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Most injuries on the mat or during a stunt are accidents, but some result from a coach, school, gym, or event failing to follow basic safety rules. Here, we explore the difference and explain what South Carolina parents can do when a preventable injury occurs.
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Hurt at Cheer? A South Carolina Parent’s Guide to Stunting Accidents, Concussions, and Your Child’s Rights
Every cheer mom and dad knows the feeling: The tension of the countdown, the thrill of the lift, and the moment your heart stops when a flyer comes down wrong, or someone in the stunt group gets seriously injured.
Cheer has evolved from its early days of sideline chants. Today, cheer is a high-level athletic sport, featuring tumbling, tosses, dances, and pyramids. Injuries are more common, and some injuries are serious. Nearby cheer gyms include Cheer One, Gymnastics Academy-Charleston, West Ashley Gymnastics, Wolfpack Cheer, Island Twist Athletics, and Top Cheer Talent.
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Learn more about cheerleading accident claims. Contact our experienced team of South Carolina personal injury attorneys.
How Common Are Cheerleading Injuries?
About 35,000 cheer competitors visit US emergency rooms each year with injuries inflicted during cheer practice, competition, or football games. Most patients are girls ages 12 to 18. Among female high school and college athletes, cheerleading accounts for over half of all catastrophic sports injuries.
The Most Common Types of Cheerleading Injuries
Stunting and Basket Toss Accidents
As cheer has adopted riskier lifts and tosses, it’s become more dramatic to watch. These elements also increase the risk of injury to athletes, however.
Falls from lifts, pyramids, and basket tosses can cause serious injuries. A flyer who hits the mat because bases or spotters are out of position can also be seriously injured. Basket tosses cause about 21 percent of catastrophic cheer injuries. There’s one easy fix. Prohibiting basket tosses on hard surfaces like concrete or compacted ground cuts catastrophic injury risk by 74 percent, according to one study.
Common injuries from stunting and basket toss accidents include broken wrists and arms, ankle and knee injuries, and neck and spinal injuries. Landing on a hard surface increases both the frequency and severity of these injuries.
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At Steinberg Law Firm we understand what it is like to suffer from injuries sustained in an accident, no matter where or why it happened. The experienced personal injury attorneys at Steinberg Law Firm have helped accident victims and their families recover more than $1 billion in compensation.
Additional Types of Cheerleading Injuries
Competition Injuries
Many cheerleaders live for the thrill of competition. Competition venues can pose risks that athletes don’t expect. The pressure to hit a new skill on competition day can lead to mistakes or overexertion.
Unfamiliar floors, long days, and warm-up areas that are crowded or lack adequate mats can also lead to injury. These factors contribute to a higher injury rate at competitions than at practices.
Many South Carolina cheerleaders know the rush of competition. Myrtle Beach frequently hosts competition weekends. All-star and travel cheerleading teams across South Carolina, including those based in Charleston and Columbia, regularly compete at venues throughout the state, including the North Charleston Convention Center, Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, and sites in Myrtle Beach.
Even a venue familiar from the previous year can have additional crowds, changes to warm-up areas, and other challenges, not to mention the ever-present nerves of competition day.
Overtraining and Practice Exhaustion
As mentioned above, about two-thirds of emergency room (ER) visits involve overuse injuries. Driven by a love of the sport or an imperative to win, many cheerleaders work themselves to exhaustion. They may repeat a skill over and over. Coaches may skip water or rest breaks, not realizing how hard their athletes are working in South Carolina’s heat and humidity.
Good coaches know how to urge an athlete to stretch their boundaries. But, good coaches also know the difference between helping an athlete grow and risking the athlete’s health. When a coach pushes an athlete to work through signs of injury, the harm can compound.
Common symptoms of overuse injuries for cheerleaders include back pain, stress fractures, and pain that won’t go away. Wrist, ankle, and back pain are common, but these injuries may occur in nearly any part of the body.
Head Injuries and Concussions
Cheerleading concussions injure the brain. The risk of permanent harm and re-injury is highest in the weeks immediately following a concussion. In cheerleading, these injuries may occur when an athlete’s head hits the mat, collides with a teammate’s elbow, or crashes into someone’s knee during a stunt. Bases can also be hit by falling flyers, sustaining injuries.
The CDC HEADS UP program provides a concussion protocol for cheerleading and other sports. Signs to watch for include headache, dizziness, confusion, nausea, sensitivity to light, mood changes, and trouble concentrating at school.
