Category: Injury Prevention

5 Ways to Help Prevent Injury

7/14/2021

Injury prevention is often overlooked in sports. Many programs tend to focus on gaining skills, the routine, and competitions. While these are all very important aspects to focus on, athletes getting injured are going to put a damper on all of it.

Here are some ways to help prevent injuries:

Maintain Muscle Balance

We often see certain muscle groups used more often in cheer, such as the quads in the legs and biceps in the arms. However, many times other muscles such as the hamstrings, hip abductors, and triceps are weak. Having these imbalances throughout the body places increased stress on the muscles, and inherently the joints (knee and shoulder injuries are common), resulting in an increased risk of injury.

Here are some ways to help prevent injuries:

Maintain Muscle Balance
- We often see certain muscle groups used more often in cheer, such as the quads in the legs and biceps in the arms. However, many times other muscles such as the hamstrings, hip abductors, and triceps are weak. Having these imbalances throughout the body places increased stress on the muscles, and inherently the joints (knee and shoulder injuries are common), resulting in an increased risk of injury.
Proper Warm Up
- I’ve seen numerous cheer programs have improper warm ups. Static stretching with no dynamic warm up is a recipe for injury. A dynamic warm up program is key in helping to reduce injury risk.
Quality over Quantity
- Technique has become more important in cheer over the last few years, which is a great thing to see. With the quality of the skills being rewarded more, focusing on the little things not only helps to increase your score, it also helps prevent injury.
Avoid Over-training
- Practicing for too long at a time or too many times in a week may seem like a good idea to get more repetitions in, but too much can lead to increased risk of injury. If the athletes are showing signs of fatigue, let them rest. Doing these dangerous skills while tired is a recipe for injuries.
See a Physical Therapist!
- Physical therapists are not only experts in treating athletes after an injury, they can be a vital asset in injury prevention. They are equipped to perform full body assessments to detect muscle imbalances, joint restrictions, and other impairments that often place athletes at an increased risk for injury.

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Injury Spotlight: Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome

4/17/2018

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Patellofemoral pain syndrome, often referred to as “runner’s knee”, is one of the most common causes of knee pain. PFPS is a common injury seen in adolescent athletes, particularly females. It is caused by an imbalance of forces placed through the patella, or kneecap. The amount of stress placed on the patellofemoral joint varies during certain activities, ranging from about ⅓ to ½ of body weight during walking, 3 times body weight with stair climbing, 5 to 6 times body weight with running, and up to 7 times body weight with squatting. As you can imagine, there is a good amount of running and squatting involved in cheer and this places athletes at an increased risk of developing PFPS.

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Tips to Avoid Overuse Injuries

3/15/2018

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An overuse injury is a type of muscle or bone injury, such as tendinopathy (tendinitis) or a stress fracture, that is caused by repetitive trauma.

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Stretching 101

7/25/2017

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What is Stretching?
Stretching is defined as the lengthening of muscles in order to increase muscle flexibility and improve joint range of motion. Stretching activities are a very important part of any exercise or rehabilitation program.

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What is the Core and How Do I Strengthen It?

5/21/2017

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In order to understand the best ways to strengthen the core, we must first understand what muscles make up the core.
When you hear the word “core”, you probably think of “abs” or “six-pack”. However, the muscle that leads to the 6-pack look, the rectus abdominis, is just one of the many muscles that make up the core.

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5 Ways to Help Prevent Ankle Sprains

1/19/2017

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Ankle sprains are one of the most common injuries in cheerleading, and sports in general. There are several things that athletes can do to help prevent ankle sprains from occurring. Here are my Top 5:

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5 Ways to Help Prevent Injury

Injury Spotlight: Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome

Tips to Avoid Overuse Injuries

Stretching 101

What is the Core and How Do I Strengthen It?

5 Ways to Help Prevent Ankle Sprains

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