Cheerleaders who Stunt May be at Risk for Serious Injuries
Cheerleaders who Stunt May be at Risk for Serious Injuries
As serious and catastrophic injuries continue to be reported in the media, attention is drawn to how to better train and prepare cheer coaches to respond.
On August 18, 2010, a high school cheerleader, Kacie Schlosser, sustained a compression fracture to her second lumbar vertebrae after losing her balance and falling from a stunt in which she was balancing on a teammates' shoulders. The focus on this story is not the injury, but what transpired after she fell.
Superintendent, Paul Peterson, reported to the local newspaper that the coach had not followed standard first aid training. Emergency medical services were not called and the coach moved the injured athlete. The cheerleader's parents expressed concern about how the injury was handled by the coach.
Fortunately, this young athlete did not sustain any spinal cord damage by being moved. However, this situation could have turned out much different. Moving an athlete with a spinal vertebral fracture can end in a spinal cord injury leaving the athlete either a quadriplegic or paraplegic.
This young cheerleader was very lucky. With weeks of rehabilitation, she should be able to have a full recovery. However, her mother stated in the article that although her daughter will be allowed to return to cheer again, she will be required to keep her feet on the ground.
Recognition that Cheerleaders who Stunt may be at a Risk for Serious Injury
While there are many types of cheerleading programs available across this country, the programs that choose to stunt need to recognize the high risk that their athletes face for serious injuries. Cheer coaches, school administrators, athletes and their parents need to understand the risk these kids take when they are launched into the air.
The most important scientific information for those in the cheer industry to understand is "critical height". This is a term that has recently surfaced in research published in the Journal of Athletic Training.
The purpose of the research was to study the critical height for surface materials ("an approximation of the fall height below which a life-threatening head impact injury would not be expected to occur") (Shields, B.J. & Smith, G.A., 2009). This study was undertaken because surfaces used by cheerleaders have not received much attention.
The results indicated that only two surfaces including the "landing mat on foam floor" and "spring floor" are surfaces that athletes can safely fall on and not be at risk for catastrophic injuries to the head after falling from heights that are typical of stunts.
According to the research, athletes falling on to a grass surface may sustain catastrophic head, neck, and back injuries from only falling from a height of 3.5 feet. Unless cheerleaders stunt on protective mats, coaches need to recognize that the risk for a serious injury is high.
Because the risk for serious injuries is high for cheerleaders who stunt, coaches need to have a heightened awareness of how to act in the event of a potentially serious or catastrophic injury.
How to Provide Emergency Medical Care for a Serious Injury until Help Arrives
With the knowledge that any fall from a height has the potential to cause a serious injury to the athlete, cheer coaches need to be diligent and act quickly in the event that one of their athletes loses his/her balance and falls from any height.
Some of the signs and symptoms that an athlete may experience with a serious head, neck or back injury include the following:
Loss of consciousness
Numbness, tingling, radiating pain in extremities
Pain directly over spine
Confusion/Inability to answer simple questions
Blood/spinal fluid from ears, nose
Difficulty breathing
Inability to move extremities
Memory loss
The most important point for the first responder is to not move the athlete if a head, neck or back injury is suspected. While waiting for emergency medical services to arrive, the injured athlete's head and neck need to be stabilized (not permitted to move). The coach can perform this by placing his/her forearms on both sides of the injured athlete's head and neck and grasping the injured athlete's shoulders with his/her hands. This position stabilizes the head and neck through the first responders' forearms.
Because emergency medical help may not arrive for a few minutes, it is also important to keep the injured athlete calm by quietly talking to him/her. The goal of the conversation is to keep the injured athlete's mind off of the injury possibilities and on to anything else.
Knowing how to react in an emergency may mean the difference in the outcome of an injured athlete. When in doubt, stabilize the injured athlete, call for emergency medical services, and provide emotional support to the athlete until help arrives.
Cheerleaders who Stunt May be at Risk for Serious Injuries
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