Champion Sports Training - Safety 101: Keeping Safe During Tosses and Stunting

Stunts and tosses are one of the most exciting and challenging aspects of almost every cheer routine. A perfectly executed stunt creates excitement for your fans and can be the difference in winning or losing a competition. When a stunt fails, it can lead to deductions for your team and even worse, injuries. Nothing is worse than seeing one of your athletes or teammates go down with an injury.

Just this past March we saw this type injury happen after a Southern Illinois University cheerleader fell 15 feet suffering a cervical spine fracture. In response to this incident the NCAA in conjunction with AACCA barred pyramids more than two levels high and basket tosses without the use of a mat for the remainder of the 2006 men’s and women’s basketball season. The AACCA will be reviewing current rules and making a decision for the 2006-2007 sports season whether this will be a permanent ban. This injury reminds all of us how critical it is to place safety as a top priority. It also leads to the question of what types of injuries we see from stunting, what are the mechanisms of these of these injuries and how can we better protect our athletes?

Types of injuries from stunting:
Flyers, bases and spotters are all at risk for injury during stunts. The mechanisms of injury and the location of the injuries, however, may be slightly different. Because flyers are dependent on their teammates for holding them and catching them during tosses, they are often injured due to awkward landing or due to direct contact to a hard surface. The hard surface can be the ground or even another athlete. These injuries are often minor resulting in contusions, or abrasions. Other soft tissue injuries may include minor sprains to ligaments or strains of muscle groups. These types of injuries usually don’t prevent the athlete from practicing or competing. More significant injuries can occur when the flyer is dropped or attempts to “step out” of a stunt resulting in severe sprains or ligament tears in the knee and ankle, fractures and dislocations, concussions, deep lacerations and on the very rare occasion spinal cord injuries.

Bases and spotters are often acutely injured during stunts when they are hit by another athlete coming down. Again the majority of these injuries are minor as previously discussed. However, I have seen cheerleaders with deep lacerations in the forehead that required multiple stitches, clavicle fractures, rib injuries, concussions, and shoulder dislocations. These athletes are also prone to chronic injuries. Chronic injuries can be as difficult to deal with as an acute injury because recovery may take a significant amount of time. Chronic injury areas include the wrist (sprains), shoulder (tendonitis or instability), low back (soft tissue injury), and the knee (pain behind or around the knee cap). Early diagnosis and treatment of these chronic problems can often reduce the duration of the injury.

One injury that we see in cheerleading occasionally is a concussion. A concussion is one injury that may be overlooked by coaches and parents especially if the athlete does not lose consciousness and continues to perform. Over recent years this injury has gained more recognition by causing an early end to several professional athletes career. The athlete doesn’t have to hit the ground to cause this type of injury. It can also be caused by hitting the head against a hard object such as a shoulder, elbow, or knee.

What are symptoms of a concussion?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an athlete may exhibit some or all of these symptoms:

What should you do if you think your cheerleader has a concussion?
1. Seek medical attention. If your athlete loses consciousness due to a blow to the head, seek professional medical attention immediately (more than likely a trip to the Emergency Room). If he/she doesn’t lose consciousness and is symptom free within fifteen minutes after the initial injury the athlete should be closely monitored. An appointment with a physician should be made within twenty four hours to clear the athlete for practice or competition. Also, seek medical professionals that are familiar with athletes and concussions. This could be a sports medicine professional, primary care doctor, or neurologist.
2. Keep your cheerleader out of activities that put he/she at risk for re-injury. Concussions, like deep bruises, take time to heal. Don’t let your cheerleader return to practice or competition until being released by a health care professional. Athletes who return to play too soon—while the brain is still healing—risk a greater chance of having a second concussion. Second or later concussions can be very serious. They can cause permanent brain damage, affecting your athlete for a lifetime.
3. Ask your cheerleaders about any recent concussion at the beginning of the season. Coaches should know if your cheerleader has had a recent concussion in any other sport or accident. Knowing about the concussion will allow your athlete’s coach to keep your cheerleader from activities that could put them at risk for re-injury. On several occasions, I have seen athletes have concussion symptoms from motor vehicle accidents or from playing other sports but not tell their coaches. If you hear of your athlete being involved in a accident make sure that they are cleared from their doctor before practicing or competing.

The Dangers of Multiple Concussions: Second Impact Syndrome
Second-impact syndrome (SIS) refers to the catastrophic events which may occur when a second concussion occurs while the athlete is still symptomatic and healing from a previous concussion. The second concussion may occur from days to weeks following the first. The athlete does not even have to lose consciousness to suffer a serious injury. The second impact is more likely to cause brain swelling and other widespread damage, and can be fatal. There is some debate about SIS, however there is no debate that repeated concussions in a short period of time can lead to long term problems. Some of these problems include headaches, loss of memory, and problems with concentration.

How do we make stunts and tosses safer?
As coaches and trainers, it is our responsibility when working with athletes to make the environment safe and to progress our cheerleaders skills appropriately. Dan Hawk with the Athletic Championships stresses the importance of “perfection before progression” when teaching cheerleaders to stunt. It is also critical that we give an appropriate level of instruction, to have clear communication so that our athletes understand what we expect from them at all times, and have checklists on each athlete to track their skill level.

Safety Tips:
1. Always have an advisor or coach supervising the stunt
2. Pick a hazard free area for stunting
3. Use safety mats
4. Warm up properly before performing stunts
5. Perform your difficult stunts and activities near the beginning of practice when athletes are fresh
6. Give clear instructions on the stunt and what each athlete will be doing
7. Instruct the athletes on how they will be getting down before stunting
8. Eliminate distractions and make sure your athletes are serious during this portion of practice
9. Spotters should be available and should never take their eyes off the flyer
10. Designate someone to control the stunt
11. Master basic stunts before progressing to more challenging activities
12. Teammates must be able to trust each other (working on team building activities can help bring your team together at the start of the season)
13. Remember your team is only as strong as the weakest link. Make sure everyone is comfortable with the stunt and their role.
14. Inform your athletes of the risk of injury when stunts are not performed properly
15. Deal with injuries early and don’t allow minor aches and pains to become chronic problems

Posture:
When training athletes, one of the first areas to be addressed is posture. Cheerleading requires a good athletic posture to be successful in stunts and tosses.

What exercises can promote better posture, strength and balance for our stunts?
Here are a few simple stunting specific exercises that can be implemented into your teams conditioning program.

Wall Sit with Pelvic Tilt- Lean back against the wall with the feet 3-4 feet from the wall and shoulder width apart. Tighten the abdominal muscles and slowly move into a “seated” position. Begin by holding this position 10-15 seconds and work toward 30 seconds to one minute. Repeat 5-10 times. (This is an excellent core, and lower body exercise for building strength and endurance in bases)

Single Leg Squats-Stand on one foot with a good erect posture. Tighten the abdominals and slowly lower yourself to a _ squat position. Hold 5-10 second and repeat 10 times. (Excellent leg strengthening exercise for flyers and bases)

Hyper Extensions/Superman- (varied arm positions) Lie on your stomach with a pillow under the hips. Lift the arms and legs at the same time and hold 5-10 seconds. Repeat 10 times for 2-3 sets.

Lunge Press- Tighten the abdominals and step forward approximately 3-4 feet assuming a lunge position. Once reaching the lunge position press the arms overhead then bring the arms back down. Repeat on the opposite side. Perform 10 times on each side. (You can add difficulty to this exercise by using light dumbbells).