Common Cheerleading Injuries: A Cheer Physiotherapist’s Guide
Cheerleading is a very physically demanding sport, it combines strength, power, flexibility, coordination, and endurance. Athletes are required to tumble, stunt, jump, lift, catch, and perform complex skills under fatigue, often multiple times per week. Athletes can also develop their own specialities or a combination or specialities including:
- Tumbling
- Basing
- Flying
- Dual Stunting
- Partner Stunting
As the sport continues to grow, so does our understanding of the injuries that affect cheer athletes. While falls and acute injuries can occur, many of the injuries we see in clinic are actually overuse injuries that develop gradually over time.
Understanding the most common injuries in cheerleading can help athletes, parents, and coaches recognise problems early and keep athletes performing at their best throughout the season.
Why Do Cheerleading Injuries Occur?
Cheerleading places unique demands on the body.
Athletes may be participating in:
- Team training
- Tumbling classes
- Private lessons
- Clinics or stunting sessions
- Strength and conditioning
- School sport
- Competitions
As competition season approaches, training volume often increases significantly. Without adequate recovery, this can lead to excessive loading of muscles, tendons, bones, and joints. Additionally, many athletes feel like they need to train through injuries in competition season to maintain their place on the team.
Common cheerleading injury risk factors
Common injury risk factors include:
- Rapid increases in training volume (particularly leading into competitions)
- Poor recovery
- Growth spurts
- Hypermobility
- Previous injuries
- Inadequate strength and conditioning
- Poor load management
Common cheerleading injuries our cheer physiotherapist treats
Wrist Injuries
Skills such as:
- Handstands
- Walkovers
- Back/Front handsprings
- Roundoffs – particularly roundoffs into skills place large amounts of force through the wrist joint.
Common wrist injuries include:
- TFFC injury
- Extensor carpi ulnaris tenosynovitis
- Tendonopathies
- Growth plate injuries in younger athletes
- Joint overload syndromes
Athletes often report pain when tumbling, hand balancing, or pushing up from the floor.
Shoulder Injuries in Cheerleading
The shoulder is heavily involved in both stunting and tumbling.
Bases are repeatedly required to lift and stabilise athletes overhead, while tumblers place significant force through the shoulder during hand-contact skills and flyers are required to pull lines with their shoulder.
Common shoulder injuries include:
- Rotator cuff irritation
- Shoulder instability
- Labral injuries
- Tendinopathy
- Biceps injuries
Athletes may experience pain during stunts, tumbling, or overhead movements.
Low Back Pain
Low back pain is extremely common in cheerleading.
Many cheer skills involve repetitive lumbar extension (bending backwards) – especially flyers pulling lines.
In athletes, repetitive loading during tumbling can occasionally contribute to bone stress injuries of the lumbar spine.
Athletes may initially notice:
- Pain after training
- Pain during tumbling
- Pain when arching backwards
Early assessment is important, particularly if symptoms are persistent.
Hip and Groin Pain in Cheerleading
Cheerleading requires exceptional flexibility and range of motion.
Repeated jumping, tumbling, kicking, and stretching can place significant demands on the hips and groin.
Athletes often notice pain during jumps, kicks, flexibility skills, or tumbling.
Knee Injuries
The knee absorbs large forces during jumping and landing activities.
Common knee injuries include:
- Patellofemoral pain (pain around the kneecap)
- Osgood-Schlatter disease in younger athletes
- Ligament injuries following awkward landings
Poor landing mechanics, rapid increases in training volume, and growth spurts can all contribute to knee pain.
Ankle Injuries
Ankle sprains are among the most common acute injuries in cheerleading.
They frequently occur during:
- Tumbling landings
- Jump landings
- Stunt dismounts
- Unexpected contact with teammates
While many athletes return quickly after an ankle sprain, inadequate rehabilitation can increase the risk of recurrent injuries and ongoing instability.
Concussion in Cheer Athletes
Although cheerleading is often viewed as a non-contact sport, concussions can occur.
Potential mechanisms include:
- Falls from stunts
- Head-to-head collisions
- Tumbling accidents
- Impact with the floor
Symptoms may include:
- Headache
- Dizziness
- Nausea
- Balance difficulties
- Memory or concentration problems
Any athlete with a suspected concussion should be removed from participation immediately and assessed by an appropriate healthcare professional.
