11
May
2022
|
17:58 PM
America/New_York

Competitive cheer leads to rise in ACL tears, fractures, concussions

The New York Post reports on a rise in competitive cheerleading injuries and includes insight from HSS pediatric orthopedic surgeon Daniel W. Green, MD, MS, FAAP, FACS, and highlights the experience of HSS patient Aleena, who tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) due to an overuse injury.

Dr. Green repaired Aleena’s ACL with a pediatric procedure that used her IT band. During Aleena’s recover and rehabilitation, she became serious about injury prevention and adopted a weight-lifting routine.

According to Dr. Green, “A common injury in cheer is an ACL tear. If we look at the data 10 years ago, close to 90% of the kids [with an ACL tear] played soccer, lacrosse, basketball, football and skiing. And we’re definitely seeing more cheerleading ACL injuries than we have a decade ago.”

“Part of it is the athleticism of these young folks. They are so strong, powerful and jumping so high [that] when they land wrong it can result in an injury,” he added.

Aleena underscored, “If I hadn’t gone through this, I wouldn’t know how to lift weights and become stronger,” said Abrahamsen, who is now on her school’s team and competition squad and hopes to cheer at Duke after high school.

“You have to listen to your coach, you have to have a good work ethic and mesh well with your stunt group. If you don’t mesh with your stunt group, it can be dangerous,” she noted.

Read the full article at NYpost.com.