According to the CDC, these symptoms are usually most severe one to two days after the injury. They may not be immediately apparent, and they can vary among patients. Always have an athlete cleared by a doctor before returning to practice or competition.
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When Is a Cheer Injury Someone Else’s Fault?
Some cheer injuries are pure accidents. No one could have predicted or prevented them. Others, however, meet the definition of negligence: Someone responsible for your child’s safety failed to act reasonably to prevent harm, and harm resulted. Examples of potential negligence in cheer competition and practice settings include:
- Coaches who lack proper safety training or certification
- Coaches who push athletes into skills beyond their level
- Not enough spotters or no spotters during difficult stunts
- Stunting on hard surfaces or on thin, worn, or missing mats
- Allowing a child to keep practicing or performing after a blow to the head
- Ignoring USA Cheer/USASF safety rules
- Failing to give athletes adequate water or rest breaks, or failing to take heat precautions
- Competition venues with overcrowded warm-up areas or inadequate equipment in warm-up or competition areas
- Hidden defects in equipment, like tumble tracks and spring floors
Is the cheer gym liable when your child is injured? Speak to a local Charleston cheerleading injury attorney about your specific situation. You may be able to sue after a cheerleading injury if the gym’s negligence caused it.
Concussion Education
South Carolina law (S.C. Code § 59-63-75) includes requirements regarding concussion education for student-athletes. Consult the official South Carolina Code of Laws or a qualified attorney to confirm the precise obligations regarding written notice to parents and timing relative to practice seasons.
Private all-star gyms are not covered by this law. However, these gyms are still expected to take reasonable measures to protect athletes’ health and safety. They are also expected to follow industry safety rules.
What South Carolina Law Says About Cheerleading Injuries
Concussion Requirements
South Carolina Code § 59-63-75 contains the state’s concussion law for student athletes. The rules in this section apply to school athletes, including cheerleaders.
In South Carolina, a coach, athletic trainer, official, or physician who suspects a concussion or brain injury must immediately remove the affected athlete from practice or competition. To return to play after a concussion, the athlete needs written clearance from a licensed healthcare professional under South Carolina law (S.C. Code § 59-63-75). This can include written clearance from a physician, a physician assistant, a nurse practitioner, or an athletic trainer.
Safety Rules and Negligence
If your child was injured on a school cheer team, what are your options? How might your case go? These are common questions parents have after an injury.
South Carolina Tort Claims
Injuries on a Public School Team (SC Tort Claims Act)
A claim against a public school district is governed by the South Carolina Tort Claims Act. This law has shorter filing deadlines than typical personal injury claims. Damages are often “capped,” or limited. For these reasons, it’s wise to speak to a lawyer as soon as possible following a school-related cheer injury.
What Parents Should Do After a Cheer Injury
A cheer injury can feel like your worst nightmare come to life. You don’t have to let helplessness overwhelm you. There is much you can do after a cheer injury to help your child and protect their legal rights.
Call a South Carolina injury lawyer as soon as possible for a free, confidential review. Don’t sign anything from an insurance company or gym before you speak to a lawyer. If you signed a waiver, it may be worth partnering with a personal injury attorney to understand your child’s rights and what happens in the event of a serious cheer stunt or fall injury.
First, get medical care right away. Follow up with a doctor even if your child says they feel fine. Symptoms of some injuries, like concussions, may not appear for several hours after the initial blow. Keep your child out of practice or competition until a doctor clears them to return in writing.
Write down what happened while it’s still fresh in your mind. Note the date, time, location, the skill being performed, who was spotting, and the coach on duty. If you have videos, save them. Ask other parents for their video clips as well. Photos of the mats, floor, equipment, and your child’s injuries can also preserve key information.
Request a copy of any incident or injury report from the school, gym, or event. Keep copies of waivers, registration forms, concussion forms, and medical bills.
Avoid posting to social media about the injury. Social media posts can be used against you later, even if they feel innocent in the moment. Consider taking a break from social media and asking your child to do the same, so they can focus on healing.
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Contact Our South Carolina Cheerleading Injury Lawyers Today
You trusted the adults in the gym to keep your child safe while they played a sport they love. Now, you and your child are dealing with serious injuries, rising medical costs, and the fear that other athletes may not be safe either. Negligence at cheer practice or competition can end in serious injuries like concussions, brain injuries, broken bones, neck and spinal cord damage, and other injuries that require surgery and intensive treatment.
You’re not alone. Steinberg Law Firm helps families in North Charleston, Summerville, Goose Creek, and across South Carolina. Call us today at 843-720-2800 for a free, confidential consultation. You pay no fee unless we win.
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