the practices/ performance that cheer nation does. Cheer Nation is
a cheer student organization that performs at different school functions at UNCC. Even though
there is an official cheerleading squad on the campus, cheer nation is another outlet of cheering. I
have been a witness to a girls mouth being full of blood due to a girl coming down wrong out of
a quad full twist basket toss. In the figured world of cheer nation there is a variety of skill level
with our student organization. Some girls have been a part of a competition team and is very
knowledgeable of higher level stunts and tumbling. While other girls including myself cheered
with high school as their highest level of difficulty. Cheer Nation does not require its members to
have experience in areas such as tumbling and stunting so when the time comes in practice to
review these things, it becomes chaotic. Coach Diana, being a coach for a competition team does
slightly help in this area. But she coaches for ages 5-10, so there is a big difference in the
difficulty level that she lacks. When Coach Diana is present, she watches over the stunting but if
shes absent, Aviance the captain supervises.
Cheerleading is a sport that requires a rigorous amount of skill and practice to perfect like
any other sport. For example, Basketball players practice as many hours as working a part time
job (20 hours) or more. As so do cheerleaders. Many think that the stunts, tumbling and routines
they see are just made up for fun and do not take a lot of effort. But in fact practices last up to 3
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hours a day 3 times a week and this timing goes up with the more advanced competition style
cheerleading teams. The pressure that is put on the body from the twisting in the air, stump and
shaking, and hold up another persons body weight can take a toll on the body and result in
numerous injuries. A total of 42 direct catastrophic cheerleading injuries were reported to the
NCCSIR between 1982 and 2002. 15 injuries were classified as nonfatal (sprains, broken bones
and torn ligaments), 12 as serious (no disability but required to go to the hospital), and 2 as fatal
(death or permanent damage took a tool on the body). All of the injuries were the result of direct
trauma while cheering (Boden b.p, 2003).
Mueller discusses that right way to be trained correctly for Cheerleading spotting. There
has not been a big push on the efficiency of training that coaches have to go through in order to
maintain a safe environment in practices, performances and competitions. Coaches can go
through a few classes, receive a certificate and be considered a professional in the cheerleading
world. Waters discusses that care and prevention steps that can reduce the high number of
cheerleading injuries that get reported each year. The environment in which cheerleaders practice
have a lot to do with the injuries that are reported. Judd discusses the seriousness of sports
injuries. The contrast and similarities between different sports injuries and how training on fixing
these injuries at a high school and college level are not as professional as they should be.
Enter the Conversation:
Using my personal experience as a cheerleader along with the articles collected on the
topic of Injures that result from injury I believe that there is something that can be done to reduce
the risk. First, there needs to be a push on the educational side of things that can go wrong in
Cheerleading. Too many unknowledgeable cheerleaders are being thrown into this dangerous
world of cheerleading without really understanding the difficulty behind what they are getting
themselves into. I believe that once the cheerleaders themselves start to learn about all the risks
and precautionary measures that need to be taken in this sport then the number of girls and guys
that get rushed to the hospital every year will decrease.
A big factor in the injuries that take place is the area in which cheerleaders practice and
perform in. All cheerleaders need to be subject to the same resources as one another. Meaning in
practices, some kind of mat should be given to support the cheerleaders who are stunting and
flipping to reduce head injuries. I fell as though, the practice spacing for cheerleaders should get
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certified from the NAACA association as being safe enough to reduce injury among this growing
sport.
My final suggestion that can help cheerleaders reduce injuries is to add more spotting
cheerleaders on a team. As basketball has a set number of 5 players per team that can be on the
court during a game, the same goes for cheerleading in a sense. In stunt group, a total of 4 people
are needed per group. One flyer who goes up in the air and does fancy tricks, two bases who hold
up the flyer and one back spot who supports the two bases as they extend the flyer in the air.
While some stunting groups require a front for additional support, there are not mandatory. I
suggest that more spotting be mandatory to reduce risk of falling in a stunt. Many teams fill up a
certain number of spots as those are positions needed on a team, but if more girls are added to the
team they can be supplied as added bodies that can result in more spots. Imagine a flyer being
thrown up in the air and do a back tuck but under rotate landing on the front side of her body.
The flyer would fall on her head in most scenarios because they only have support for her body
and the back of her body. If a front spot is there in this scenario, the flyer would be fully
supported. In most cases, a front spot is given to a stunting team if they are performing a stunt
for the very first time or a member of the stunt group asks for additional support. Most of times,
cheerleaders wont ask for additional spotting because they dont want to seem weak. If spotting
was too become mandatory on all upper level stunts then the risk for flyer injuries would
decrease or cease to exist all together.
Conclusion:
The issue of injuries that a result from cheerleading is a serious matter, but not one that
cannot change if the participants change first. Suggestions for further research would include:
making additional spotting for stunting mandatory in all upper level stunting, educating all
cheerleaders on risk of regulations of the sport they are a part of and improving the practice area
for teams. With the applications of some if not all these suggestions, the number of cheerleading
injuries will reduce a lot. Then I will be writing a paper on how cheerleading is the safest sport in
America.


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Bibliography:
Adams, N. G., & Bettis, P. (2004). Cheerleader! Cheerleader!: An American icon. New York:
Palgrave Macmillan.
Boden, B. P., Tacchetti, R., & Mueller, F. O. (January 01, 2003). Catastrophic cheerleading
injuries. The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 31, 6.)
Egendorf, L. K. (2012). Girls and sports. Detroit: Greenhaven Press.
Hanson, M. E. (1995). Go! fight! win!: Cheerleading in American culture. Bowling Green, OH:
Bowling Green State University Popular Press.
Judd, S. J. (2007). Sports injuries sourcebook: Basic consumer health information about sprains
and strains, fractures, growth plate injuries, overtraining injuries, and injuries to the head, face,
shoulders, elbows, hands, spinal column, knees, ankles, and feet. Detroit, MI: Omnigraphics.
Kozlowski, J. C. (June 01, 2001). Lack of Safety Information and Training Faulted in
Cheerleading Injury. Parks & Recreation, 36, 6.)
Lipscomb, M. Observation Notes [Word Document] Retrieved from:
https://moodle2.uncc.edu/mod/assignment/view.php?id=130355
Mueller, F. O. (January 01, 2009). Cheerleading injuries and safety. Journal of Athletic Training,
44, 6.)
O'Reilly, J., & Cahn, S. K. (2007). Women and sports in the United States: A documentary
reader. Boston: Northeastern University Press.
Waters, N. (January 01, 2013). What goes up must come down! A primary care approach to
preventing injuries amongst highflying cheerleaders. Journal of the American Academy of Nurse
Practitioners, 25, 2, 55-64.