ORIGINAL ARTICLE

An assessment of injuries in college cheerleading: distribution, frequency, and associated factors

B H Jacobson¹, B Redus² and T Palmer¹

¹ School of Applied Health and Educational Psychology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA
² University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond, OK, USA

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr Jacobson
Oklahoma State University, School of Applied Health and Educational Psychology, 204 Willard Hall, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA; Bert.Jacobson{at}okstate.edu

Background: Over 50% of all catastrophic injuries in women’s sport occur in cheerleading, but unlike other sports, no central tracking system exists.

Objective: To obtain, describe, and compare cheerleading injury data and associated factors.

Methods: Cheerleaders from randomly chosen division IA universities completed surveys designed to acquire basic information and data on injury frequency, type, and location, practice frequency and duration, and related factors.

Results: Participants (n = 440) were aged 18–23 (mean (SD) 20.2 (1.8)) with 6.6 (2.2) years of experience. Most respondents (78%) reported having suffered one or more career injury. Of those injured, 39.7% reported an injury within the preceding year. Respondents sustained 1.0 (0.91) injuries during the preceding year with 1.8 (2.2) days lost. Ankles (44.9%) and wrist/hand (19.3%) were the most commonly injured. Practice frequency and duration were 205 (61.5) days a year (range 80–300) and 2.8 (0.7) hours (range 1.5–4) respectively. Training included stretching (99.7%), endurance activities (87.1%), and weight training (92.9%).

Conclusion: Guidelines and policy governing cheerleading should be developed according to mandatory injury reporting similar to that currently used in other sports.

Keywords: ankle; cheerleading; college; injuries

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This article has been cited by other articles:

• Shields, B. J., Smith, G. A. (2006). Cheerleading-Related Injuries to Children 5 to 18 Years of Age: United States, 1990-2002. Pediatrics 117: 122-129 [Abstract] [Full Text]