How to Prevent Cheerleading Injuries
Because most cheerleading injuries develop gradually rather than from a single incident, many are preventable. The goal is to build a body that can tolerate the demands of training and competition, while managing how quickly load is added. Some of the most effective strategies include:
Manage training load
Sudden spikes in training volume are one of the biggest drivers of overuse injury, particularly in the lead-up to competitions. Increasing tumbling, stunting, and training hours gradually gives muscles, tendons, bones, and joints time to adapt.
Prioritise recovery
Recovery is when the body adapts and gets stronger. Adequate sleep, rest days, and appropriate spacing between high-intensity sessions all reduce the risk of tissue overload, especially during busy competition periods.
Build strength and conditioning
A well-structured strength and conditioning program helps athletes absorb landing forces, stabilise stunts, and protect vulnerable areas such as the wrists, shoulders, lower back, knees, and ankles. Strength work is one of the most reliable ways to reduce injury risk.
Focus on technique
Good landing mechanics and sound tumbling and stunting technique reduce the load placed on joints. Working with qualified coaches and addressing technique faults early can prevent repetitive strain over a season.
Monitor growth and previous injuries
Growth spurts and a history of previous injury both increase risk. Younger athletes going through periods of rapid growth, and anyone returning from injury, benefit from closer monitoring and a more gradual return to full training.
When Should You Seek Help?
Athletes should consider assessment if they experience:
- Pain lasting longer than a few days
- Recurrent pain during training
- Pain that affects performance
- Swelling or instability
- Reduced strength or flexibility
- Persistent “niggles” that are not improving
Many injuries are much easier to manage when identified early.
How Our Cheerleading Physiotherapists Can Help
At SportsFit Physio and Health, we regularly work with cheerleaders of all levels, from recreational athletes through to national and international competitors, helping them recover from injury and perform at their best.
Because we understand the specific demands of tumbling, stunting, basing, and flying, we can tailor assessment and treatment to the skills you actually perform. Our cheer physiotherapy services include:
- Accurate injury assessment and diagnosis
- Individualised rehabilitation programs
- Load and training-volume management, particularly around competition season
- Sport-specific strength and conditioning
- Return-to-tumbling and return-to-stunt programs
- Hypermobility assessment and management
- Concussion assessment and return-to-sport guidance
- Injury prevention and pre-season screening
Whether you’re managing a long-standing niggle or recovering from an acute injury, our goal is to get you back to training safely and keep you performing throughout the season.
FAQs for our Cheer Physio
What are the most common cheerleading injuries?
The most common cheerleading injuries we see include wrist injuries, shoulder injuries, low back pain, hip and groin pain, knee injuries, ankle sprains, and concussion. Many of these are overuse injuries that develop gradually rather than from a single incident.
When should a cheerleader see a physiotherapist?
It’s worth seeing a physiotherapist if pain lasts more than a few days, recurs during training, affects performance, or comes with swelling or instability. Persistent niggles that aren’t improving are also worth assessing early, as most injuries are far easier to manage when caught early.
Can you keep cheering or training through an injury?
Many athletes feel pressure to train through pain during competition season, but continuing to load an injury can make it worse and prolong recovery. A physiotherapist can help you modify training so you stay active where possible while the injury settles, rather than stopping completely.
How can cheerleading injuries be prevented?
The biggest factors are managing training load (especially leading into competitions), prioritising recovery, and building strength and conditioning. Gradually increasing volume, addressing previous injuries, and monitoring athletes through growth spurts all help reduce risk.
Is cheerleading a high-injury sport?
Cheerleading is physically demanding and combines strength, power, flexibility, and endurance, so injuries do occur. However, most are overuse injuries linked to training load rather than dramatic falls, which means many are preventable with good load management and conditioning.
Do you treat young cheer athletes?
Yes. We work with cheerleaders of all levels and ages, from recreational athletes to national and international competitors. Younger athletes have specific considerations such as growth plate injuries and conditions like Osgood-Schlatter disease, which need an age-appropriate approach.
What should I do if I suspect a concussion?
Any athlete with a suspected concussion should be removed from participation immediately and assessed by an appropriate healthcare professional. Symptoms can include headache, dizziness, nausea, balance difficulties, and memory or concentration problems.
The Bottom Line
Cheerleading is a demanding sport that develops strength, athleticism, teamwork, and confidence. However, the physical demands of the sport can also increase the risk of injury if training loads are not managed appropriately.
Most cheerleading injuries are not caused by a single incident. Instead, they develop gradually when the body is exposed to more load than it can recover from.
By prioritising strength, recovery, appropriate training loads, and early injury management, athletes can reduce their injury risk and maximise their performance throughout the season.
Jessica Bank
APA Sports & Exercise Titled Physiotherapist, specializing in cheer athletes
