All-Star Cheer Injuries

[Official OWECheer]

"just a bunch of weak kids that all want tape" made me laugh a bit too hard. That could be a slogan or really interesting band name.

I'm chuckling because this was my middle school team. Tape just became a 'thing'. Even for the girls who didn't need it.

 

[TealArmySparkle]

Bit of a less common one here but I thought I would share my experience in order to make people aware of the nasty consequences that an injury from cheerleading can have. Three years ago I sustained a whiplash injury due to busting a tumbling pass. I was initially misdiagnosed with a concussion due to headaches but they persisted past the point of what the doctor had expected. I was also suffering from tight neck muscles, spasms and a pins and needles like feeling across my shoulder. The doctors then thought this was due to muscle tension and I was sent to physio 6 months after the initial accident, but this was also not successful in fully alleviating the headaches. I was never sent for any testing as they did not believe in my case there was anything wrong, so I was told to take some over the counter n-saids any time a headache arose to alleviate the pain and go on about my day. I did this for about another year and at the age of 17 I started a full time summer job that required a lot of heavy duty lifting. The more I worked, the worse the constant headaches got. I remember days on end where it would be so bad that I wouldn't be able to get out of bed due to being in so much pain. By this point I had had enough and went back to the doctor who told me it was probably a pinched nerve or a strained muscle - so I was again sent on my way with stronger pain killers and a recommendation to try physio therapy, acupuncture or going to a chiropractor. Unfortunately none of these worked so I was left with no option but to continue about my every day life, suffering from constant headaches (some days worse than others). As the area I live in is rural the waiting lists to see a specialist to do with neck and back pain through the NHS is well over 9 months and the closest clinic to me is an hour away I had little options at the time to what I could do. Fast forward a year and the pain is still ongoing. As I moved to a large city for university, I had a lot more access to facilities to be able to get answers and as it was approaching the three year mark on my issue I had finally had enough and approached another doctor to get the same results as the last. Although, this time due to the fact that I had saved up enough money over the summer and had gotten nowhere with the public health system I decided to turn to the private sector to see a specialist about what was going on. I was seen a few months ago and have had several tests done to rule out what they thought could have been other issues but after years of wanting answers and living through pain while continuing to cheer (against my better judgement) I've reached a provisional diagnosis of Occipital Neuralgia. This condition is a chronic pain disorder that causes headaches and pain in the back of the head due to irritation of the occipital nerves (which happened due to the whiplash I suffered three years ago at a competition). Im incredibly happy I finally know what has been causing all of my issues and I want to stress that this will not happen to everyone (I think I've just been unlucky as Ive fallen through the system so many times) but I just wanted to share my story as something as simple as a tumbling injury due to lack of proper technique and a "let's just throw it to get more points" mentality that poisons the sport, has landed me with a long term injury that has affected my life more than I ever thought it would and there is no certain timeline as to when I will fully heal. As I now know what has caused my injury I have decided to give up cheer in the hopes that I can recover, but my final warning is that if you have an injury don't live with it and push on. If you aren't happy with the answers you are getting, keep fighting until you get what you want. And also let yourself fully heal as going back too soon can make things worse.


*Edit: Sorry for the incredibly long winded and overly dramatic post but I just wanted to stress that sometimes it is not worth pushing through the pain as it can cause detrimental damage to your body the older you get. It took me a long time to realise this but I just thought I'd share my experiences anyway.

 

[extremepeanut24]

Major Injuries:

• Osgood Schlatters which lead to me diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis
• Messed up Rotator Cuff from bailing out of tumbling (pain after 4 years since incident from tendonitis, messed up bicep, tricep and trap tendons, and raised first rib)
• Torn Meniscus
• High ankle sprain and supposedly injured an abnormality in my foot which ended my college cheerleading experience this past year since the injury is not yet healed from September

Minor injuries included multiple ankle sprains and jams, sprained wrist, pulled hamstring, tooth to my chin, tight achilles

 

[TinyBlondie15]

@TealArmySparkle that sounds eerily similar to what I have been experiencing only my headaches are in the front right of my head (I attribute them to the countless times I've been dropped from stunts/landed on my head when learning tumbling)

My injuries:

• Snapping Hip Syndrome in my knees since I was 13 (Doc said if I continued cheering and dancing at the rate I was, I'd need new knees by the time I was 30. I'm turning 23 in four months and my knees are the main issue I have when exercising)
• In college I'm pretty sure I either fractured or sprained my fingers when I was tumbling on the basketball court. I was doing a roundoff backhandspring series and my fingers for some reason decided they didn't want to listen to my brain and folded while I was about to put my hands down thus causing them to become swollen like crazy and me unable to straighten them. I went to the trainer after the game and got some ice and taped my pointer and middle finger together. They told me to come back the next day but no one was ever there. Coach made me tumble on them still. I still can't straighten them completely without them hurting. She did the same to one of our guys that fractured his hand.

 

[cheer25mom]

Taking CP to the ortho Monday for the second time in 5 years of cheer. She has nagging wrist pain that is not resolving in the top of her wrist where wrist meets hand. She can recall it "cramping" in her words about 3 weeks ago, and has been bothering her off since, more so when she tumbles.


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