Preventing & Treating Cheerleading Injuries
More than 3.5 million people in the United States are cheerleaders, from elementary school age to adults employed by professional athletic teams. And as the intensity of the competition has increased – so has the incidence of cheerleading injuries. In fact, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reports that cheerleading injuries result in more than 15,000 emergency room visits every year. Cheerleading injuries account for more than half of all catastrophic injuries suffered by female athletes.
Cheerleading can builds important skill in young people – including teamwork and a lifelong passion for fitness. But it can also result in injuries from mild to quite serious. In fact, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reports that cheerleading injuries result in more than 15,000 emergency room visits every year.
In the United States’ there are approximately 3 million female high school athletes. But while cheerleaders comprise only 3%, cheerleading injuries accounts for up to 65% of all trauma injuries in female high school athletes! The main source of cheerleading injury comes from “stunting” such as pyramids.
As experienced hand doctors in the Bloomfield Hills area, we often see some of the most common cheerleader injuries: broken or dislocated wrists, fingers, elbows & shoulders. In this article, experienced Bloomfield Hills area hand doctor Uzma Rehman discusses what parents can do to prevent, manage, and treat their child’s cheerleading injuries.
How to Prevent Cheerleading Injuries
1. Certified Coaches: The importance of a qualified cheerleading coach is of the utmost importance. Make sure your school’s coach has proper certification.
2. Conditioning: Resistance exercises that build strength in the lower back, stomach, and shoulders can help prevent cheerleading injury. Stretching, yoga, and/or pilates instruction can also improve flexibility that reduces muscle and ligament injury.
3. Training: Cheerleading stunts should never be attempted without proper training, and not until your child is confident and comfortable performing the feat. Make sure your child is comfortable saying “no” to any stunt that he or she feels exceeds their current abilities in a dangerous way.
4. Stunt Restrictions: Organizations such as STOP, the NCA, AACCA and the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) have released new rules and recommendations to help reduce cheer injuries. These requirements include limits on inversions, height restrictions in human pyramids, higher thrower-flyer ratios, and the number of spotters required to be present for cheerleaders lifted above shoulder level.
5. Mats: Approved mats should be used at all times during practice sessions – and as much as possible during events and competitions.
6. Proper Rest: Cheerleaders should not be required or pressured to attempt stunts when they are tired, injured, or sick.
7. Avoiding Inclement Weather: While bad weather is unavoidable on Michigan football fields, avoiding high or complex stunts during rain, snow, wind or sub-freezing temperatures can help avoid injury from slips, drops and misses caused by the weather.
How to Treat Cheerleading Injuries
As experienced hand doctors in the Bloomfield Hills area, one of the most common cheerleading injuries we see is a wrist sprain or strain. For treatment of a wrist (or ankle) sprain or strain, parents and coaches should remember to follow the RICE rule.
1. Rest the injured body part for at least 24 hours
2. Ice the injured area once an hour for 10 to 20 minutes during the first four hours after injury. After that, ice the area four times a day for 10 to 20 minutes for the next two days.
3. Compress the injury with an elastic bandage for 48 hours. The bandage should be snug but not tight or restricting blood flow or feeling.
4. Elevate the injured wrist or ankle for at least 24 hours.
However, if you suspect a broken bone, dislocated limb or the possibility of a head or neck injury, immediate medical treatment is necessary. These injuries can result in lifelong, permanent damage to your child if not treated immediately.
How Hand Doctors Treat Cheerleading Injuries
The specialized treatment of cheerleading hand and wrist injuries begins with comprehensive evaluation by an experienced hand specialist like Dr. Uzma Rehman in the Bloomfield Hills area. Initial treatment often involves proper setting of displaced fractures to ensure bones heal in correct anatomical alignment. This crucial step may require closed reduction, where the hand surgeon manipulates the bones back into position without surgery, or open reduction for more complex fractures, where surgical intervention allows direct visualization and precise alignment of bone fragments. The timing of this intervention proves critical—ideally occurring within hours of injury for optimal healing potential and reduced complication risk.
Following proper alignment, immobilization through specialized splinting or casting protects the injury while healing progresses. Unlike general medical providers who might use standard splints, hand specialists like Dr. Rehman create custom immobilization devices tailored to the specific injury pattern and the unique demands cheerleaders place on their hands and wrists. These custom devices immobilize only what’s necessary while allowing safe movement in unaffected joints, helping maintain overall hand function during the healing process and preventing the stiffness that often results from overly restrictive immobilization.
For more complex injuries, surgical intervention may become necessary to restore proper function and strength essential for cheerleading activities. Surgical approaches might include internal fixation using small plates, screws, or pins to stabilize fractures; ligament or tendon repair for tears and ruptures; or specialized techniques to address growth plate injuries in younger athletes. Dr. Rehman’s expertise in sports-specific hand surgery allows for surgical planning that accounts for the unique demands cheerleading places on hands and wrists, including weight-bearing positions, gripping, and complex hand formations essential to the sport.
The rehabilitation phase proves equally important in ensuring cheerleaders can safely return to their sport with full function and minimal risk of re-injury. Hand therapy under the guidance of a hand specialist typically begins as soon as healing allows, often while immobilization devices are still in place for protected movement of uninvolved joints. As healing progresses, therapy advances through carefully staged protocols focusing first on restoring range of motion, then building strength, and finally developing sport-specific skills like weight-bearing, gripping, and proprioception. Dr. Rehman works closely with our specialized in-house hand therapists to develop customized rehabilitation programs that address each cheerleader’s specific injury pattern and performance requirements, ensuring safe return to tumbling, stunts, and pyramids with minimal risk of recurrent injury.
What Parents Can do to Prevent Cheerleading Injuries
Working hand in hand with coaches and other parents to ensure that the above best practices are followed can help ensure that cheerleading injuries (though not completely avoidable) are kept to a minimum.
Make sure that your school’s cheerleading programs follows the recognized and proven standards set by the AACCA (American Association of Cheerleading Coaches & Administrators) and other cheer organizations, with regard to safety programs and stunt limitations.
Whenever possible, mandate that your schools cheerleading coaches obtain AACCA Spirit Safety Certification through the NFHS.
Top Bloomfield Hills Hand Doctor
If your child is suffering from any cheerleading injury or pain in their fingers, wrist, elbow or arm, contact board certified Bloomfield Hills hand doctor, Dr. Rehman for a comprehensive evaluation and consultation. As with most medical conditions, early detection, awareness, and a prevention or treatment plan is the most effective way to combat the effects of cheerleading injuries.
Doctor Rehman will assess your individual situation, and prescribe the treatments that are best for your child’s condition – to ensure that they can get back to cheerleading as quickly as possible, without any long-term or permanent effects.
