Shoulder Stability for Cheerleaders
Co-author: Megan Partain, SPT
Have you ever wondered how your favorite cheerleaders spend hours tumbling, stunting, and holding each other up in the air? Well, in cheerleading, it comes down to a little more than just sheer talent but incredibly strong and stable shoulders. Athletes with decreased shoulder strength are prone to injuries like dislocations, sprains, and strains. Current research suggests that regular shoulder strengthening exercises can help prevent these types of injuries. The following exercises are recommended for tumblers and especially indicated for main and instep bases, as well as back spots.
Avoiding Wrist Pain and Injuries in Gymnastics
Gymnastics, the sport most watched in the Summer Olympics, engages viewers because of the extreme strength, balance, agility, accuracy, and endurance required to compete. Years of training tax the gymnast’s body to the utmost because movement refinement through repetition exposes the gymnast to many repetitive stress and traumatic injuries. While gymnasts range from the 5-year-old tumbler to the elite Olympian, a unique factor for this sport, no matter the level, is the requirement of using arms for weight bearing. Such compressive and twisting forces affect the entire arm, especially the wrist. Approximately 88% of gymnasts reportedly experience wrist pain according to one study.
Shoulder Instability and Athletes
Shoulder pain is the third most common pain complaint, following lower back and knee pain, with women being more likely to experience shoulder pain than men. Common causes of shoulder pain include tendon inflammation or tears, arthritis, fractures, and instability. Instability occurs when excessive shoulder mobility results in a lack of stability, often resulting in pain, popping sensation, feeling of the shoulder “giving out,” partial dislocations, weakness, and a “dead arm” feeling. Athletes who perform repeated overhead movements are at an increased risk of developing shoulder instability.
Benefits of Foam Rolling for Swimmers
After a long session of pool intervals, swimmers can greatly benefit from reaching for the foam roller to aid in recovery. Foam rolling benefits for swimmers include relieving muscle pain caused by trigger points, increasing flexibility to overtightened muscle groups, promoting relaxation post-workout, and helping the recovery process by increasing blood flow, oxygen, and lymphatic circulation.
Prevent Pickleball Injuries
Pickleball is a great, low-impact sport for people of all ages. However, injuries can still occur in a low-impact sport. To keep you on the court and playing for many more years, let’s look at some ways to prevent injuries.
Understanding Lower Extremity Injuries in Cheerleaders and Gymnasts
Cheerleading and gymnastics are incredibly demanding sports requiring strength, flexibility, and precision. Yet, they also carry a significant risk of injury, particularly in the lower extremities.
The prevalence of lower extremity injuries in cheerleading and gymnastics worldwide has increased significantly over the last decade as both sports have evolved1,2. One study, including 6-to-17-year-old gymnasts, found that the lower extremity was the most affected site of injury (60.5%), with the ankle/foot and knee joints accounting for 49% and 27% of injuries, respectively. This study also found that 10-to-12-year-olds and 13-to-17-year-olds were at greater risk for lower extremity injury due to increased growth rates compared to 6-to-9-year-olds2.
Upper Extremity Strengthening for Gymnasts
Gymnasts require significant strength, flexibility, and stability to compete in their events, whether they’re at the amateur or Olympic level. During their events, gymnasts place 2-4 times their body weight through their upper extremities (shoulder, elbow, wrist, and hand). Upper extremity injuries are common, especially in younger athletes. There is a common misconception that pain is part of the sport, but the truth is you don’t have to compete with pain. Let’s look closer at five of the most common upper extremity injuries in gymnasts and exercises that can help improve strength and reduce the potential risk of these common injuries.
Concussion Rates Across Sports
Approximately 3.8 million sport-related concussions occur every year in the United States. The CDC estimated that 5-10% of athletes will get a concussion in any given sports season. The majority of these concussions tend to take place during competition rather than practice. The risk of concussion tends to vary between genders and depends on the sport being played.
Concussions are caused by TBI’s (traumatic brain injuries), which occur when the brain is jostled inside the skull, causing trauma to the brain. Based on the definition it is unsurprising that there is a much higher risk of injury in contact sports than in non-contact sports. In fact, contact sports such as football, basketball, and soccer account for 45% of all emergency department visits for sports-related concussions among children 17 and under. According to a recent update from the CDC, the top 10 sports with the highest youth rates of concussion are:
